“If I became a monster today, and decided to kill them, one by one, they would become aware only after most of the flock had been slaughtered, thought the boy. They trust me, and they’ve forgotten how to rely on their own instincts, because I lead them to nourishment.” - The Alchemist, Paul Coelho, 1988

Belling the Cat is a medieval fable about a group of mice who gather together to debate plans to protect themselves from a rapacious cat who silently sneaks up and devours them, one by one. One mouse proposes placing a bell around the cat’s neck so that they can hear the cat coming. The mice nod their heads in approval of the plan until one mouse asks: “Who will volunteer to place the bell on the cat?” All of the mice become silent.

Now picture the Republican Party: picture Mitch McConnell; picture Mike Pence; picture Kevin McCarthy.

There are two ideas contained in this fable: one is that cowardice is the general default of most people. And the other is to never embark on a mission without a feasible plan – without a plan that will work.

Think: The Republican Party and the Maginot Line.

We have been watching the Republican Party’s inability to bell the cat for two decades. John McCain tried to bell the cat in 2008 when he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate in the general election. She was a Tea Party creation, both notably hot, and notably stupid - and a soon-to-be Reality TV celebrity. McCain must have thought that, by bringing her into his administration, he could manage her and the Tea Party's growing power within the GOP.

While the advent of the Tea Party heralded the rise of Donald Trump in 2016, by then, all the mice, all those craven and venal Republicans, had scuttled away and chosen to become silent. Yes, the GOP has always been a party of white nationalists, of racists and misogynists, but it has first and foremost been the corporate veil for some of the most toxic corporations in America.

Think: The Republican Party, the Maginot Line, and Koch Industries.

John McCain’s message to voters in 2008 contained another effort to bell the cat with his promise to deliver much needed campaign finance reform legislation to America, if elected. He lost that presidential election in 2008, and with his loss, he ceded the Republican Party to its donors, forever. John McCain’s concession speech to Barack Obama was the last vestige of decency and grace ever to be uttered by a leader of the Republican Party. https://www.c-span.org/video/?282165-2/john-mccain-concession-speech

And what took over was nothing but a “Confederacy of Dunces”. McCain’s choice of Palin to be his running mate was the last time a Republican had the courage to try to bell the cat. It was a failed strategy that, from its outset, was not feasible. It was too little too late. McCain should have known better. Republicans should have known better. And what emerged from McCain’s defeat was nothing less than an incoherent collection of imbeciles like Jim Jordan of Ohio, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Mark Meadows of North Carolina – prattling away about freedom like some teenage boy champing at the bit in his parents’ basement. This ushered in the era of political suicide that Democrats are currently witnessing with a certain amount of glee, as they sit in their living rooms watching the evening news.

If Charles Darwin could have witnessed this strange cultish group suicide, he would have dusted his hands and said, "Quod Erat Demonstrandum", thus it is demonstrated – QED.

The GOP is now a case-study in how natural selection actually selects. There is no one entity rewarding the “winners” and punishing the “losers”, as Trump bellows to his followers at his rallies. Natural selection doesn’t care if you’re a tough guy or a brainless, hot chick. Natural selection is the evolutionary mechanism that acts like a sieve, retaining only the bits of life that can adapt to the current environment as it emerges. When an asteroid collided with Earth 66 million years ago, dinosaurs died off after 180 million years of dominance because the asteroid hit caused a mass extinction event that killed off the very food sources to which dinosaurs were adapted. It caused an entire ecosystem collapse that “trickled up” the food chain, killing off non-bird dinosaurs, predators, and plant life globally. It also complicated an already-in-process climate change event that was the result of volcanic activity throwing large quantities of ash into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun and its warmth. The Cretaceous extinction event was the knock-out punch that is thought to have wiped out all land animals over ~55 pounds.

Think: The Republican Party, the Maginot Line, Koch Industries, and global climate change due to the use of fossil fuels emitting excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The future of the Republican Party today can be summed up by gathering all the anti-vaxxers, all the numbskulls who refuse to wear masks during a pandemic, and each potbellied man-child playing with guns in his parents’ basement - and telling them that if they want to live, they’d better lose enough weight to tip the scales at no more than ~55 lbs., because they failed to bell the cat when they had the chance.

Think: The Republican Party, the Maginot Line, Koch Industries, global climate change due to the use of fossil fuels emitting excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.….and Natural Selection.