The time has come. The Republican party should make it official: their new mascot, the new symbol of what they stand for, is now the sheep, not the elephant. Should there be any doubt, Google the word "sheep" and see what pops right up: "proverbial for its tendency to follow others in the flock."
Other sources, having dutifully described the four-legged animal version of a sheep, press on:
Merriam-Webster: "A timid docile person; especially: one easily influenced or led."
Urban Dictionary: "Someone who mindlessly follows and emulates anything and everything... A waste of flesh and brain cells."
Wasted brain cells. How else to account for the fact that this flock of Republican sheep in Congress consistently votes 100 percent in concert with each other, when anyone with an IQ equal to room temperature or above knows that at least some of them must certainly believe, for example, that the nuclear-limitation deal with Iran has been carefully wrought and is really a good idea. (Truly curious persons might read "Tehran's Promise" in The New Yorker of July 27, 2015.
After all, Democratic Senators and Representatives are loudly and proudly divergent in their views, some eager to support it and some who vigorously disapprove of it. And have the guts to say so. Could it be possible that Senator Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) is the only Republican member of Congress actually thinking out loud about the pros and cons of this deal? Do none of the rest think any differently from what their shepherds are telling them to think?
If so, they lack the guts to say so. All we hear from that side of the aisle is, "Baaaaaa, baaaaa, baaa."
And that is all we have heard from their pen for the past seven years. So fearful are they of providing the least scintilla of support for the President of the United States that they were ludicrously willing, as a unanimous flock of sheep, to vote against many of their own excellent ideas when President Obama incorporated them into the Affordable Care Act.
More examples abound, and the history of their groupthink anti-Obama obstinacy is tantamount to a litany of national sabotage, obstructing necessary investments in infrastructure and education and medicine to maintain a herd-mentality abhorrence of actually paying for what the nation manifestly needs in these crucial times.
Adoption of the sheep as the Republicans' new symbol would, beyond being a more accurate image for their feckless behavior, also remind us of their frequent adoption of sheep's clothing while acting like wolves. This flock may feign sheepishness as it follows orders, but it is capable of inflicting horrific, even lethal, damage when it grazes on worthy federal programs. At such times, they are only too eager to devour grass-roots services that have long since been part of the safety net that this nation, when acting wisely and compassionately under both Republican and Democratic leadership, has created for those among us who struggle to make ends meet.
A dear friend with whom I often have vigorous discussions about our frequently divergent views of American political behavior says I'm not giving these block-voting Republicans credit for being honest to their values. Well, I think I do see what values they are living out through their herd behavior, and I deeply abhor them: the value of party cohesion no matter what, the value of debasing and defeating the Democrats at all costs, the value of gaining reelection however possible. Public good be damned.
There was a time when the Republican party actually stood up and worked for a sensible platform of care for our fellow citizens and care for widespread national prosperity. A Democrat myself, I have raised money, worked, and voted for admirable Republicans in the past. But who could imagine today's flock of timid critters leading the fight to end slavery, or fifty years later building a national park system, or a hundred years later proposing universal health care, as their Republican predecessors did? One waits in vain for "the loyal opposition" to display either loyalty in supporting programs that seek the wellbeing of fellow Americans or, in opposition to Democratic proposals, to come forth with proposals of their own which they can assert as truly superior. But no. Just an incessant chorus of "Baaaaa, baaaa, baaa."
Keep that up, Republicans, and your formerly noble party will learn that the fate of sheep is to be shorn for a while, and then eaten up.