Bats and Bloodsuckers

In what looks (somewhat cynically) like at attempt to add newness to frightfully old news, the World Health Organization has renamed COVID-19 to the much scarier SARS-CoV-2.The basics remain the same: the virus is transmitted the same way.If it lands on a non-organic surface it soon dies without a host, rather like the elected officials of an old party once grand.Like any parasite, it requires the life of another to prosper.And so we find Mitch McConnell telling states to declare bankruptcy in a move taken from the Bible’s own playbook.You see, during a famine in Egypt Pharaoh bailed out the food banks, and by buying all the land made peasants in essence slaves of the state.The Good Book has all the answers.A few generations later, however, and Pharaoh had to learn how to swim in the desert.The divine economy is not without humor.

The WHO report also states that the vector has been traced to bats.Bats make me think of vampires—I can’t help it, I’m a late monster boomer.While WHO doesn’t make any connections with vampire bats, I researched them when I was younger.Unlike elected members of the gOP, vampire bats aren’t selfish.Nor are they greedy.Finding a victim, the make a small incision with their sharp little teeth and lap up enough blood to survive.If another bat goes a night or two without success, vampire bats will share their success, realizing in a way that politicians don’t, that helping one another is an assured way of establishing communal strength.Or you could just be capitalist about it, let the unsuccessful starve, and go seeking another victim of your own.Bloated bats don’t fly well.

If the Old Party learns from nature we’ll all benefit.Greed is hardly the basis for sound government.Nature would suggest that ingesting disinfectant isn’t the best advice to dole out to a nation about which you truly care.The Old Party refuses to do anything, of course.Having proven themselves unable to govern, they’re busy pulling together campaigns for November’s election.With a leader who’s already said on national television that Republicans can’t win without gaming the election process itself, they don’t even blush.I’m no expert, but it may be because they don’t have enough blood to rise to their cheeks.If they’re short on blood it might be worth their while to learn a thing or two from vampire bats.