Beware the Ides of March

In the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, a soothsayer warned Caesar to beware the Ides of March shortly before he was stabbed to death by a group of conspirators in the Roman Senate led by Brutus.  

Brutus along with many of the conspirators later fell into disfavour and he eventually committed suicide. Brutus is believed to have yelled the Latin equivalent of down with tyrants at the time of the assassination a phrase believed to have been repeated by John Wilkes Booth when he assassinated President Lincoln.  

March has historically been a difficult time for leaders with attempts on the lives of Queen Victoria and President Reagan. Many political acts that seem to be a good idea with popular support in the immediate are often shunned shortly thereafter or excoriated by historical record. 

Our aspiring candidates may wish to reflect on this and make principle not compromise or conspiracy their bedfellow. It is often an isolated position while many dance around the maypole with abandon but it has the benefit of endurance. Unfortunately such a position will require persistent oversight of the status quo and perhaps even calling for a paradigm shift in approach.  

More chilling will be the occasional visits by members of the security apparatus tasked with yet another misguided investigation into how compromising documents found their way to persons of real public trust. 

Peter Polack