“Donnybrook!” Now there’s a word! The first time I ever heard it used in
reference to government, I thought they were talking about a new senator. My
8-year-old daughter and I were busily engaged in the serious business of icing a
chocolate mayonnaise cake at the time, and as the 6 o-clock news pumped out the
latest political palpitations, and I came to realize that what I know about
politics would just about fill a measuring cup.
“The Republicans are the ones
with the long noses and big ears,” I told my little girl in reply to her
question about our country’s two-party system. “The Democrats,” I further
explained, “are the ones with the short noses and big ears.” “With all those big
ears, Mommy, how come no one ever listens?”
My darling child had put the whole
country’s problems in a nutshell. “Oh, they do,” I demurred, “about as good as
you do, when I ask you to help me clean the house. “Do they help clean their
house? she asked. “I suppose some of them do,” I could only hope.
“The ones who
don’t...are they the dirty politicians?" I wondered about that one.“Some of
them are pretty good about sweeping things under the rug,” I had to say.
My
protege was deep in thought. “What would happen if they crossed a Democrat with
a Republican? Would they get a Democran or a Republicat?” she finally asked. I
said I hoped a Republicat, since I’ve always been partial to kittens.
“Maybe a
lion kind of cat!” My daughter’s eyes lit up.
“Hmm, the King of Beasts!” I
could see this regal political hybrid, pacing back and forth across the Senate
floor—a feline solution to the nation’s political polarity. Our conversation had
lifted me to an intellectual high.
In the next moment, I’d resolved the problem
of the tax hike, too. “All us good Americans could use the tax cut money we
received in July to pay the tax hike Reagan has proposed,” I said out loud. My
daughter wiped the chocolate frosting from her chin.
