Clean up the Jungle

An Essay by James A Graves, Jr.

Today, “Drain the swamp.” has become a familiar term. It’s actually taken from an old saying that I first heard in the late 1970’s while on active duty in the USAF; “When you’re asshole deep in alligators, it’s a little late to drain the swamp.”

The saying comes from years of experiencing the multitude of hard lessons learned from failures to plan ahead. Failure to plan has consequences. Obviously, the best way to avoid a problem, like a swamp full of alligators, is to drain the swamp before the situation becomes a problem. So, if you didn’t know the origin of “Drain the swamp”, now you do.

During my time on active duty, as well as during the years that I worked for the US government, I observed that government/military projects, etc., are a great place to see constant examples of failure to plan ahead. It seems that people are consistently predictable, and apparently never learn.

Currently, ‘drain the swamp’ represents the desire to clean up the morass of ineptitude and immense gaggle of Progressive and Socialist buffoons that have taken control of, and become entrenched within all three branches of the US government, both in Washington DC and throughout America.

However, when you hear ‘drain the swamp’ uttered by a politician, or a political pundit, you might want to disregard it, and simply refer to the original saying.

Why? Because it’s far too late to drain the swamp. Actually, the swamp has gotten deeper. We’ve been neck deep in alligators for a very long time.

In 1945, George Orwell published a book called Animal Farm. It is a metaphorical tale based on the events after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that led to Communist Russia (USSR) becoming the most powerful Socialist government in history.

In Animal Farm, Major, the eldest pig on Manor Farm convinces his fellow animals that they are being oppressed by Mr. Jones, the farmer, who walks on two legs, and is their enemy because animals walk on four legs. Promised equality and prosperity by Major and the other pigs if the farm were to be run by the animals, they revolt, drive Mr. Jones from his farm and rename it Animal Farm. The animals then begin running the farm and the pigs establish seven commandments that provide that every animal is equal and will never be oppressed like they were when they worked for the farmer.

The pigs, believing themselves superior, begin taking the lion’s share of the product of the other animal’s labor and, one by one, pare down the seven commandments. The pigs rewrite the farm’s history to fit their narrative. If anyone objects, they are accused of being mistaken or misremembering. There is no way to justify their complaints because no true record of the past remains.

As the years pass, Animal Farm prospers, but the animals begin to starve while the pigs get fatter. Complaints are met by accusations of conspiracy and result in either expulsion from the farm, or, in some cases, death. The prosperity that the animals had been promised, like luxuries and retirement, never come to fruition, instead the pigs tell the animals that true happiness comes from hard work and frugal living.

Finally the pigs dictate that there will be only one commandment; ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’ And, of course, the pigs are the ones that are ‘more equal’. When the animals complain that the removal of the seven commandments have taken away their rights, the pigs claim that none of the seven commandments ever existed, and challenge any animal to prove otherwise. Obviously the animals can’t prove it because the pigs have erased the seven commandments from history.

Eventually the pig’s greed consumes them and they begin to act like men, walking upright on two legs. They invite humans to Animal Farm, form a partnership and change the name back to Manor Farm. At that point the animals realize, too late, that because of Socialism their living conditions are worse than before they revolted, and their lives were better when Mr. Jones ran the farm.

Orwell’s parallels in Animal Farm to Communist Russia are brilliant. Those parallels are similar to what is happening in America today. And although the “farm” analogy is more accurate than “the swamp”, I think both are insufficient - the American government today has become a jungle.

The jungle has a unique collection of animals from which one can draw some interesting comparisons to the dwellers within the DC Beltway and beyond. For example, jungle lions could be compared to elder senators and house representatives – they strut around, looking ferocious, proud and noble, roaring constantly. They display sharp, menacing teeth and claws, but then stretch, yawn and fall asleep. In the jungle, old lions fend off the challenges of young lions, and are always ready to claim the lion’s share when it’s time to feast on helpless prey that have been harvested by select members of the pride.

Young lions, big cats and other predators could represent the younger members of congress. They closely observe the behavior of the elder lions and big cats, learning how to strut, snarl and roar, knowing that eventually they will be the elders. Otherwise they are even more feckless and powerless than the elders.

The lions, big cats and other predators could be compared to the Right-leaning, Conservative Republican members of congress. Then there are the Left-leaning, Liberal Democrat members of congress. Republicans in Name Only (RINOs), radicalized Liberals, Progressives, Socialists and Fascists are also numbered within their camp. These predators and their breed could be compared to wolves, jackals or hyenas, who are not so particular about how they kill their prey. Using deceit, trickery or outright theft to take out a foe or helpless prey is business-as-usual in this camp. The goal is to win at any cost. They even eat their own. If one of their gaggle strays from the dictated narrow path, the result is a vicious and bloody fatal attack.

Vultures, ravens, rats and other scavengers, which could be compared to bureaucrats from all branches of government, as well as government contractors, etc., follow the roaming packs of Left-leaning and Right-leaning predators, feasting on the abundance of lucrative scraps that are always a highlight of any congressional endeavor.

Herding animals, like sheep, goats, cattle, buffalo, deer, zebras, etc., could represent the typical American voter. Often referred to as “sheeple” (sheep-people), they are easy prey for the DC predators – gullible, too lazy to do the necessary research to find the truth, and willing to believe misinformation, disinformation, fake news, and truth spun into outright lies by politicians, political pundits, and the mainstream media alike. This tactic is often used by totalitarian governments to keep the masses (sheeple) ignorant. And it is universally known that ignorant people are easily manipulated.

The term, ‘Cleaning up the Jungle’ might seem counterintuitive, after all, many jungle animals are treasured and protected. But the reality is, jungle predators, especially big cats, wolves, jackals and hyenas, are devious, treacherous and deadly. Given sufficient numbers, packs of jackals and hyenas can become the dominate force in the jungle, even taking down the big cats.

Referring to Washington DC as ‘the swamp’ is no longer applicable. Alligators, like sharks, are simply mindless, prehistoric eating machines, and as such, can’t measure up to the sinister capabilities of the cabal of jungle predators that have worked for over a hundred years (since the Progressive presidency of Woodrow Wilson) toward the ultimate goal of destroying America.

Anyone who follows American politics would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to be unaware of the damage that the Progressive Socialist movement has done to the American Republic, and the damage it can and will continue to do.

Congress could have taken action back when Washington DC was obviously becoming a swamp, instead they chose to do nothing. They realized decades ago that America had become asshole deep in alligators, but still they chose to do nothing.

I feel sorry for those unfortunate enough to be stuck in the swamp, because they are deep in the heart of a much bigger problem. Today, draining the swamp would accomplish very little because the “swamp” is but a small pond within a very large jungle soon to be dominated by wolves, jackals & hyenas.

When it comes to restoring the rule of law as framed by the US Constitution, and saving the American Republic from being destroyed by Socialism, the best solution is to Clean up the Jungle, which includes draining the swamp and maybe turning it into a nice park. In fact, unless the wolves, jackals and hyenas turn on each other, cleaning up the jungle is the only solution.

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