Posted on 06/20/2022 1:59:49 PM PDT by Perseverando
"We have seen the treacherous use of the 'fifth column' by which persons supposed to be peaceful visitors were actually a part of an enemy unit of occupation ... ... These trouble-breeders have but one purpose. It is to divide our people into hostile groups and to destroy our unity and shatter our will to defend ourselves." - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat, December 29, 1940.
The term "fifth column” referred to ancient warfare, where two columns of soldiers were in the middle of the battlefield, with two flanks on either side.
The fifth column were spies who had infiltrated the enemy camp to demoralize and confuse them.
This practice was used by Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, who took gold from the mines near the Greek city of Amphipolis and used it to bribe citizens of Athens to betray their city.
These paid betrayers and bribed politicians would organize around themselves what have been referred to as "useful fools" or "useful idiots," naive people who actually believed their propaganda.
Cicero addressed the Roman Senate, c.42 BC: "A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself ... He works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it
(Excerpt) Read more at americanminute.com ...
There’s no sense trying to accommodate or tolerate their crap for even a second 🤪
0bama comes to mind.
Not sure I see the point to trumpeting America’s first All-Socialist, All-The-Time POTUS as a Great Uniter.
hmmm I’d always heard the term originated in the Spanish Civil War. An army was advancing on a city in 4 different columns. A reporter asked the commanding general which one he thought would take the city. He answered “the fifth column”....ie sympathizers within the city.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.