By Don C. Reed
“THE NAKED JUNGLE”, starring Charlton Heston, is a staggeringly stupid, racist movie.
Example: one scene shows a fat native, sleeping under a tree. First of all, how many fat natives have you seen? People living in the wild are generally lean, in tune with their environment. But this poor person was not only overweight, but was being eaten alive by Army ants.
Also, people living in the jungle tend to know the wild life. I have seen a documentary about army ants, (called driver ants nowadays), and the locals appreciated them, letting the ants come into their grass huts, where they cleaned up bugs, fleas, poison snakes, etc. The natives regard the ants as a force of nature, to be respected, not feared. One clip showed two natives walking on both sides of a narrow river of ants, talking across it, casual conversation.
About the only good part of this demented drama was stock footage of the ants in action. They worked cooperatively. To cross a stream, they would bite onto each other’s limbs, making a living bridge for others to crawl across — which leads us to the point.
A million ants can swarm an elephant, and drive it away. They both like to eat the same kind of tree. (1).
What does that have to do with the coming election? Perhaps the difference between victory and defeat.
Have you seen the video of former President Trump entering a gathering of oil-rich political donors, where he says: “You should give me a billion dollars”! (2)
You or I probably can’t match that. I can’t give millions to a candidate — but I can give $25, or $10, or maybe just $5 — do you know what that makes me?
No, not a cheap SOB, at least I hope not!
But there is a political term for folks like me — “small-dollar donor” — and we are valuable!
Even if we cannot give a nickel, we can still make a difference. Just show up at your local office, tell them you have a free hour, can you help with something?
You might help pass out fliers, make phone calls, or some other kind of light office work. It is easy, but important — and needs doing.
Personally, I support “Grampa Joe” Biden for President, and hope you will too. He has tons of experience, is not afraid to stand up to the rich, is right on most of the issues — and he gets things done.
His opponent has the power of the wealthy — they can write big checks.
But we have power too, if we choose to use it.
We are many.
Like an army of ants, we can defeat almost anything — if we fight as a group. And the moral of the story?
Be a small-dollar donor — and prevail.
1. https://www.voanews.com/a/ants-take-on-elephants-in-african-savanna-103058529/155826.html
2. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/09/trump-asks-oil-executives-campaign-finance-00157131