Parable of Monkeys, Myths, and Melodrama

Let's take a moment to look at an old parable about a group of monkeys, and how their behavior is shaped:

Monkeys --
 

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.

As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while another monkey makes the attempt with same result, all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.

To his shock, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one.

The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not?

Because as far as they know, that is the way it has always been done around here.

And that, my fellow monkeys, is how politically based lies operates....

We need to question the common wisdom told to us, especially when that wisdom is accompanied by strong emotion.  That strong emotion is being used to simulate cold water and has a deleterious hidden agenda, usually, in this climate, one that is eroding the relevance of the United States Constitution, and making the values that made us strong appear to make us weak. It is the way that melodramatic mistruths are being spread by extremists from both the right side, and the left side.  AND...the purpose of all that water?  It ain't to make the monkeys cleaner!

Beware!  A little cold water sprinkled on others does NOT a Constitutional flood make.