One of my favorite fables reminds me of the way America used to be not really that long ago: a nation of ants. Here’s a quick summary:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
The moral of the story of course: Be responsible for yourself!
Today, with roughly 50% of households in the US receiving some form of government payment, and nearly 50 million people on food stamps, it is obvious we have strayed far from our origins & the founders’ intent: a nation of sovereign individuals. It’s easy though to assume that the grasshopper is the sloth citizen, unwilling to work hard and better themselves, preferring instead to wait around for government to take from the hard working ant and redistribute to them. I submit that there are actually two other kinds of grasshoppers, though, and they are far more dangerous to what would and should be our nation of ants.
Attack Grasshopper
This breed, rather than creating his own wealth, wants to meddle in, conquer, and steal the wealth of other ants & grasshoppers in other fields. Of course he does not do this himself, he sends other grasshoppers & ants of his own tribe. He also often attacks the freedoms of individual grasshoppers & ants within his field, wishing to force his belief system and morality upon the others; he’ll subject them to random search & seizure & deny their rights to due process. He’ll keep them indoctrinated with tales of “field exceptionalism” and the “call of duty”. He’ll pretend to be on the side of the regular grasshoppers all the while using more of the confiscated ants’ wealth on his militarism. He’ll keep them all in a perpetual state of fear.
Crony Grasshopper
This breed, rather than really work & produce actual tangible results, uses his resources & connections to keep one of his own in power. In doing so, he siphons off resources and gets exceptions and special treatment that regular ants do not get. Often he goes in & out of power with his fellow crony grasshoppers through a revolving door. He takes “positions” that would seem to indicate he is “working” when not in power. He fosters a fake divide of resentment & bitterness between red ants and black ants, thus providing the illusion of the possibility of “hope” and “change” to the ants & regular grasshoppers. Also works closely with Attack Grasshopper cousins to increase his power & ability to skim off the system. He’ll keep the ants complacent by taking from them just enough so they are still content with a “decent” life while giving to the regular grasshoppers just enough so they can get bye & he buys their votes.
A Nation of Ants
The big problem is that we’ve either had Crony Grasshoppers or Attack Grasshoppers in charge for as long as I can remember, and often a grasshopper who is a mix between the two.
What if there is one candidate of the current five presidential contenders who is himself an ant and not a grasshopper of any sort? One who wants his fellow ants to keep what they earn, and he wants to strongly & staunchly defend their field, not plunder & instigate in the fields of others, nor perpetuate a system of cronyism. What if he were elected?