Tariffs, emphasis on the if.
Per their nature, politicians play the role of the boy in The Boy Who Cried Wolf professing danger to coerce obedience. But of course, they are also on the ones holding the key to the wolf’s cage. So, after one too many cries they’ll let the wolf out on a leash for a little while to ensure us doom is right around the corner and they’re the only ones that can prevent it.
A boy who cries wolf with no more wolf, is merely a crying boy.
Welcome to politics. Is it any wonder that we see rising tariffs? Taxes on imported goods. But imported bads seem to be doing just fine.
Maybe we should stop listening to the crying boys and turn to the wolfs for wisdom.
Let us never cease from thinking- what is this ‘civilization’ in which we find ourselves? What are these ceremonies and why should we take part in them? What are these professions and why should we make money out of them?
-Virginia Woolf
We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges…The would-be sorcerer alone has faith in the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things act of themselves or not at all.
-Gene Wolfe
Perhaps this is our strange and haunting paradox in America- that we are fixed and certain only when we are in movement.
-Thomas Wolfe
What is the ‘if’ in tariff? It’s from that imported Russian fairy tale. It’s the scorpion that can’t swim so it asks the frog for a ride across the river. “But you’ll stab me with your tail,” decried the prophetic frog.
“Of course I won’t,” said the scorpion. “IF I did, we’d both drown.”
“Fair,” decided the frog. “That’s a good point.”
Halfway across the lake the scorpion stings the frog in the back. They both begin to sink. Before death took him the frog asked, “why did you do that?!?”
“I had to,” said the sinking scorpion. “It is in my nature.”
What is the ‘if’ in tariff?
What if, the three little pigs could only afford the stick house?
What if, Jack, after climbing the beanstalk had to give the giant all of the golden eggs after such a good heist?
What if, Aladdin only got one wish and the other two went to the state.
What if, Goldilocks was only given the option of hot or cold porridge with nothing in between? Unbearable…
And for our politicians, Kipling’s If:
If you can keep your head when all about you,
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise…
…
…
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
…
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And- which is more- you’ll be a man, my [boy]