The Ultimate Answer to Kings: All Righty, Then!

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, September 22, 2011

All Righty, Then!

I come back this afternoon to find lots of comments to this morning's bleg, none of which told me to go to hell. So I've added a tip jar button. Thanks for the responses!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Woo Hoo! Glad for the opportunity. K; September 22, 2011 at 6:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Go to hell................ aw come on Joel..... You know who I am and that I am here all the time and didn't think I'd be forced to do that?

Ok....I'll shut up and press button..... is it the red one PSM says he set up for you?

Buck.; September 22, 2011 at 9:53 PM

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

All Righty, Then!

2 comments:

Why the hell did you scroll all the way down here?