Another entry in the "For civility's sake, let's change 'Don't Tread on Me'" challenge. This one, from Mateo, reworks the snake into the 2 snakes of the caduceus and changes the phrase into the physician's precept.
Here's a discussion point for the comments: Is "First, do no harm" a good conservative principle, making this flag something other than mockery of the liberal's call to civility? Or does the presentation of government as medicine work as a critique of liberalism?
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21 comments:
I want the Chicago Way version that says
"First, Do No Rahm"
Someone just replace the snake's head with Mohammed's already.
Is, "First do no harm" a good conservative principle...?
I'd say it is the conservative principle.
It is why conservatives are alert to the unintended consequences of "good" laws.
In a similar vein here is a Basuto proverb:
If a man does away with his traditional way of living and throws away his good customs, he had better make certain that he has something of value to replace them.
Similar, not the same. The proverb became available to a universal audience when it was used by Robert Ruark as the epigraph to his novel, Something Of Value.
How about this one: "First, try to cut the whole department."
Trey
I don't like it as a morph of the Gadsen Flag at all.
"First do no harm" IS a good part of conservative principles, however much evil and harm has been done by Liberals who think that they are following that path.
The unintended harm in the long run of many of their policies is legendary. By doing no harm to the Delta Smelt, they have destroyed the lives of thousands of people in the San Juaquin Valley and decimated an industry that provided food for millions of people.
Doing no harm without long term thinking or without self awareness is the precept of the Left. They THINK they are doing good and that there could not possibly be any bad consequences to thier actions.
Conservatives should NOT take this mantra upon themselves.
"Look before you leap." "Measure twice. Cut once." are better conservative precepts.
Presentation as government as medicine is a good way to critque the way that government is shoving its cures to what they consider societal problems down our throats.
The Caduceus as critique of that is much too subtle. Many people would not even make the connection between the image and medicine. (Hell, most of our population can't recognize a photograph of the Vice President)
Our education system has completely failed to teach such things.
Actually, it should be for both.
By conserving the old, don't stand in the way of beneficial improvements.
By being open to consider new things, don't be too eager to throw out old things that work and are still beneficial.
The old Greek ideal of moderation in all things.
PS Interesting the way this is going. You may have started a cottage industry, Madame
It's a better critique of liberalism. Conservatives will gladly wreck something for the better good.
If by first do no harm you mean it would stem the tide of abortion on demand.. then I'm for it.
I tried to make something similar to this yesterday but I'm still learning Photoshop. My quote (apropos the healthcare debate and soon-to-be repeal vote) was going to be :
"Don't Tread on Us"
Or if you wanted to be a bit stronger you could take this caducues gadsden and have this quote:
"Take your medicine, son"
Where is POGO? He would tell you--as the Wiki link notes--that the MEDICAL version has only A SINGLE SNAKE. (The vast maj. of the public makes this mistake, btw)
What about "Fifty-four Forty or Fight...Calories" on a flag that has a drawing of Mama Michelle.
When the only tool you have is a government program, soon every problem starts looking like ungrateful citizens.
Bravo, Quayle.
DBQ said...
By doing no harm to the Delta Smelt, they have destroyed the lives of thousands of people in the San Juaquin Valley and decimated an industry that provided food for millions of people.
I have to disagree with you. If they had simply chosen to do no harm to the smelt, that would not have caused anyone else any harm. The problem is, they tried to stop other people from doing harm, which is not the same thing. ( although maybe, in their collectivist minds, it is. )
@Quayle
"When the only tool you have is a government program, soon every problem starts looking like ungrateful citizens."
Winner winner chicken dinner.
The Gadsden flag is its own answer to the left's phony call for civility. So is the second amendment.
Feh. The Gadsen flag is about defiance in the face of authority and telling the government to keep their hands to themselves. The re-imagining eliminates the defiance. It's polite, at the expense of expressing a completely different idea that is unrelated to the original sentiment.
I don't want to tell the government we should be prudent. I want to tell them to keep their hands to themselves, and the Gadsen flag is the symbol for that.
As mentioned above, the winged rod with two snakes is a relatively modern invention. The rod of Asclepius, the god of medicine, had no wings and only one snake. The idea that the image of a snake had healing powers is included in the Bible. Moses used one in Exodus to stop an epidemic.
The caduceus, with two snakes and wings, is more correctly used as a symbol of commerce. Make of that what you will...
Phil 3:14, mocking the President's race seems to be a very important conservative principle, great suggestion! Bigot
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