The Crazy Apes: A Satire of Human Society

The Government We Deserve

Current events around the globe have brought to mind the old proverb, we get the government we deserve.

In our modern society, we call such pearls of wisdom clichés: overused expressions, things of the past lacking originality. I beg to differ. The reason they're overused is that they're as appropriate now as when they first appeared. The problem is that we don't take them seriously!

Democracy and political complacency are mutually exclusive. For too long, we have been tacit, and now we reap its reward: autocracy. Last November, in what was the most polarized and divisive election in modern American history, more than half of the American people decided not to exercise their democratic right to vote. By the time the next election rolls along, those rights may no longer exist!

The following dialogue is between two chimpanzees named Abu and Mabu: I use A and M to distinguish the speaker.

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A: I wonder what our human cousins are up to Mabu?

M: Abu, whatever they're up to I'm sure it's not good. Their new tribal chief is turning out to be a disaster.

A: Why do you say that?

M: He's governing on behalf of less than one fifth of the tribal population.

A: That's preposterous! How can it be?

M: Well, the young don't have the right to vote; a significant number of people were disqualified from voting for political reasons; more than half of those entitled to vote didn't; and less than half of the people who did voted for him.

A: That's horrible!

M: That's not the worst of it. That one fifth of the population holds extreme social and economic views. So, it's hell for the other four fifths.

A: What has he done?

M: He's undoing all that his predecessor had done to try and help the poor and the environment.

A: That's bad news for us as well.

M: It's bad news not just for us, but for everybody around the world. He lies continually but never admits to them. Lies have now become alternative facts and the truth is under siege. He's so out of touch with reality and hopelessly inept at governing that everyone is concerned about what he's going to do next.

A: Is this the same guy who's in charge of the big kabooms that can destroy the earth many times over?

M: The very same one. With his power and unpredictability, the world has entered a new era of uncertainty and risk. Moreover, with his approach of shoot first and ask questions later, the world has become much less safe for everyone.

A: I guess you could say that they got what they deserve. The majority of people abrogated their responsibility to select a competent person to such a powerful position. Now they pay the price.

M: Unfortunately, we all pay the price, even though the rest of us didn't get to vote! For such intelligent apes, they do the most stupid things imaginable.

A: Mabu, they're crazy apes. Nothing they do makes sense to me!

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After years of political apathy, western governments have fallen under the influence of the super rich. Democracies have become plutocracies by stealth. We were all too busy enjoying the benefits of our collective hard work to pay attention to the tectonic shift that was taking place in the political arena. Soon, there will be no difference between East and West: autocrats will rule countries in both hemispheres.

While unethical politicians and the one percent have corrupted our political systems and governments, we need to share the blame for letting them get away with it. Democracies work well only when politicians are held to account, and we failed miserably on that score. We went along trustingly, sometime even cynically, but always silently. Now we lament the loss of our democracy, but not the fact that we allowed it to be taken away. We're just as guilty as those who stole it from us.

The ancient sage who coined that timeless phrase understood politics much better than we thought. We ignored his wisdom at our peril.