Had An Interesting Conversation Late Last Night ... About The Democratic Party...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

196. A fable:

A woman devoted twenty years of her life to her husband. She loved him for, among other things, his ideals and vision for the future, his generosity, his concern for the unfortunate, and his integrity. She put him through school, helped him write his job applications, and later stayed home so that he would come home to a clean house and a good dinner. She encouraged him every step of the way as he rose to the top of his profession. A side effect of this devotion was a very comfortable life.

But the husband changed under the influence of business partners. Soon he started talking in cynical terms about nice guys finishing last. He got into feuds with the neighbors, made excuses for the guys at work who embezzled money from the company, spoke disparagingly of his subordinates, and quickly gave in when there was a dispute with his business partners. He still talked like the man she had married, but she couldn't help noticing that his actions were in contradiction to his words.

Whenever she expressed her unhappiness at the change that had come over him, he sneered, "What are you going to do instead? Marry one of my business partners, you know. the REAL crooks?"

Yet he still came to her when he needed to entertain his business partners at a home dinner party or when he was going to put in an appearance at a company function and needed a "date." When he went on business trips overseas, he asked her to pack his suitcase. He expected her to pick up his dry cleaning. He promised that he would go back to his ideals just as soon as there were more ethical people at the company.

Mostly, however, he simply ignored her and spent most of his time buttering up his crooked business partners, some of whom were certifiably insane and/or frighteningly mean. He supported their promotions and always declared that he wanted to work with them and meet them halfway. Ethical people did join the company, but he simply ridiculed or ignored them.

Finally this woman got tired of being taken for granted in favor of some creeps and announced that she was leaving.

"If you leave me," her husband whined,"everyone will know about it, and I'll lose my standing in the company. I will no longer be able to rein in those creeps. You wouldn't want them taking over, would you?"

"Haven't they already?" she asked.