A bitter quarrel arose between the horse and the stag in the days when both creatures roamed wild in the forest. The horse came to the hunter to ask him to take his side in the feud.

The hunter agreed, but added: "If I am to help you punish the stag, you must let me place this iron bit in your mouth and this saddle upon your back."

(United States PATRIOT ACT, removal of civil liberties, labor union rights, adequate wages, class actions, environmental protections & etc. and of course, the progenitor: corporate welfare)

The horse was agreeable to the man's conditions and he soon was bridled and saddled. The hunter sprang into the saddle, and together they soon had put the stag to fight. When they returned, the horse said to the hunter: "Now if you will get off my back and remove the bit and the saddle, I won't require your help any longer."

"Not so fast, friend horse," replied the hunter, "I have you under bit and spur, and from now on you shall remain the slave of man."

Amazing what ancient wisdom portrays and those who cannot remember the past.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayanna

----------------------------------------------

Notes: George Santayana, The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Common Sense 284 (2nd ed., Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, New York 1924 (originally published 1905 Charles Scribner's Sons)(appears in chapter XII, "Flux and Constancy in Human Nature")). George Santayana, The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress 82 (one-volume edition, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, New York 1954)(appears in Book I, Reason in Common Sense, chapter 10, "Flux and Constancy in Human Nature").