The Ultimate Answer to Kings: Rules are for the little people.

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.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Rules are for the little people.

And as Carl points out, these goons aren't little. Or, maybe, people.

5 comments:

The Grey Lady said...: YOur linky to carl is stinky...at least for moi...; June 20, 2011 at 11:28 AM
Joel said...: Hm. I just checked it and it's working here.; June 20, 2011 at 11:39 AM
The Grey Lady said...: Bless my britches, it's working just fine now.....; June 20, 2011 at 12:50 PM
Joel said...: Well, I did fiddle with it, which might have had some effect. But it was working for me before I did.; June 20, 2011 at 12:52 PM
The Grey Lady said...: I'll just put this down to one of the quirks of the interent...you have a good day now grandpa Joel.; June 20, 2011 at 1:25 PM

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Monday, June 20, 2011

Rules are for the little people.

5 comments:

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