Of course, I'm referring to "Piggy" in "Lord of the Flies" and to Sen. Carl Levin's painful justification for siding with Republicans today against Sen. Harry Reid and the Democrats.
More below the thing.
As a Michigander, I have come to admire and respect Carl Levin, but today, I fear, he has lost my support. Sen. Levin's last term is almost up, and he will leave the Senate after the 2014 election - hopefully replaced by Fighting Dem Gary Peters - but his speech today, pleading today for the restoration of the unattainable Shangri-La of some longed-for "middle ground" was pathetic.
It reminded me - painfully - of the Piggy character in William Golding's brilliant "Lord of the Flies," who tries so hard to convince the youngsters trapped on the island with him that reason will prevail because ... it has to. Piggy just can't quite comprehend that youthful crypto-Nazis Jack and Roger and their posse intend to dominate the island, and enslave - or kill - the rest of them.
Ralph, however, is under no such illusion. It's plain that when Jack violates all the rules, humiliates Piggy and breaks his conch (the symbol of law and order), the dissenters will be hunted down and killed - or worse.
My point is this. The "Piggies" in the Democratic Party have refused up until recently to grasp what the "Jacks" and "Rogers" have in store for them.
The "conch" of Senate rules is only good when good will exists on both sides. The great Harry Reid recognizes that.
True, the "conch" is broken now, but the reality is, the Party of Jack and Roger" shattered it long ago. And they would do worse the very next time they grab power. Fear of that is pointless. We know they are horrible, anti-Democratic and vile. We must work harder now to prevent their ever taking over "the island."
Levin should know better than to let himself be used by these swine, who despise him for being a Democrat, and are laughing at him behind his back for giving them talking points to bolster their bullshit.
There's only one way to deal with the Rogers and Jacks of the U.S. Senate, and in this world. Holding the conch shell when it means nothing to the other side isn't one of the options.