Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Two Wolves and a Sheep...

Benjamin Franklin left Independence Hall that fateful day back in the summer of 1789, right after he and our other Founding Fathers had crafted the Constitution.  A woman stopped and asked him what kind of Government he'd given us.  He said,

"Madam, we've given you a Representative Republic, if you can keep it."

And right now, we're all about trying to keep it.

It won't surprise you to learn that we Americans are divided politically.  But it might surprise you to learn the extent of that divide.  And quite possibly, why.

Right now exactly 34% of our citizens proclaim themselves to be Republican, 32% Democrat, and 34% Independent.

(BTW, Republicans are 2 points up since the Election, and Democrats are 2 points down.  And "Independent" means they sway with the wind.  Voting this way and that, from one side to the other, like the pendulum on a grandfather clock, issue by issue, unable to make up their fragile minds.  And how they choose to vote, whether for the "R's" or for the "D's," typically decides the Election.  And it most assuredly did on November 5th.

We go into the New Year and the New Administration knowing these facts:

     -  Those who vote Democrat are largely those who've yet to attain their financial goals.  They're wage-earners.  Often MinWage earners.  Or low level salaried.  Often among the 49% of our population who do not pay Federal taxes.  But yet vote, often only for their own financial intererests.

        Does somebody need to take a look at that?  Don't we all need to have skin in the game?    

        Or they're very, very rich.  The movie moguls and the Wall Street $Billionaires.  It used to be the Republicans who were considered the Party of Big Business.  Or of the rich.  No longer.  The Silicon Valley crowd who donate $Billions to Democrats, and the Hollywood types who are clearly ashamed of their success.  Jeffrey Katzenburg donated $30 Million to the Democrats.  This cabal of $Zillionaires gave Harris more than $1.5 Billion Dollars to play with.  They didn't really earn all those $Millions, I'm thinking they're thinking.  And many of them didn't.  And so they're giving it away, hoping to gain some level of public absolution for their "crimes."  Like the Nottingham Sheriffs of old, they seek a "Writ of Absolution" from the then current pope.  And pay BIG for it.  But it's now turned into a sort of a digital public "whipping."  To be able to look in the mirror again without gagging, I presume. 

        Or they're women who believe that they're voting for reproductive freedom.  Even though the Supreme Court delivered that freedom with the repeal of "Roe v. Wade."  Now, the decision as to whether a woman can abort her fetus up until the instant of birth has been returned to the various states.  They vote on it.  And if a woman's state votes differently than she desires, she can then vote with her feet.  She can move.  She can go to Illinois or California, with each having offered to pay all travel and medical expenses relating to the surgery.  At their taxpayers' expense.  MY expense!  So you're a woman in Texas who desires an abortion at 38 weeks, just call BoyGuv.  He'll send you a plane ticket and put it on my MasterCard.      

     -  And those who vote Republican are often trying to retain what they have, whether income, earnings, savings or property.  Against a Democrat Party dedicated to taking it all away.  An onslaught against their persons and property.  And then redistributing it to those who didn't earn it.  For their votes.  These are the folks who earned it and want to keep it.  It's like being inside the fort, surrounded by Indians, (the "woo-woo" kind, not those "red dot" others), and trying to keep the maidens and kiddies safe from the savages.  Who are hungry, and motivated.  And would peel you like a grape if they got the chance.  And HAVE done so when they got the chance.  That's why we now have a combined upper tax rate of more than 50% of one's earnings in some Big Blue states.  Like mine.

     -  And lastly, there are terrorists.  Those who for whatever reason have decided that blowing sh*t up is a good idea.  And lots and lots of our folks with it.  Like the Ivy League grad who murdered the healthcare CEO.  And the idiots who are singing his praises.  Thinking he's "hot."  And that he was pushed by drug companies "beyond his limits," as one of our Senators remarked.

        I'm not wishing to induce unnecessary alarm.  I am suggesting that if I harbored terroristic sympathies, now would be the time.  A child shot up a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin a couple of days back.  Several died or were wounded.  That never happened when I was a kid and everyone was armed.  EVERYONE!  Something is wrong.  Be on the alert.  We all know 3% of our population is as crazy as a hoot owl.  Drunk, or stoned, or off their meds.  Driving toward you at 70 mph.  Pay attention.  Especially now during the Holiday Season when the nutcases come out of the shadows.  Doing so just might save your life.

When Ben Franklin was asked by that same lady why the Founding Fathers hadn't chosen democracy as our governing standard, he said: 

"A democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for lunch."

It appears the rules have been made and enforced by the wolves over the past several years.  Let's watch the incoming Administration to see if that can be changed around to our mutual benefit.


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