I wonder if bees or ants have a Hall of Fame. You know, “…and there’s the plaque for Oscar, who found that open jar of honey on a front porch back in ’73.” Given that ant and bee colonies are pure social control for the good of the whole, I wonder what they do with any mutations that show a glimmer of individuality, independence, or who deviate into originality. Kill ‘em? Banish ‘em? Send them to the re-indoctrination ant hill or hive?

Ants and bees have been successful species for a long time, but modern global connectedness has exposed the vulnerability of a social survival strategy. Bees are under threat globally, and that is a threat to the entire food chain, we are told. Ironic, really, that the same dynamics that spread a species to all corners of the earth for survival expose it to being wiped out by a single pandemic. Sameness, it turns out, is dangerous. It’s why nature casts the dice for individualism with each recombination of genes, and why most species don’t interbreed.

On the flip side of social strategies, there are pack animals, herd animals, colonies, flocks, etc. who survive cooperatively in pecking orders or hierarchical competition, and from whose social ranks banishment may spell doom to the individual. Though their success is not measured by socialism’s equal outcomes supplanting equal opportunities, it is measured by “in union there is strength.” The lone wolf and the rejected elephant have limited prospects for survival. The criteria for banishment from such orders shows virtually no compassion for the individual, focusing instead on the welfare of the group. Group control inevitably trends toward merciless efficiency, rewarding uniformity and obedience while punishing self-reliance and risk-taking. For some, that sounds like security and guaranteed quality of life; for others it sounds like guaranteed mediocrity, stagnancy and loss of freedom. Over lifetimes the contrast between socialism’s one-size-fits-all and capitalism’s incentive motivation tends to become a choice between “better safer than sorry” and “nothing ventured nothing gained.” Sorry Lobo and Babar, but Disney cannot save you.

And here WE are, the adaptable, thinking, tool-fashioning, opposable-thumbed, erect biped whose short tenure on the stage of evolution has been wildly successful. Since we aren’t ruled as much by emotions, reflexes, instincts and intuition as other species, we get a greater say in what the rules are for governance. I use the term “governance” broadly to mean more than political rule. Social pressure uses ever-changing values and mores to manipulate people, culture does the same thing, communication is practically synonymous with control, and religion (include anything supernatural, superstitious or magical) has had major success keeping people in line with hope, fear and dogma ever since the first shaman gained power with a lucky prophecy that came true. Those ancillary forms of control overlap and usually evolve circumstantially or through the indirect influence of charismatic individuals. Purely political forms, by contrast, are more rigid and codified, and have been tried with virtually every conceivable variation again and again.

So, which is the best political system? Ask the victor and the loser of every war. Ask the writers of history, the objective scholars, the propagandists, and the messengers who were once called the media but who now are indistinguishable from the propagandists and the politicians. Is it, as Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others”? Is it the Marxian-socialist doctrine of “from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs”? Is it the communist passion for control or the socialist belief that everyone will work hard for the good of the whole, or – by sharp contrast – is it the radical American experiment in freedom and incentive to motivate superior results? Or is it something stricter than any of those, as in a theocracy deriving its guidance from a creator and requiring only interpretation from a chosen mortal, or yet another king or generalissimo dictator whose authority arose in some forgotten war?     

It is much easier to control members of a tribe by their emotions than by their thoughts, but whichever way you incline, I hope you do think it through. However outrageous the run-up will be in the media, we have – it is fervently hoped – a free and fair election coming soon. It is the only direct choice you and I get to make. After that all the choices will be filtered through the odious political machinery, slick and not so slick, that we have come to recognize. You find that machinery on both sides of the aisle. You’ve heard it for years from numerous Republicans who say “we need to build a wall around Washington DC,” though any nation needs some form of central control for the common defense and for benefits in common to all citizens. And we’ve heard the inner workings of that machinery clanking for years from Democrats, such as President Clinton, when pressed to return tax money to the electorate who gave it, refusing because: “…they might not spend it right,” or Congressman Adam Schiff at the start of the impeachment trial who gave as the reason the President of the United States should be removed from office as “we cannot trust the ballot box.”

You and I don’t have to be ants or sheep. We are thinking animals, capable of discerning the long-term good beyond our emotions. A democracy stands on the rule of law and on representatives with integrity, not on “the ends justify the means.” We’ve been waylaid by hidden agendas and ruthless motives long enough. Time to come home to who we are. Let us rise above the partisan negative reflexes the media has conditioned us to for so long. Let us make an effort to understand rather than willfully misinterpret. Let us look for directions that will bring out the best in people, because that’s how America rose to greatness. This isn’t about undoing shock and embarrassment in the media, or cutting off noses to spite faces; it’s about faith in all the positives and in fearlessly defining problems without those crippling low expectations that promote victimhood and undermine solutions. Low expectations, contrary to compassionate political correctness, are – if you think about it – often insulting and condescending because they assume inferiority. Anyone who has ever motivated people knows the value of expectations that empower individuals to greater achievement. Governments based primarily on mass dependencies require a permanent underclass in order to stay in power. What we should strive for is compassionate intelligence. We are not social insects, lone wolves or mindless herds. We are that hybrid of compassion and intellect that can reach beyond our dreams. All we need change is to drop the “dis”-ing from dishonesty and add cour (heart) to the rage that has been consuming us. That will give us the honesty and courage we need for the future…

This month’s dozen photos below were made with no harm to bees, ants, wolves, elephants or sheep. They do attempt to capture and hold prisoner – if just for a moment – a bit of my life here in Mom Nature’s Minnesota hideaway…

Thomas "Sully" Sullivan