No, I’m not talking about University of Arkansas athletics (Razorbacks). I kept seeing the term, Orwellian, in news articles and opinion pieces, and even though I knew what the term meant, I also realized it had been a long time since I read any of Orwell’s work. So, I recently re-read George Orwell’s classic, Animal Farm. l was probably in high school when I last read it. I’d be shocked if it is still being taught, but I hope it is.
In case you haven’t read it or don’t remember, here’s a summary. A group of anthropomorphized animals on an English farm feel they are being oppressed by the human farmer. Together, they plan and execute a revolt that effectively runs the farmer off and the animals take over the farm as a collective. Major, a boar who was one of the leaders of the movement that eventually lead to the animal revolt, says in a speech in chapter 1, Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs or has wings is a friend. And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him…No animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade…Above all, no animal must ever tyrannize over its own kind…All animals are equal.
Major died a natural death just a few nights after his famous speech. Napoleon, another boar, steps up into the unofficial leadership role. Soon after Napoleon’s ascension, the rebellion occurs and the human is banished. Napoleon is a hero.
In Orwell’s fictional world, the pigs are a little smarter than the rest of the animals, so they assume the “thinking” roles and assign the other animals roles appropriate for their abilities. As time goes on, the pigs begin to segregate themselves from the other animals. They cultivate and communicate propaganda to combat a growing feeling amongst the other animals that they are not only not better off in the collective, but they had better lives under human leadership. The pigs eventually move into the farmhouse, sleep on the beds, enter into trade agreements and fraternize with humans, and in the end, begin walking on their two hind legs. The barn had a wall on which was painted slogans from the early revolution. In the climax of the book, the animals see that All animals are equal has been modified to now read, All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
British politician, Lord Acton, wrote in a letter to a colleague in 1887, Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
Democrats, particularly progressives, have created a narrative that Donald Trump desires to be a dicator and the general population should fear him for this. I’m on record saying that while that may be a fantasy of Trump’s, there is no practical road for him to achieve this. And even though he likely meets Lord Acton’s definition of a bad man, the brilliance of our founding fathers in the way they constructed our government protects us from bad men like Trump.
While we have our pigs on both sides of the aisle, I continue to be more concerned about the pigs on the left than the right. Here are some anecdotal “pig” stories:
Kamala Harris said while being interviewed by Oprah recently, If someone breaks into my house they’re getting shot. This revelation that Harris is a gun owner came as a shock to many as she has been at the forefront of the gun control movement. Her official website touts her record in this regard. Some are more equal than others.
During COVID, California had some of the toughest restrictions and was the last state to ease them. Yet Governor Newsome and other government leaders were frequently captured flaunting those rules at their own social events. Some are more equal than others.
Author Fran Lebowitz urged Joe Biden to dissolve the Supreme Court before his term is over. If you do an internet search on abolish supreme court, you will find dozens of articles from left-leaning websites echoing the same sentiment. These erupted after the Roe v. Wade and presidential immunity cases. Andrew Jackson, the president that Donald Trump most reminds me of, and arguably the first Democrat president, ignored a Supreme Court ruling in 1835 and found a work around. He is credited with saying about the Chief Justice, let him enforce it. The quote may be inauthentic, but the sentiment is accurate. While Trump had the good fortune to be able to nominate three justices in 4 years, he did so legally. From Roosevelt’s attempt to pack the court in 1936, to Biden-Harris court reform proposal in July 2024, the left has attempted to make the Supreme Court an extension of the executive branch and are howling now because some of its recent rulings have leaned more right.
John Kerry recently noted that the first amendment can be an impediment to the government’s attempts to protect citizens against misinformation. Recently, Eight house Democrats lead by Adam Schiff, sent a letter to executives at Facebook, X, TikTok and more demanding to know how those platforms are going to combat misinformation and disinformation. There is already substantial evidence that the Biden administration put tremendous pressure on these platforms during the 2020 election as well as throughout COVID to suppress information that later turned out to be true. But inconvenient to the party in power. This is a tactic used effectively in countries like China, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, etc. The desire to control the flow of information is a “pig” trait.
As the pigs in Animal Farm gained more power, they found that certain aspects of Major’s vision were inconvenient, so they eliminated them. Putin’s supreme court rules exactly the way Putin wants then to. As do the Supreme Courts of most banana republics and dictatorships throughout the world. An independent judiciary is a critical part of the American experiment. It was when it made horrible decisions, like Dred Scott in 1857 which denied African Americans citizenship. This was corrected with the 13th and 14th Amendments. Or Plessy-Ferguson in 1896 that gave us separate but equal which allowed segregation. This was corrected by Brown v Board of Education in 1954. There are many others. Depending on your perspective, either Roe v Wade (1973) or the Dobbs case that overturned Roe in 2022 are good or bad decisions.
While justices nominated by Republican presidents are currently in the majority, this is a pendulum that swings as justices are replaced one at a time. If Dobbs or Trump v U.S. were horrible decisions, we’ll eventually correct it – preferably by legislation, not the courts. A few decisions that don’t go your way doesn’t justify abolishing or modifying the court. That’s what the pigs would do. Fear the pigs!