Elephant’s Ear - November 2024

This column is intended to answer the biggest political questions of the day.   All truth. No holds barred!

What do YOU want to know? (Submit your question to elephantsear.column@gmail.com)

Wanting to believe is much stronger than just believing.

People want to believe that what they have been taught, personally experienced, and lived, is good and righteous, and comfortable, and that those who live or think differently are incorrect at best, and enemies, at worst. 

How you came to believe what you do is your business, but inflicting your views on others, as if they were the only thing worthwhile, is reprehensible (which has been the case for a lot of the last 4 years!)

Once upon a not-so-long-ago time there was a country. 

We could tell it was a country because, at the time, a country was a place defined by boundaries that separated it from other countries – even ones touching it.  Without those lines, called “borders”, it couldn’t - and wouldn’t - be considered a country anymore.

Before its lines melted, the country had laws and policies, and traditional ways of behaving, that most of the inhabitants followed.  When someone didn’t follow the rules, and misbehaved, they were kept away, sometimes for a long time, so they could no longer hurt anyone or destroy property. 

Throughout the years, the country had (mostly) been run by leaders, some weak, some strong, who understood that the main responsibility of government – their government - was to keep their people safe. That safety would allow the inhabitants to go about their business, and live their lives, paying more or less attention (usually less) to those who were in charge.

The children of the country went to school (or didn’t).  They grew up. They married (or didn’t). They raised families (or didn’t).  They went to work or had their own businesses (or didn’t). They built things, or fixed things (or people), or protected people, or taught, or invented, or served people, or did all the things that people do to make a country work.

When they were sick, they went to a doctor. When they wanted to eat, they either grew their food, or hunted for it, or shopped. When they wanted some fun, they went places to watch people play games, or to places that could entertain their families, or took advantage of the beautiful sites that dotted the country.  They read or wrote books.  They worked hard, and found ways to enjoy their time off. 

The people became used to doing their own thing, minding their own business (mostly), following the rules (mostly), being nice to each other (mostly), and generally got on with their lives.

Throughout history, the leaders of the country (mostly) kept the people safe and the country in (mostly) good shape. 

Every once in awhile, however, there was a leader who didn’t serve the people well, so, in response, the people created a system (called “elections”) where the people could choose their new leader(s) and, later, put time limits on how long certain officials could hold office.

This system worked for a long time, until some leaders began to take advantage of the people. 

They began to demand the people pay more and more money to the government. They began to make up rules that put more and more restrictions on people, such as what they could do and what they could say.  They began to push their way into every part of their peoples’ lives. 

The people waited for elections, so that they could vote for better leaders.

Under one government, the people were thriving and going about their business and lives the way they wished.  They were making money, things were affordable, their kids were learning what they needed to know, and the people felt safe. 

At the time, their leader had come from the business world, not the usual political world, and some people didn’t “get” him.  When he used rough language, they began to wonder if there wouldn’t be a nicer leader somewhere in the population, and so they elected a new leader.

One day, the people noticed that this leader wasn’t doing so well.  He seemed to be in failing health, couldn’t walk well, or speak or think coherently, and wasn’t the person they thought they had elected. 

They also began to wonder about who was in charge, since the leader didn’t seem to know what was going on - and figured out that some (unelected) people around him were telling him what to do.

They began to see that some of what was being decided and put in place was beginning to affect their lives, but not in a good way – and that Life was not what it used to be, nor what they wanted it to be…

They noticed that - when newly elected - the leader had immediately begun to do away with many of the things that had made people feel safe and comfortable. 

The border that had defined the country as a self-governing nation was erased, allowing strangers to stream in – strangers who seemed to have motives that began to undermine the country’s traditional way of life.  In addition, goods and services were becoming more and more expensive - and some of the items people had liked, used, and even depended on had begun to disappear from store shelves.

Inner cities, once the pride of their States, became dangerous places in which to walk and play; filth began piling up on streets; people were becoming hooked on drugs or mentally ill.

Despite building more and more (crowded) apartment complexes, housing soon became expensive, so many people, who could no longer afford to rent or buy places to live, began living in tents, on sidewalks! 

Then the leaders decided to try to control more and more of people’s lives.  To limit free movement, they wanted to discourage people from having personal transportation, so they began to build “housing” around mass transit - but the trains didn’t always go where the people needed to go, so people tried to keep their cars (even though the leaders tried to limit places to park).  When too few people were riding the buses, the leaders began to use the streets to restrict where people could drive: They didn’t maintain the crumbling roadways; they built awkward roundabouts; and they began to squeeze the streets where people could drive, by adding lanes devoted to the very few who used them.

Then the leaders began to intrude on the education of the young.  Schools stopped teaching the children what their parents wanted them to know, substituting information about what parents didn’t want their kids to know – and refusing to tell the parents what that was.

Then the leaders began to take charge of how people should talk (and think).  Many were accused of saying the wrong things or thinking the wrong way, and if they didn’t adapt to the way they were told to speak, many were bullied or even lost their jobs. 

Life was becoming increasingly chaotic, but most of all, people didn’t feel safe anymore.

What were the people to do?  Most of them just wanted to live and let live, but the country became more and more divided, with 2 main factions, called “Parties”.   

Those on the very outside edges of the Parties did not believe the way most of the people did. They pushed and pushed to get their way - and wouldn’t give up or let go. The people became disgusted, and searched for leadership that would act in their interest - not in self-interest.

The election that would follow would highlight 2 leaders – one considered too weak, the other too strong.

Those behind the weak leader soon convinced him not to run again – which meant that the election would be between a former leader, whose policies people really liked, but whose personality irritated them, and a new person who suddenly popped up, and who had no other goal than to keep the old leader from serving again.  Those supporting the past leader were able to get beyond personality, and to realize how much better their lives had been.  Those disliking the past leader refused to look beyond his personality. 

The election that was to follow would determine whether the country would continue to follow a path toward self-destruction and eventual implosion - or to return to what had made the country great and its people strong and vibrant.

Which way would the country decide go?  It would really be up to the People…

…And, on November 5, 2024, the People decided!  They elected the past leader to serve again, and to “right” the country!  …And the People gave a huge sigh of relief…