Donkeys, Elephants and Political Truths
By Thomas D. Segel (04/19/08)
Harlingen, Texas, April 17,2008: During the presidential campaign of 1828 Democrat Andrew Jackson was labeled a "jackass" because he was perceived to have stubborn and stupid political views. One hundred and nine years later that label still hangs around the neck of the Democratic Party. The party never adopted the jackass label, but it became an accepted party symbol by the people. Over the course of time political spinners changed the term from jackass to a donkey that was "clever and courageous", and the party has continued to spin that image.
The elephant didn’t come along until 1874 when both the jackass and the elephant were used in a political cartoon by Thomas Nast. He portrayed a roaring Democrat Jackass dressed in a lion- skin, frightening a very weak and timid Republican Elephant.
Just as with the democrats, the republicans could not shake the image of the oafish, timid elephant, once the public had viewed it. But, unlike the democrats, there was an official embracing of the elephant by the Republican Party. However, the official view was of an elephant that was a sign of “strength and intelligence”.
When viewed from the conservative vantage point of 2008, both symbols are very appropriate in their original context. Right now we have a mix of 561 elected and appointed officials in Washington who are a combination of bone-headed jackasses and wimpy-willed elephants…and they are all tearing our country apart.
If you are wondering where that number blundering politicos comes from, it is the sum total of 435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 members of the Senate, 9 members of the Supreme Court, 15 Cabinet members, the Vice President and the President of the United States. All are guilty of violating the United States Constitution, pandering to special interests and placing the future of the nation along with its people in extreme jeopardy.
Just pick a topic, if you will. The economy is currently all over the map. Each party is attempting to race for the biggest and best giveaway program to help assure its continuance in office, but nothing being proposed will really help the people of this country.
Homeland Security claims to protect us by poorly screening most airports, periodically checking on various ports, and attempting to place a ragtag collection of spotty fencing at selected locales on the southern border. They can’t even build a fence in an efficient manner. The law was passed in 2005, was supposed to have already been completed…and is such a mired mess Congress has extended the completion date to 2014. Now that is really protection.
We need oil and have billions upon billions of barrels in Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and offshore. The jackasses pandering to environmental kooks have blocked drilling. The timid behemoths haven’t even put up a good fight to correct a situation that has the entire country now paying from $3.50 to $4.00 a gallon at the pump.
There was, and in Washington it is still proudly pandered, the saving grace of corn based ethanol to reduce dependence on oil. It uses more energy to produce this poor substitute than it provides. Added to that, the plan has driven up corn prices so high that food items have skyrocketed across the United States and abroad. But, the jackasses and the behemoths blunder ever onward.
On the donkey side of the aisle, the cry is strong to bring our troops home from Iraq. regardless of the consequences. The fat cat elephants still support a war that they failed to provide for with a military force large enough to maintain the peace and no worthy plan to manage the aftermath of the initial invasion.
The nation has serious constitutional matters that need addressing from the gerrymandering of congressional districts to the eternally argued, and ever-politicized abortion issue. On these and other important topics, our Supreme Court refuses to act.
It seems that no issue meaningful to the people is worthy of passage. No project of value to a special interest group is found wanting. Most of all, the officials who took an oath to preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States of America have managed to find almost uncountable ways to prostitute that glorious document…And We the People do nothing about it.
In a commentary, I once suggested that every election ballot should contain a square voters could check which read “None of the above”. I would be willing to bet the farm that if such an item were on every ballot, we could empty out Washington and rid ourselves of that gaggle of misfits now in control. Unfortunately, the provision does not exist in any national election and we all continue choosing the least offensive of the candidates seeking office. With that system in place, the old cliché will remain our reality. We will continue to get the government we vote into office, while the donkeys and the elephants continue to blunder their way across our land.
Semper Fidelis
Tom Segel
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