Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka OOW Herd Part 7 of 13
“Meaning.”
“Like I said Reb, what would Mr. Plato not like about this place?”
“I meant 'meaning' Gus, sort of what people make of things – how they think.”
“Freedom.”
“Yes.”
“Think, Speak and Act Reb.”
“Right.”
“Plato was against thinking?”
“He wasn’t Gus.”
“So what’s up then?”
“The Guardians were to form a single family.”
“Huh?”
“Like a herd.”
“You mean like selecting a bull and a cow to be together?”
“Correct.”
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“Why?”
“If you let individuals select a mate, they will sometimes choose unwisely.”
“To each their own.”
“Not in Plato’s Republic.”
Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka OOW Common
“Quite a place.”
“It never worked.”
“I see why.”
“Places like this are tempting.”
“Of course.”
“How often did we think of home Gus?”
“Endlessly.”
“That’s what Plato feared.”
“He feared feelings Johnny.”
“Yes.”
“Which is why he didn’t like poets.”
“True.”
“What could Guardians have?”
“They were to have all things in common.”
“Sounds like a Guardian Church Johnny.”
“Same spirit.”
“Community then.”
“The whole over the individual Yank.”
“Makes Plato’s pyramid.”
“Exactly.”
Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka OOW State
“And the interests of the State were atop this pyramid?”
“Correct.”
“What about the children Johnny?”
“For Gladys and Lee?”
“In general.”
“Children were to be held in common too.”
“Meaning?”
“No Guardian was to know their child; no Guardian child was to know their parents.”
“Nuts.”
“Agreed.”
“Why do that?”
“Unity.”
“For?”
“Fealty to State and not family.”
“Sounds like submission to me.”
“The State first Gus.”
“What’s the good in that Reb?”
*Next Up: 12 February and part 8 of Republican Values: Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Good.
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner
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