The Romance of Vampires

The modern image of the vampire is a romantic one. All kinds of delightful vampire fiction has been written in this vein (!) and enjoyed by millions, myself included.

But if you've ever seen the very first movie based on the novel, Dracula, by Bram Stoker, you've seen the character he really wrote about. Interestingly, the filmmaker was sued by the Stoker estate for using the story, presumably without permission, and was forbidden to use the title Dracula. That's why it was called Nosferatu. He was a nasty piece of work that no one would mistake for anything but the monster he was.

By the time we saw the approved Dracula on film, however, this fiendish creature had been transformed into a handsome, charming and mannerly aristocrat. He was attractive, captivating, refined. He didn't seem like monster at all.

Why am I telling you this little story? Because it is the perfect metaphor for the creature that is sucking our blood.

In the beginning, Big Government was understood to be a monster with a horrible and dangerous hunger—by all our Founding Fathers. But years later we became forgetful of the original, and when the monster was presented to us, it appeared to be a kindly, caring, helpful creature who only had our best interests at heart.

But beneath its carefully constructed, benign facade it was a monster with a terrible appetite. And we made the mistake of inviting it in. And it grew bigger and more powerful feeding on our life-blood, until finally, it became the master of our house.

We have to stake this GOVampire or it will surely kill us all.

The Gunslinger