Coliseum Mentality

BY MICHAEL REISIG –

Never since Rome has a nation been so battered by diversity and so controlled with diversion. Rome had a solution for diverting its disparate and often angry masses – The Coliseum – where everyone was given free bread and wine and allowed to watch exciting, often bloody events involving the struggle of groups of people pitted against each other. Today we call it “sports” and we go to stadiums, but beyond that, little has changed. Even from the comfort of our homes it still works – a handful of beer and a good game provides a pressure valve for all our dissatisfactions, and it seems these days our dissatisfactions are many.

We are a nation of autonomous tribes that are no longer beholden or bound to a country or an ideal, but to the interest of the tribe, and it is this profound lack of loyalty that is undermining us as a nation.  There seems to be little gratitude for the privilege of being an American nowadays, only a constant discontent for the lack of sufficient entitlements each group perceives as their birthright. What few seem to understand is, that while we are, like greedy children, myopically voting for/agreeing with whatever we are told to at the time, we are very often undermining the foundations of this nation. When our nation faces a crisis and a decision, as we do with Syria today, we have to rise above the distractions of this coliseum mentality, forget the bread and wine for a moment, and do the right thing. The last thing America needs is another war.

If this nation is to survive intact, we need to begin to think like our forefathers again, and apply the constitution they wrote to our problems – not interpret it to suit our immediate fancy. We need to find individual and national integrity again rather than feeding multi-racial and multi-national autonomy within our borders, or succumbing to the drumbeating of politicians with agendas. We need to base all our decisions on what’s good for America, give to those who earn it, and quit giving to those who are already rich or those who are part of the problem.

John F. Kennedy’s immortal words, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” have been drowned out by the marching, chanting, sign-carrying put-upons who feel that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are just not enough. All this is a culmination of several decades of entitlement politics, which has promoted the concept of victimization and racial separatism, has created a cultural mosaic in this country, and benefited only a few while being paid for by those us who still have jobs.

Welfare, in all its flagrant varieties is at its highest point ever in this nation, and yet there is more demand for government benefits and largess than ever before. As this course of entitlement bleeds throughout our society, even those with jobs want more money for what they do and less hours having to do it. (Fifteen dollars an hour for fast-food wages?) There are many who feel put-upon and angry (deservedly) over the growing amounts of money sliced from their weekly paycheck to accommodate those who don’t even try anymore – and the huge amounts of the American paycheck going to those who aren’t even citizens. In what can only be described as the epitome of audaciousness it is not unusual to see illegal immigrants on the 6 o’clock news, protesting for more entitlements.

All the while we are encouraged to buy our wine and bread, attend the latest sporting event with the myopic passion of arctic lemmings, and, for a short time, defuse our real and perceived disgruntlements through vicarious fantasy and hero worship.

Well, it worked for Rome, didn’t it?

Or did it?

The views and opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the ownership and staff of The Polk County Pulse. Michael Reisig is a freelance writer and published author whose works are reproduced throughout the globe.

About Author

Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

See author's posts