Termitus Politicus Ridiculus

We hear what we want to hear, and we believe what we want to believe, often at the expense of truth. We forward inflammatory news, emails and rumors without checking the source for accuracy and motive. We spread half-truths and hot statements taken out of context and fanned to destroy like wildfire. We assume the worst first and react accordingly, then deal with the collateral damage later or not at all, crippling any chance of collaboration or bipartisan problem-solving. It's like the grownups have regressed to middle school mentality. 

A republic will only survive with a principled, ethical people. We have to know what we believe, why we believe, and base our actions and votes on those principles when it comes to public policy. We all could use a lesson on the Constitution and how important it is to our individual freedoms and responsibilities. We cannot base our decisions on whims, what tickles our ears and eyes, or what we can get out of the government. That's the slippery path of least resistance that too many are already traveling down. Our forefathers never intended for the government to grow beyond the capacity to sustain itself, and yet, that's where we are. 

My first post on Beans, Means, & Possible Dreams is a fable about politics using a termite colony.

by Donna Van Cleve

        

The Termite Colony prides itself on the fact that the scientific community deems it a eusocial group, a term signifying the highest level of social organization. This is in spite of the fact that most termites are blind and work and exist entirely in the dark, but to their credit can still create elaborate structures and complex systems of transportation and ventilation.

Things are heating up in the Colony, though. Elections for leadership positions are only a week away, and the mudslinging—normally a calm and typical activity in the colony—has turned ugly. The two major parties: the Ups and the Downs are making the loudest attempts to discredit each other.

The Ups say the Downs thrive on a depressing view of the Colony—that they focus on how bad things are, the worst-case scenarios, and especially the social discrepancies between the elite and the un-elite. The Ups are quick to point out that most of the leadership of the Downs are actually members of the elite, or eventually slip into that category after a few years in leadership service, for some reason. The Ups say the leadership is running out of teats to feed and support perfectly healthy termites that have adapted to a lifestyle of getting paid for not working. The Ups say the Downs’ goal is to put all termites at the same socio-economic level, with the exception of the Downs’ elites who have good tax attorneys.

The Downs say that the leadership of the Ups, and Ups members in general, are all greedy elites and unsympathetic to the plight of the nymphs and workers stuck in a caste system of making the Ups richer and richer at their expense. The Downs claim the Ups are in cahoots with all the big mounds, and anyone making a six-figure salary is suspected of ill-gotten gains. The Downs want to tax the elites at a higher rate, leveling the playing field and offering more social programs. The Ups say that’s leading to a socialist colony.

Some termites are overheard telling their friends that the reason the Downs should be in power is because it means ‘more stuff’ coming their way. Other termites shake their heads and wonder who’s going to pay for all this ‘stuff.’

The Downs are very concerned about the ecological effect termites are making on the world and advocate that termites eat and work less in order to reduce the huge hydrogen emissions in the Colony due to the digestion of cellulose, termites’ most common food source. The Ups claim that the Downs are pumping millions of dollars into green companies that know how to spend it, but have little to show for it.

The Ups believe they can convert the Colony’s hydrogen waste into an energy source. They support free enterprise and the free market system with little government intervention. The Downs say they overlook those termites that have gotten rich by monopolizing the market or finding loopholes in the taxing system. But the Ups claim to have a more optimistic view of the Colony—focusing on termites’ personal responsibility and potential for success due to the educational and free market opportunities available in the Colony.

The Downs believe that the leadership should regulate business to protect the un-elites from being taken advantage of, and that everyone should have the inalienable right to healthy termite care. The Ups don’t trust the leadership to run health care efficiently and point to numerous failed programs to support that claim. The Ups say that the weaker and more dependent termites become, the more powerful and controlling the leadership becomes, and the whole Colony loses personal freedoms.

Both parties drag dark and white and nymph and soldier termites onto their platforms to make sure they come across to the Colony as compassionate towards all termites. Both the Ups and Downs like to think of themselves as reasonable and open-minded, but only if one agrees with their policies.

A third party garnering attention is the self sufficient, independent-winged caste and the only termites with well-developed eyes. They like to refer to themselves as the T-Party, where the power is placed back in the feet of the Termites. But unfortunately, they’re not as organized as the Ups and Downs. They tend to focus on building new colonies and when the opportunity to fly comes along, most of them don’t survive the political journey. They are making a lot of noise, though.

The T-Party claims that many of the leadership of the Downs quietly believe that most termites are too ignorant to successfully manage their own lives. The Downs are convinced that the average termite needs help—lots of help, which creates more and more dependency on the Downs. Therefore, termites are obligated to vote Down year after year to keep the entitlements coming and the Downs in power. The T-Party sees it as a backwards form of slavery and wide open for massive abuse by unethical termites. But they also recognize that many Downs are idealistic and genuine in their desire to right wrongs, but sometimes create greater problems and unintended consequences in their attempts to ‘help.’

The T-Party says that the Ups have a genuine trust in the capabilities of the common termite, assuming all termites have enough sense to pull themselves up by their antennae and become productive members of the Colony. The T-Party agrees that it looks great in theory, but tends to hurt the helpless termites and the ones caught in the dependency net and don’t know how to get out. The Downs continue to enable the dependency and turn a blind eye to the abuses. But on the other foot, the Ups aren’t sure how to deal with termites that have lost their ability and willpower to independently support themselves, and they too often are at a loss on how to remedy the problem.    

And unfortunately, the corrupt and greedy are found across all parties at all levels taking advantage of every good intention.

A wise old termite once said, “The Ups and Downs and everyone in between have more goals in common than they have differences, but everybody suffers when they can’t get past those differences. A free colony will only survive when its termites—the leadership as well as the masses—are ethical and work together in maintaining and helping the Colony to thrive through hard work and personal responsibility, as well as to demonstrate compassion and care for the vulnerable.”

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