My weekly column is up at Da Tech Guy blog. This is a reposting of Procrustes in America.

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By A.P. Dillon

Have you heard of the Greek myth of Procrustes? As the myth goes, Procrustes was a bandit and a metal smith from Attica and was also the son of Poseidon. His claim to fame was that he would attack people and force them to fit an iron bed. Procrustes would do so by either stretching their bodies out or cutting off limbs to make the person fit.

Procrustes is alive and well in the United States of America.

The Procrustean bed is described as the exact conformity being forced on a person or persons to an arbitrary standard. A shorter definition: One size fits all.

These beds are made for us for our own good, of course, because government and the ‘elite’ know what is best for us.

Consider Obamacare. Being forced to buy a predetermined product by one’s government regardless of your individual preferences or needs.  As a Procrustean bed, Obamacare is a resounding failure. It’s been stretched and it has had multiple limbs chopped off, yet it still does not fit.

Then there’s zero tolerance in our schools. Enforcing rules and punishments on children with the absence of common sense and with no consideration for context.  All shall be judged according to the same stick. Who decided on the size and shape of that stick? Not parents, teachers or taxpayers and certainly not the children.

The ultimate Procrustean bed right now would have to be Common Core.  Common Core proposes to make all children fit their sized bed.  Like Procrustes, the Common Core is attacking our kids.  In their formative years, they are being stretched beyond what they can handle physically and mentally. In the latter years, they are having those stretched limbs chopped off.

The message of all of these Procrustean beds is really rather clear: To Hell with individuality. Conform.

My response is: The Hell I will.

If you enjoyed this article, you should really check out other pieces written by Da Tech Guy’s Magnificent Seven writers and maybe hit that tip jar!

A.P. Dillon (Lady Liberty 1885), is a Conservative minded wife and mother living in the Triangle area of North Carolina. A.P. Dillon founded the blog LadyLiberty1885.com in 2009. After the 2012 election, she added an Instapundit style blog called The ConMom Blog. Mrs. Dillon’s writing, in addition to Da Tech Guy’s Magnificent 7, can also be found at StopCommonCoreNC.org, WatchdogWireNC and WizBang. Non-political writing projects include science fiction novellas that are, as of yet, unpublished. Her current writing project is a children’s book series.