When will we peasants revolt? From Simon Black, at Sovereign Man blog, via zerohedge.com:
In the history of post-Norman monarchs in the UK there have been nine Henrys. Eight Edwards. Four Williams. Four Georges. And three Richards.
Yet there was only one John.
In fact, in nearly 1,000 years since William the Conqueror took England in 1066, John was the only King to never have his name repeated.
And with reason. He wasn’t exactly a popular guy, widely despised by his people and nobles alike.
John constantly taxed and plundered his subjects to finance pointless wars abroad. He extorted them with ever-increasing fines and imprisoned people for absurd, victimless crimes.
He used his local police (sheriffs) to confiscate private property under threat of violence, building them into the most feared and powerful force in the kingdom.
According to Harry Buffardi’s book “The History of the Office of the Sheriff”, King John deliberately selected “men of harsh demeanor for the post”.
(Does any of this sound familiar?)
The historical evidence suggests that John was so hated that he was assassinated by poison; Shakespeare dramatizes this episode in his little known play King John, which contains the most wonderful death line “[N]ow my soul hath elbow-room. . .”
Before he departed this earth, however, King John was forced to make certain concessions to the nobles who had waged all-out rebellion against him.
After taking London, the rebel barons met John to formalize these concessions at a picturesque riverside meadow called Runnymede, not far from Heathrow airport.
The contract they hammered out on June 15, 1215 (which is actually June 22nd in our modern calendar) contained a list of rights and privileges that eventually became known as Magna Carta.
And to this day it continues to be held up as some sort of holy document that spawned everything from the English Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution.
Over the weekend I went to a special Magna Carta exhibit at the British Library in London, which praised the document for building the foundation of personal liberty (ironically while all of us were under CCTV surveillance).
That’s certainly the official story.
The National Archives in the US calls Magna Carta “one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy,” and that “during the American Revolution, Magna Carta served to inspire and justify action in liberty’s defense.”
Yet this is a total myth, as much as “Columbus discovered America.”
The truth is that Magna Carta was a document for the nobles, by the nobles. No one gave a damn about the common people.
To continue reading: Magna Carta Now
Reblogged this on Starvin Larry.
It’s well past the time us peasants should have revolted.