WHEN HISTORY RHYMES

History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes — Origin uncertain.

History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes – Quote Investigator

A new commenter, Graybeard (MAINTAINING DECORUM: WILL WE PRESERVE OUR TRADITION OF THE PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER? – Citizen Tom – comment-99878), suggested I read something. I thought worth passing on. First, here are Graybeard’s observations.

The below author has done an incredible job of connecting all the dots. Smith’s book, “The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President,” came out in August 2020. He lists the details of coup as it was happening. Read the overview at

The Thirty Tyrants – Tablet Magazine

The overview gets off to a slow start and is long. However, read the entire article and you will understand the why of the coup. The question remains, how do we regain control of our country?

MAINTAINING DECORUM: WILL WE PRESERVE OUR TRADITION OF THE PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER? – Citizen Tom – comment-99878

Here is how The Thirty Tyrants – Tablet Magazine starts.

In Chapter 5 of The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli describes three options for how a conquering power might best treat those it has defeated in war. The first is to ruin them; the second is to rule directly; the third is to create “therein a state of the few which might keep it friendly to you.”

The example Machiavelli gives of the last is the friendly government Sparta established in Athens upon defeating it after 27 years of war in 404 BCE. For the upper caste of an Athenian elite already contemptuous of democracy, the city’s defeat in the Peloponnesian War confirmed that Sparta’s system was preferable. It was a high-spirited military aristocracy ruling over a permanent servant class, the helots, who were periodically slaughtered to condition them to accept their subhuman status. Athenian democracy by contrast gave too much power to the low-born. The pro-Sparta oligarchy used their patrons’ victory to undo the rights of citizens, and settle scores with their domestic rivals, exiling and executing them and confiscating their wealth.

The Athenian government disloyal to Athens’ laws and contemptuous of its traditions was known as the Thirty Tyrants, and understanding its role and function helps explain what is happening in America today. (continued)

The Thirty Tyrants – Tablet Magazine

Here is how The Thirty Tyrants – Tablet Magazine ends.

American oligarchy that sees its relationship with China as a shield and sword against their own countrymen. Like Athens’ Thirty Tyrants, they are not simply contemptuous of a political system that recognizes the natural rights of all its citizens that are endowed by our creator; they despise in particular the notion that those they rule have the same rights they do. Witness their newfound respect for the idea that speech should only be free for the enlightened few who know how to use it properly. Like Critias and the pro-Sparta faction, the new American oligarchy believes that democracy’s failures are proof of their own exclusive right to power—and they are happy to rule in partnership with a foreign power that will help them destroy their own countrymen.

What does history teach us about this moment? The bad news is that the Thirty Tyrants exiled notable Athenian democrats and confiscated their property while murdering an estimated 5% of the Athenian population. The good news is that their rule lasted less than a year.

The Thirty Tyrants – Tablet Magazine

What is 5 percent of our population? That would be 16,500,000 people. Unlike the relatively small number of deaths from Coronavirus (COVID-19), we would notice the disappearance of our family, friends, and neighbors.

“First they came . . .” by Martin Niemoller

R.T. Smith

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

 — Martin Niemöller | German theologian and pastor | Britannica

“First they came . . .” by Martin Niemoller – Shenandoah (shenandoahliterary.org)

To see what is in between the beginning and the end, click on the link, The Thirty Tyrants – Tablet Magazine.