Posted on 05/29/2007 11:37:54 PM PDT by DoorGunner
Barbarians at the Gates!
A Parable for Our Times
Civilizations rise, and civilizations fall.
They rise when all of the varied forces, actions, and influences which move a culture toward a more civilized state are more powerful than those forces, actions, and influences move a culture away from that more civilized state. When that balance changes to favor the “anti-civilization” forces, that civilization will begin to fall.
When a civilization falls, (from all of the various factors which damaged and weakened it) the end of that civilization is typically characterized by an invasion by a nearby non-civilized, but more robust culture. Over the centuries, this common end has been metaphorically referred to as “The Barbarians at the Gate.” This is more than a mere metaphor, however. There is a specific historical incident which may very well be the original “Barbarians at the Gate” incident.
Prologue:
Procopius of Caesarea:
Alaric's Sack of Rome, 410 CE
History of the Wars [written c. 550 CE], III.ii.7-39
...And the barbarians, finding that they had no hostile force to encounter them, became the most cruel of all men. For they destroyed all the cities which they captured, especially those south of the Ionian Gulf, so completely that nothing has been left to my time to know them by, unless, indeed, it might be one tower or one gate or some such thing which chanced to remain. And they killed all the people, as many as came in their way, both old and young alike, sparing neither women nor children. Wherefore, even up to the present time Italy is sparsely populated. They also gathered as plunder all the money out of all Europe, and, most important of all, they left in Rome nothing whatever of public or private wealth when they moved on to Gaul.
This Barbarian “character flaw,” the serial atrocity of brutal mass murders of the innocent , the harmless, and especially to defenseless, lives today in the twisted souls of terrorists.
But I shall now tell how Alaric captured Rome.
After much time had been spent by him in the siege, and he had not been able either by force or by any other device to capture the place, he formed the following plan. Among the youths in the army whose beards had not yet grown, but who had just come of age, he chose out three hundred whom he knew to be of good birth and possessed of valor beyond their years, and told them secretly that he was about to make a present of them to certain of the patricians in Rome, pretending that they were slaves.
Although modern etymology denies it, back in those days people thought that the name “Barbarian” referred to the beards (barba) considered to be a characteristic of Barbarians. Note: the pretend “slaves” did not look like Barbarians!
Among the youths in the army whose beards had not yet grown, but who had just come of age, he chose out three hundred whom he knew to be of good birth and possessed of valor beyond their years, and told them secretly that he was about to make a present of them to certain of the patricians in Rome, pretending that they were slaves. And he instructed them that, as soon as they got inside the houses of those men, they should display much gentleness and moderation and serve them eagerly in whatever tasks should be laid upon them by their owners;
Does this begin to sound familiar?
and he further directed them that not long afterwards, on an appointed day at midday, when all those who were to be their masters would most likely be already asleep after their meal, they should all come to the gate called Salarian and with a sudden rush kill the guards, who would have no previous knowledge of the plot, and open the gates as quickly as possible. After giving these orders to the youths, Alaric straightway sent ambassadors to the members of the senate, stating that he admired them for their loyalty toward their emperor, and that he would trouble them no longer, because of their valor and faithfulness, with which it was plain that they were endowed to a remarkable degree, and in order that tokens of himself might be preserved among men both noble and brave, he wished to present each one of them with some domestics.
So he flattered the SENATORS with absurd lies, and provided them with servants who did not act or look like Barbarians...
After making this declaration and sending the youths no long afterwards, he commanded the barbarians to make preparations for the departure, and he let this be known to the Romans. And they heard his words gladly, and receiving the gifts began to be exceedingly happy, since they were completely ignorant of the plot of the barbarians. For the youths, by being unusually obedient to their owners, averted suspicion, and in the camp some were already seen moving from their positions and raising the siege, while it seemed that the others were just on the point of doing the very same thing.
They were soooo innocent...
But when the appointed day had come, Alaric armed his whole force for the attack and was holding them in readiness close by the Salarian Gate; for it happened that he had encamped there at the beginning of the siege. And all the youths at the time of the day agreed upon came to this gate, and, assailing the guards suddenly, put them to death; then they opened the gates and received Alaric and the army into the city at their leisure. And they set fire to the houses which were next to the gate, among which was also the house of Sallust, who in ancient times wrote the history of the Romans, and the greater part of this house has stood half-burned up to my time; and after plundering the whole city and destroying the most of the Romans, they moved on.
Thus, we have pretend “slaves,” “servants,” “domestics;” who were “unusually obedient;” who (being beardless) did not look like Barbarians. No doubt, “they do the jobs that Romans won't do!” Notwithstanding their appearance and demeanor, in the event, they slew the guards and opened the gates to the terrorists of the day, Alaric's Barbarians.
I believe that these “beardless Barbarians” are an excellent metaphor for today's “undocumented immigrants” from Latin America
The Myths of The Magic Latinos1
MYTH 1: They are NOT “illegals.”
“Undocumented immigrants,” we are constantly told, are all good folks, who have migrated to America to escape the poverty of their native lands. They are law abiding, hard working family folks, who only want to become American citizens, and live the American dream. They are NOT “illegals” they “have committed no crime,” we are told, they merely crossed the border without going through certain formalities.
Hard cold reality:
Consider a person who is living in America, but who either stole in surreptitiously, or did not leave as required when his lawful residency expired. Either is, in actual fact, a crime, subject to criminal penalties –including prison time:
8 USC Section 1325. Improper entry by alien
(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection;
misrepresentation and concealment of facts
Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States
at any time or place other than as designated by immigration
officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration
officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United
States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the
willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first
commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or
imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent
commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or
imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
Except for very limited circumstances (the independently wealthy, or those being paid by a foreign entity ie, terrorists and spies.) such a person must obtain money for basic necessities. They must either work for someone, or obtain public assistance (or be dependent on someone who does one of these). BOTH of these options require the use of a Social Security Card or at least an SS Number.
WAC 388-476-0005
Social Security number requirements.
(1) With certain exceptions, each person who applies for or receives cash, medical or food assistance benefits must provide to the department a Social Security number (SSN), or numbers if more than one has been issued.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=388-476-0005
But, an illegal alien cannot LEGALLY possess such a card. An illegal alien who does possess an SS Card must necessarily have obtained it by means of an illegal act or acts. That is to say, by committing a crime (or crimes):
42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(7)
And that is just the beginning.
Every time that Card (or Number) is used, for ANY reason, our illegal alien commits ANOTHER crime, another federal FELONY.
When an individual makes multiple false representations by misrepresenting a social security number on multiple credit card applications, bank accounts, or federal documents relating to employment (I-9, W-4), each use or representation constitutes a separate offense. Each of the separate offenses is supportable by a different set of predicate facts, and is actionable under § 408(a)(7)(B)
[He simultaneously commits undetermined State crimes (fraud, etc) which vary from State to State.]
He ALSO simultaneously commits a federal felony (fraud) every time the false SSN is used in ANY Federal matter.
18 USC Section 1001
...shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
Again, EACH such use is a separate federal felony.
There is, of course, another category of illegal aliens who do not use any SS Card or SSN: those who work in the Black Job Market. They are secretly employed as illegals by knowing employers, who do not pay the required Federal (and State) taxes, etc (withholding, FICA, unemployment, workman's comp). By so doing, they both are engaging in a series of felonies – a conspiracy to defraud.
In fact, whether they use criminally obtained SS numbers or none at all, illegal alien workers and their employers combine into a massive, long term, continuing, CRIMINAL conspiracy. This conspiracy is intentionally abetted by federal and state agencies, NGOs, and even churches.
Remember, these are the best, the cream of the illegal aliens. Those who want to become American citizens. I call these criminal immigrants: “Crimigrants.”
Why?
How is it, then, that “Crimigrants,” the best of all illegals aliens, engage in such serious, serial, criminality? We are told that they cannot get ahead in their own homeland; that they come here to escape poverty; that there are no opportunities in their birth countries, as there are, here in America.
Fine. But we need to understand WHY their homelands are characterized by poverty and lack of opportunity. It is not lack of natural resources. Take Mexico, as an example:
Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: Mexico, July 2006 15
The staple food crops are maize, wheat, sorghum, barley, rice, beans, and potatoes. The principal cash crops are coffee, cotton, sugarcane, fruit, and vegetables. Other important agricultural goods include beef, poultry, dairy products, and wood products.
Mexico’s coastal fishing grounds offer a rich variety of fish and other seafood. In 2003 the total catch exceeded 1.5 million metric tons.
Mexico has abundant mineral resources and has historically led the world in the production of silver. During 2004 silver production exceeded 3 million tons.
Other significant mining products in 2004 were iron (6.9 million tons), sulphur (1.1 million tons), fluorite (0.84 million tons), sodium sulphate (0.61 million tons), zinc (0.38 million tons), copper (0.35 million tons), and manganese (0.14 million tons). Mexico also possesses substantial deposits of mercury, bismuth, antimony, cadmium, phosphates, and uranium.
Overall manufacturing output in 2004 was dominated by three activities: food, drink, and tobacco (29.5 percent); metals, machinery, and equipment (28.9 percent); and chemicals, petrochemicals, rubber, and plastics (14.9 percent). Other major components of manufacturing output included textiles, clothing, and leather goods (6.3 percent); metals (5.2 percent; and paper products (3.5 percent).
Mexico is the world’s sixth largest oil producer, extracting an average of 3.4 million barrels per day of crude oil in 2005. As of January 2005, Mexico had 14.6 billion barrels of crude oil reserves—the third largest reserves in the Western Hemisphere...
Mexico has 420 billion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves.
Mexico also has 1.3 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves. During 2003 it produced 11.9 million short tons of coal...
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Mexico.pdf
It is not because the citizens are not willing to work hard. The simple fact that Mexico illegally “exports” millions of willing workers to America, clearly demonstrates that Mexico possesses a vast resource of willing workers. Unfortunately, too many of those “willing workers” do not have the opportunities either to work or to improve their standard of living.
The reason, the cause, of Latino illegal immigration; and why the way we deal with it (this time) is crucial to the struggle between Civilization and the Barbarians is both obvious and not obvious. It has many ramifications which we will explore in part 2.
Remember (never forget!)... the “undocumented worker” (Crimigrant) Is a serial felon. So, also, is the Citizen who employs the Crimigrant.
Ignatius Porta-Custos
1Refer to http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ehrenstein19mar19,0,5335087.story?coll=la-opinion-center
VOTE THIRD PARTY.....YOUR HOSED AND GET USED TO IT....VOTE THIRD PARTY....
Great post.
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