“For the average person, all problems date to World War II; for the more informed, to World War I; for the genuine historian, to the French Revolution.”
― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism Revisited: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot
The 14th of July is celebrated every year in France. This national holiday commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789, a pivotal event at the beginning of the French Revolution.
I sense that the weather conditions are right for a second coming of the storm that brought down the French Monarchy. All around the world, the people have had enough. And if it unfurls, after yesterday's attack on former President Trump, it will make the French Revolution look like a trial run. The People are singing and their voices are getting louder each day.
This was so long ago...... yet the message is louder and more impactive today than when it was created. The People are singing and their voices will be heard. Trump is our trumpet and it is time to hear the people sing again. But let us go back in history and see how history just keeps repeating itself.
The Bastille was a medieval fortress and prison in Paris that symbolised the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchy. By the late 18th century, it was seen as a symbol of the absolute power of King Louis XVI. On July 14, 1789, amid growing unrest and fear of a military crackdown, a crowd of Parisians stormed the Bastille. The fortress had only seven prisoners at the time, but its fall was hugely symbolic, marking the collapse of the king's absolute power and the rise of the people's power. The event is often seen as the flashpoint of the French Revolution, leading to the eventual establishment of the French Republic.
The French Revolution, a seismic event in European history, profoundly transformed France's political, social, and economic structures. It marked the decline of absolute monarchy, the rise of republicanism, and set the stage for modern democracies. Understanding the causes of the French Revolution is crucial, as it provides insights into the potential for similar upheavals in other societies, including contemporary America and Australia.
Paris streets were filled with protesters; the city was burning; more than 15,000 federal troops were gathered to stand by for trouble; the people were starving; the Bastille (prison) was attacked, and prisoners freed; the protestors paraded the heads of the Bastille defenders through the streets. When the news reached King Louis at his palace in Versailles, he exploded, “This is revolt!” An aide responded, “No, Sire, it is a Revolution!”
On 6th of January, 2020, America was sold a story about violent pro Trump thugs storming Capitol Hill. Yet, was it truly like the media and government would have us believe?
</p
France faced severe economic difficulties due to its involvement in costly wars, including the American Revolution. The national debt soared, leading to increased taxes and widespread fiscal mismanagement. The burden of taxation fell disproportionately on the common people, making their lives miserable and desperate. French society was rigidly divided into three estates: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). The Third Estate, comprising the vast majority of the population, bore the brunt of taxation and had little political power. This stark social inequality fueled resentment and demands for change. King Louis XVI’s inability to address France’s fiscal crisis and his resistance to meaningful reform alienated both the nobility and commoners. His indecisiveness and failure to implement effective policies further eroded the monarchy's credibility.
In recent years the media moguls, university professors, and progressive politicians shamelessly told the world that America is a shameful, selfish, and sinful nation. Consequently, we are to believe all white people are racists and harbour guilt from their dark past and are obligated to flagellate themselves at least twice a day, trying all the while to be less white.
The same is happening in Australia.
The French chaos was aggravated by disinformation, political propaganda, hatred, envy, and murder instigated or used by the self-styled intellectuals. The populous had been fed anti-church, anti-monarch, and anti-family propaganda for decades, beginning with a young Voltaire and Rousseau. Now it was paying off, as everyone was fearful and lived on the edge of panic every day.
The citizens had been taught to hate the monarch, their national church, private property, aristocrats, strong families, and other traditions. Now, class was against class, family against family, workers against nobles. Chaos ensued with shortages of food, unemployment, wage and price controls, and other government interventions.
Historian Otto Scott observed in Robespierre—Inside the French Revolution that the French decision-makers in the middle and upper classes became ashamed of their country, history, and institutions. He opined that such a phenomenon “had never before arisen in any nation or race throughout the long history of mankind. …a great loosening began; the country slowly came apart.”
Scott declared, “For the first time since the decadent days of Rome, pornography emerged from its caves and circulated openly in a civilised nation. The Catholic Church in France was intellectually gutted; the priests lost their faith along with the congregations. Strange cults appeared; sex rituals, black magic, satanism. Perversion became not only acceptable, but fashionable. Homosexuals held public balls to which heterosexuals were invited and the police guarded their carriages… the air grew thick with plans to restructure and reconstruct all traditional French society and institutions.”
“Most arts have produced miracles, while the art of government has produced nothing but monsters.”
The man who spoke those words was one of history’s premiere authorities on the subject. He was a monster himself, made so by the toxin we call “power.”
His name was Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (1767-1794). His close friend and political ally was Maximilien Robespierre. Together, they engineered The Terror of the French Revolution, a violent spasm of repression and slaughter. Both men rose to supreme power, only to be devoured by the same machine to which they dispatched so many others. A key difference between Saint-Just and Robespierre on the one hand, and their numerous victims on the other, was that the former earned their grisly conclusions.
In a February 1794 speech, Robespierre (1758-1794) likened terror to virtue. The end (a virtuous, egalitarian republic) justified whatever means made it possible:
If the basis of popular government in peacetime is virtue, the basis of popular government during a revolution is both virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is baneful; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the homeland.
The wealth gap in America has widened significantly in recent decades, with the richest 1% holding a substantial portion of the nation’s wealth. Economic hardships, especially among the lower and middle classes, has fueled discontent and demands for change. Modern politics is deeply polarised, with significant distrust in government institutions and elected officials. The perception of a rigged system, where political and economic elites wield disproportionate power, has led to widespread disenchantment. Trust in governmental and public institutions has eroded. Scandals, perceived corruption, and inefficiency undermine confidence in the ability of these institutions to address.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in the economy, leading to widespread job losses, business closures, and economic instability.
When we have people divided by race, religion, class, sex and financial status, our governments wonder what could possibly go wrong. It does not take a great deal of thought to realise that it is our very governments who have created the perfect storm we see today.
When people are actually gleeful that an attempt was made on Trump's life and are expressing regret that the shooter missed, I wonder how sick our societies have become and what is around the corner for us all.
We have people locked up after the 6th of January 2020 rally. It makes me think that a new Bastille Day is only ever one angry protest away. And, after what has happened in Pennyslvania at the Trump Rally, I fear that the odds have changed and a storm that has been brewing is now gaining strength.
with grateful thanks
A Tale of Two Cities - LRC Blog (lewrockwell.com)
BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS
