We are all familiar with the story of William Tell. The story goes that the ruler of the Swiss principality where Wilhelm Tell and his family lived was a man named Albrecht Gessler, put in place by the Austrian Hapsburgs. Herr Gessler, to show his complete control over the people, erected a pole in the public square and placed his hat on top of it, ordering everyone to bow before the hat.  Wilhelm Tell passed by the hat without bowing and was arrested, and ordered, as punishment, to shoot an apple from the head of his son, and if he missed they both would die. On 18 November 1307, Tell, an expert marksman with the crossbow, split the apple, but told Gessler he would have killed him had he missed, so he was arrested and taken to Gessler’s castle. Tell escaped on the way and killed Gessler with his crossbow, fomenting a revolution that resulted in the formation of the Swiss Confederation, free from Austrian rule. Tell died in 1354 trying to save a child from drowning, and is a national hero in Switzerland. But the more interesting man to us is Gessler, who ordered everyone to bow to his hat. We now have a president who is an empty suit. Gessler ordered everyone to bow to his hat, but how is this so different from us being asked to bow before an empty suit?

 

If I were named Barack Hussein

I’d surely think it quite insane

If some thought I a muslim be

For anyone can plainly see

That though I liken muslim prayer

To birdies singing in the air

And though I sometimes quite refuse

To think of muslims killing Jews

As something that should not be done

I think that as my father’s son

I have a duty to proclaim

That Islam is a holy flame

That lights the way for all to live

But note that the alternative

Is constant strife and constant war

About whose god we should adore

I say the question should be moot

And by the way, you like the suit?