The Ant and the Grasshopper

First of I'll admit that this joke is an oversimplification with a blatant conservative bias and a slam on Democrats. However, I also do believe that it is a valid commentary on what is wrong with American society in general. I could just as easily replace the Democrats mentiioned with Republicans with a slam on how multi-national corporations have sold us down the river and how the hard working ant is paying for an unjust and unnecessary war in Iraq so the price of Halliburton shares will go up another 10%.

I personally would alter the moral of the story at the end to say:

MORAL OF THE STORY: We're screwed, whether you vote Democrat or Republican.

Anyhow here goes:
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OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,
building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs
and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

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MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer
long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs
and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press
conference and demands to know why the ant should be
allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and
starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide
pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in
his house filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth,
this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper; and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the
ant's house where the news stations film the group singing,
'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper' s sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview
with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the
grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity &
Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs
and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is
confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is
tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed
from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing
up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in,
which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him
because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related
incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2008

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You said, "...an unjust and unnecessary war in Iraq."

If the War Against Islamo-Facisim is so unjust and unnecessary, how come there have been no mass protests in either Afghanistan or Iraq, two countries where the sovereign governments invited us to remain?

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
You said, "...an unjust and unnecessary war in Iraq."

If the War Against Islamo-Facisim is so unjust and unnecessary, how come there have been no mass protests in either Afghanistan or Iraq, two countries where the sovereign governments invited us to remain?

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
You said, "...an unjust and unnecessary war in Iraq."

If the War Against Islamo-Facisim is so unjust and unnecessary, how come there have been no mass protests in either Afghanistan or Iraq, two countries where the sovereign governments invited us to remain?

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Well...there are. The protesters are using rockets and mortars instead of signs and slogans.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Well...there are. The protesters are using rockets and mortars instead of signs and slogans.

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
That's an interesting point of view, however, I said "mass protests," not "insurgents," "terrorists," or "dead enders."

Originally posted by Ullr
Well first of all I didn't mention Afghanistan. My personal opinion is that the invasion of Afghanistan was justified based on the fact that the Taliban was allowing Al Qaeda to operate from within its borders and therefore 9-11 was an act of war/aggression committed by Al Qaeda and the Taliban government.

No such act of war or aggression was committed by I ...[text shortened]... justify an invasion where there was no act of war against the United States committed by Iraq.

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
You said, "...an unjust and unnecessary war in Iraq."

If the War Against Islamo-Facisim is so unjust and unnecessary, how come there have been no mass protests in either Afghanistan or Iraq, two countries where the sovereign governments invited us to remain?

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
That's an interesting point of view, however, I said "mass protests," not "insurgents," "terrorists," or "dead enders."

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
You said, "...an unjust and unnecessary war in Iraq."

If the War Against Islamo-Facisim is so unjust and unnecessary, how come there have been no mass protests in either Afghanistan or Iraq, two countries where the sovereign governments invited us to remain?

Originally posted by Ullr

I personally would alter the moral of the story at the end to say:

MORAL OF THE STORY: We're screwed, whether you vote Democrat or Republican.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

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