Many people are, of course, familiar with George Orwell's 1984 and the warning he was sending about government becoming all powerful. Many people are less familiar with the fact that Orwell's other famous book, Animal Farm, was also a warning. It was a warning about communism under Joseph Stalin and what he was building in Russia. The story is about a group of animals that take over a farm and attempt to rebuild it in their utopian vision. The pigs are in charge of these efforts and are also the beneficiaries of the fruits of society's labor. For instance, when the hungry animals find apples which have fallen from a tree, and when they are wondering what to do with the milk from the cows, the head pig, Napoleon, steps forward and claims the milk and apples for the pigs, on the grounds that their mental powers are needed to run the farm.
Throughout the book, Napoleon clings to power by warning the other animals that if they don't do what they are told, Jones (the former owner of the farm who treated the animals cruelly) might come back. As time moves forward in the book, Napoleon changes from being an elected leader to being a dictator. He rules by fiat, and slaughters anyone who disagrees with him or gets in his way. Even loyal and noble Boxer, who represents the working class, is killed by Napoleon in the end, and the money received from selling his body to the knacker goes to buy whiskey for the pigs.
Now let's look at what is going on under President Obama. The size of the federal government is exploding. Congress is passing laws from which they themselves are exempt. People are getting poorer and yet the government comes out with statistics almost daily to tell us that the recession has ended. Anyone really believe that? The party in charge has rammed legislation down the throats of the American people which will cost over a trillion dollars. Yet what does Obama do at every turn? Blames Bush! Like Napoleon in Animal Farm who always warned the other animals what would happen if Jones came back, Obama is using the former president as a symbol. You don't want the problems back which happened under George Bush, do you? The point is that Obama and his policies, and the "rulers" in Congress are starting to act like the pigs in Animal Farm. Maybe Orwell wasn't just warning the world about Stalin. Maybe he was warning the world about all who would create "utopias" based on collective thought and action.
