The Ultimate Answer to Kings: See, this is why I live in the desert.

They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means "The Ultimate Argument of Kings," and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. "We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it's about: You'll do as I say or I'll send my goons to kill you."

I thought about that for a long time. If there's an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I've got bullets - he's got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that's not going to happen. So if there's an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain't bullets.

It finally came to me - and that's when I left the city, abandoned a goodly percentage of my goods, and gave all that was behind me a good, stiff Randian Shrug.

The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

See, this is why I live in the desert.

Landmines. I need more landmines. And claymores. With automatic sensors to detect the sound of "I'm from the government, and I'm here to..." BANG!

3 comments:

Kevin Wilmeth said...: "See, this is why I live in the desert."

Some day, they'll get that. And you'll know when it happens by the wording of their new charge du jour: Willful Evasion Of Social Progress.

At that point, best just shift into Condition Red.; November 4, 2010 at 12:52 PM
CorbinKale said...: Next, they'll remove all the tables and chairs, replacing them with treadmill/tabletop combos. Eat healthy! lol; November 4, 2010 at 6:12 PM
The Grey Lady said...: Heh...we have a Mission in the city where volunteers ride bikes to generate electricity so the homeless can have a carbon footprint free meal. Of course all the volunteers are suits and students alleviating their gnawing guilt, the homeless must shake their heads at the utter meaningless of the society they have opted out of.; November 5, 2010 at 11:22 AM