Icons: Elephant? Donkey?

Gadfly

Icons: Elephant? Donkey?

by Mort Malkin

The symbols are all wrong. For the Republicans, the Elephant is not in keeping with their actions of late. Elephants are caring; they look after the needs of others of the community; elephants never forget. When George took office in 2001, within 24 hours he forgot he had promised to be a compassionate conservative. Over the next few years the B-C administration attended to the care and feeding of only the corporate community. They said essentially, “Let the poor cross swords over the crumbs.” The symbol of the Republicans is more appropriately the Pig. [Not Fat Cat, but Big Pig]

The Donkey, a symbol of the Democratic Party since the time of Andrew Jackson, is equally wrong. For seven long years, they have been compliant with the wishes of this White House. All George W had to do was define bipartisanship as “Do it my way.” The Democrats never stubbornly stuck to their own principles. Even as a majority in the Congress, they didn’t kick out at the abuses of the administration: endless war, endless detention, extraordinary rendition, traditional torture, secret spying, blue-sky lying… The poodle has been suggested as a proper icon, but the Brits already have given Tony Blair that honor. A birder thought the yellow-bellied sapsucker would be perfect. An evolutionary fundamentalist reviewed the invertebrates and advised the sea cucumber.

A few Democrats – Dennis Kucinich, Robert Wexler, Barbara Lee, Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer and a rare couple of others – are thinking about breaking off to form a non-MT (me too) party. Bernie Sanders, an independent who is not held so tightly by the Democratic Party tar baby, will be a natural leader. They will need a party symbol. Gadfly hereby announces a contest for an icon. Send your offerings to gadflysmiling@yahoo.com. A posting in the near future will announce the results.