Resisting the “Judas Cow”
Those of you who have lived with, or worked around cattle will recognize the term “Judas Cow” immediately. For those of you who may not have had the pleasure, let me take a moment to explain it to you.
In any grouping of cattle, be it 10 cattle or 100 cattle, 4 or 5 of those cattle will always move to the front of the pack, and the rest of of those cattle will always fall towards the back of the pack. The easy way to get cattle to march obediently into the trailer that will take them to the slaughterhouse is to identify those who always go out in front, and move THEM to the trailer first.
The cattle that are always in the front of the pack are known to cowboys the world over as “Judas Cows.” During any roundup of any size, anywhere, the Judas Cows (or cow,in some cases) will be identified and controlled, because the only ones you need to control are the Judas Cows. The rest of the herd will move compliantly along with their leaders to wherever you want them to go.
I am not a cow, of course. But I have lived and worked with many of them. And I can tell you that if left alone, you will be able to tell even in the pasture which cows are to be your “Judas Cows,” because the rest of the herd will soon enough always be behind the first one, or the first few. When the first one moves, the rest of them move. Individual cows do not do anything on their own; they make every single move they make based on what the Judas Cow (or cows) does. I have no way of divining the thought processes of a cow; all I can attest to is what I’ve seen. And what I’ve seen leads me to believe that the herd places a lot of trust in the Judas Cow, and will follow it into almost any situation anywhere, regardless of how reticent the individual cows may be on their own.
In this country, about 1 in 4 of us seems to have adopted the same kind of mentality that a herd of cattle adopts collectively. For 1 in 4 of us, there is no individual thinking, no attempt to navigate to anywhere on our own. Like the cattle in the herd, they simply wait for the Judas Cow to make his or her move, and they blindly follow along. Never mind that these herds have been led to an economic and fiscal slaughterhouse time after time; they continue to wait for the movement of the Judas Cow, and they go along. Back to the slaughterhouse, over and over again.
Back to a constant drop in their standards of living.
Back to warmongering for no reason other than the fattening of a few wallets.
Back to ever-lower wages, and ever-higher unemployment.
Back to the days of serfdom.
I will say here that while most of the “herd” seems to blindly follow the dictates of people like Caribou Barbie and the fat dope addict down in Florida, I don’t believe that it is only right wingers who can be led by a Judas Cow to the slaughterhouse. I am dismayed to see, in commentary after commentary, people excusing the present Administration’s failures when it comes to things like giving gay American citizens the rights that our Constitution guarantees them, or this Administration’s continuation of disastrous Chimpy policies in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, or this Administration’s failures to use the mandate it was given to affect real changes in our healthcare system, or this Administration’s defense in the courts of Chimpy’s assaults on our Constitution.”There is so much to do!” is always the refrain. “Give him time!”
I’m sorry, but that sounds an awful lot like those “corners” we kept turning in Iraq. If I was unable to excuse the disasters of the previous Administration, I’d be a hypocrite to turn a blind eye to the continuation of those disastrous policies under this Administration, and I won’t do that. The facts, unpleasant as they might be for some to accept, are still facts.
-Reconciliation could get us a feasible health reform policy, as well as do away with the Chimpy-era tax rules that allow American corporations to pay no taxes on their foreign profits, and write off the cost of moving a facility from America to China, or Vietnam.
-One executive order could get rid of DADT once and for all in our Armed Forces.
-Instead of having to constantly beg from our Beijing bankers, there is little doubt that Congress could be persuaded to return our tax rates to the levels they were at in the Clinton era, which would erase a lot of the deficit, AND convince those who lend us money that we’ve finally become serious about plugging the holes in the Federal budget. What is required here is a President who is willing to lead, and ignore the howling from the right, rather than a President that seems intent on placating the people who have gotten us into all of these messes.
I am increasingly convinced that we have exchanged one Judas Cow for another one, and I’m not going up the ramp into the trailer. Nobody should. Whether you’re left, right, center, or all over the charts, you must recognize things that are good, and have no tolerance for those that are bad. If this President continues to take us up the ramp into the trailer, then it is on us to refuse to walk up the ramp. This President must be made to realize that there are very serious consequences for refusing to rock the boat. The Congressional leadership must be made aware of this as well.
If we don’t do this, we’re just going to get the sledgehammer from a donkey, rather than an elephant. There is nothing, anywhere, that says that this President can’t be dethroned without throwing the country back to another Rushpubliscum Judas Cow. All it takes from us is a real willingness to step off the ramp.
November 26th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Hear hear!
November 26th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I’m telling you, I’m not going to just vote for somebody because I’m afraid of somebody else. I believe you should have to earn your votes. It’s the knuckle-draggers that refuse to demand accountability from their heroes-as the sentient beings in this mess, we ought to be different.