The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. It suggests that if a frog is put suddenly into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out; but, if the frog is put in tepid or cool water which is then brought to a boil very slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. Some say, and I tend to agree, that if the frog were thrown into a pot of boiling water it would die instantly much like when crab, lobster and other types of edible crustacean routinely meet their demise in restaurants, beach parties, and homes all over the world.
But, for the sake of allegorical comparison, let’s go with the fable of the frog and the boiling water. Let’s say the frog symbolizes our basic democratic (little “d”) principles and the constitution upon which our nation was founded. It is the so-called beacon of freedom and democracy for the world. What, then, is the pot of boiling water? Let’s say that the pot symbolizes our rule of law, the bill of rights, and the co-equal branches of government whereby there is, by design, a system of checks and balances on unfettered power. These systems, policies and protocols keep our democracy intact and allow us to live free from the fear of authoritarian rule or an autocratic government. It was our fore-bearers way of protecting the Republic from fascism and despotism. Well, it appears that the pot is on the stove, the temperature is rising, and the frog is sitting in the pot as if everything is going about just the way it’s “supposed” to be.
Ever since the campaign and election of 2016, the word “unprecedented” has become one of the most over-used and ineffective descriptive words to characterize our national state of affairs, both domestically and internationally. It has become almost a daily outcry that “we have never experienced anything like this before” in U.S. Presidential history. When the leadership of our country blurs all lines of decorum, established practice and a national patriotism that holds country above politics and considers service as a privilege, then all bets are off. This is especially true when the co-equal branches of our government no longer operate as they were designed but seem to be in the grip of one political party that continues to deny, deflect and destroy the very systems they swore an oath to protect. What we begin to experience is a consistent and ongoing erosion of statesmanship, diplomacy and an inability to work for The People rather than for their individual and partisan interests. There is a lack of recognition that we, The People, DO NOT owe our elected officials anything. We are The People and they are beholden to US. They are not owed any type of unquestioned loyalty or silent abdication of the rights and privileges we have earned by virtue of being an American citizen.
Pay attention people! Truly, we are at a precipice and it may be incumbent upon all of US, The People, to jump out of the pot before we find ourselves boiled to death within a dead democracy. Instead of individual freedom, we will find ourselves living inside of a despotic kingdom that we fought to escape way back in 1776. It can happen.
