I believe that what happened to a large old dead tree on our homestead years ago is a

[Atticus]

Last edited Fri Oct 9, 2020, 11:53 AM - Edit history (1)

good analogy for what happened to the GOP.

It was a huge old oak that had been dead when we moved here. During a thunderstorm that rattled our windows, it was struck by lightning and was still smoking the next morning. We were busy and thought that surely the tree would eventually stop smoldering and we basically went about our lives and ignored it.

Three days later we heard a crash and found that the internal smoldering had so weakened the old giant that it had broken apart. And, now, with all the oxygen it needed, the smoke exploded into a raging fire! Even when we connected all the hoses we owned, they fell short of the fire. For an HOUR we lugged buckets of water to the flames and threw the contents onto the burning fallen oak. We finally extinguished the flames and collapsed exhausted. For the rest of that day, we checked hourly to be sure there was no new fire and we placed every bucket we had next to the charred trunk filled with water---just in case!

The GOP has been hollow for decades, but it was large enough to shelter a heart of smoldering racism and hate. Trump broke it apart and gave its core the permission---oxygen---to burn down the party and the nation in which it had lain dormant.

We are now lugging buckets of passionate concern and, hopefully, enough votes to knock down the flames.

We must succeed.

[Maru Kitteh]

1. well said

[RainCaster]

2. Great analogy

It brings up a powerful visual.

[Wounded Bear]

3. Good analogy...GOP has been rotten at its core since Clinton, at least...

It may have been recoverable after Reagan, but the Gingrich that stole Congress accelerated the rot.

[tblue37]

29. Nixon's scoundrels (Stone, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc.) just resurfaced to wreak havoc under Geo W. Bush.

[SheltieLover]

4. Great analogy!

Ty for sharing!

They are empty of brains, souls, empathy. Their party should be deemed a terrorist organization!

[central scrutinizer]

5. We need to immediately plant a healthy replacement

And nurture it well so people who are struggling get real help. I thought the Repugnants were done in 2008 after Bush/Cheney cratered the economy. The blue wave in 2008 was a real tsunami. But in 2010 they were back. Fox and AM hate radio will be reinvigorated. We need actions to overwhelm their screeds.

[denbot]

6. I believe you sum this up very nicely.

Bravo

[pandr32]

7. Apt analogy

Well done.

[LAS14]

8. Excellent analogy! nt

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Deregulation means no COVID regulation, no pollution restrictions - Barrett agenda

This is a coup against our country

[NJCher]

10. just from the nature standpoint alone

that's an amazing story.

[volstork]

11. Brilliant!

So well said.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

12. Perfect analogy...thx.

[malaise]

13. A brilliant OP

Reckless ReTHUGs are rotten and combustible

[3catwoman3]

14. Powerful...

...imagery.

[PatrickforO]

15. What an awesome analogy!

Thanks. More elegant, I think, than the concept of the dumpster fire.

[iluvtennis]

16. + 1. nt

[NNadir]

17. Nice analogy. Once the Republican party was...

...the party of Lincoln and Grant, but now it is the party of Nathan Forrest.

Racism has been burning within for more than half a century.

[FreeWheatForever]

18. That was really good

and as Smokey said, "Only you can prevent..."

[Moral Compass]

19. Great analogy

[panfluteman]

20. I Have Long Believed That American Conservatism Needs to Reinvent Itself

To appeal to a shifting voter demographic - less white, more black and brown, more ethnically diverse. But instead of doing the hard work of doing that, the GOP took the easy way out when it came to winning elections, through voter ID laws, voter suppression, vote purging, gerrymandering, and eventually even to outright racism and bigotry with Trump. Now their karma has finally caught up with them, and it seems like, one way or another, they are going to have to do the hard work that they have been putting off doing for decades in the face of changing voter demographics. The old way of doing things is now clearly seen to be an unsustainable house of cards. Even though I'm a liberal, I still believe that there will always be a place for conservatives, and have nothing against them in principle; conservatives have a viable and necessary niche in the political ecosystem. But the pseudo-conservatism of Trump and his MAGAts really isn't true conservatism, which has integrity and principles; it's giving conservatism a bad name.

It seems like there are quite a few points in common here with your analogy, Atticus.

[calimary]

21. A parable for our times, for sure! SO fitting!

GREAT story, Atticus! It illustrates the point rather vividly.

[StTimofEdenRoc]

22. Then we could enable their end by requiring all states electing a federal official to have a

Down to two candidates per office pre-general election.

[magicarpet]

23. Simile, metaphorical, and analogy,...

.... different offspring born of the same parentage. (Pertaining to English Literature.)

**********

Like your Homestead old growth tree story...

Thanks for bringing it to these pages,...

Much enjoyed.... well written.

A delightful break from the rat race.

[Silver1]

24. That's a beautiful story.

I could see it all as I was reading.

And such an apt metaphor for the republican party.

[Solly Mack]

25. K&R

[yardwork]

26. Compelling analogy.

[sandensea]

27. The problem is that (some in) Wall Street and Big Business are always ready plant a new one

And I don't mean a new sapling either - they'll plant a nearly full-grown hate and war tree.

They love the big green leaves it periodically sheds their way.

[tblue37]

28. Good analogy. nt

[Miigwech]

30. We must and we will!

Great story.

[Kitchari]

31. K&R n/t

[cab67]

32. Another biological analogy might work -

There's a phenomenon in evolutionary biology called "runaway selection." It refers to an evolutionary trend leading to increasingly extreme expressions of a feature, sometimes in relatively few generations.

It's seen in the context of sexual selection. In birds, for example, a female might be attracted to males with longer, more colorful tail feathers. If females are always attracted to males with the longest and most garish tails, succeeding generations will have increasingly long, increasingly colorful tail feathers until we get something like the peafowl, where the male's tail feathers do a great job of attracting mates, but also a great job at limiting the bird's flight capacity and ability to hide from predators.

The only limiting factor to this trend would be tail feathers so long, and so flashy, that they decrease life expectancy to below breeding age. There has to be a balance between ability to attract mates and ability to avoid being killed.

(We humans are able to circumvent this natural buffer. We've created breeds of dog and cat that would never survive in the wild; indeed, they sometimes struggle to survive in a loving home.)

I think that's what's been happening to the Republican Party. In the 1980's, the AM radio echo chamber created a sizable number of voters, nominally Republican, calling for increasingly right-wing legislation. Newt Gingrich was more than happy to take advantage of this group and, along with his insistence on no-compromise politics and over-the-top demonization of the other side, led to elected Republicans responding to increasingly conservative Republican voters. (Gingrich's eventual willingness to compromise with the White House led to his downfall.) Republicans running in the primaries had to outdo each other on the right-wing spectrum, and candidates seen as less conservative or more willing to act in a bipartisan manner than their predecessors were doomed.

And it all got a lot worse when Fox "News" and the Internet came along. That Democrats and reputable journalists seemed to have misplaced their spines for much of the past 20 years didn't help, either.

We're basically now seeing a right wing that has evolved to the point of being maladaptive. They've grown so intent on winning elections and holding power that they forgot how to govern. In fact, the concept of governing is derided as "socialism" or "libtardation" or whatever perjorative is in circulation. They've undermined the infrastructure needed to keep things actually working, all in the name of "conservatism," to such a point that a real crisis causes a far more catastrophic collapse that could have been minimized, if not avoided. They're peacocks whose tail feathers are now so long, they're all but guaranteed to be caught by a mongoose or leopard.

I think they're also now at the point at which runaway selection for extreme right-wing ideology is going to be maladaptive. The rabid base supporting them is immutable. They won't accept any but the purest right-wing extremism in their candidates. This base is needed to win a primary. But the size of this base is diminishing. Increasingly, such candidates will be unable to win a general election with the base.

My thoughts, anyway. The more we can chip away and isolate this base, the less selective pressure for right-wing purity the Republican party will suffer.

[nolabear]

33. Really good analogy.

[uponit7771]

34. K&R,

[Blue Owl]

35. K&R

[soldierant]

36. Please, may I share this verbatim at other sites? nt

[Atticus]

39. Of course. nt

[soldierant]

41. Thank you.

I like to respect people's intellectual property and not presume. Off to share now.

[Beartracks]

37. The only thing more apt would have been if the tree collapsed into a dumpster...

... when it burst into flame.

Love your analogy.

==========

[burrowowl]

38. Good analogy

[tavernier]

40. Your analogy made me sad.

I’m a bit of a Druid, a lover of trees. I get a feeling of peace and joy around a lovely old tree. I would rather equate the GOP with crabgrass or stink weed or poisonous mushrooms.