Josh First's Blog

Garden as metaphor #8

As usual, I planted a garden this Spring.

Chicken wire and wire cloth mesh walls 24 inches high are surrounded by a solar-powered electric fence that hurts.

I am not fancy, so it is the usual basics- cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, an assortment of herbs. Keeping it simple is usually a recipe for solid output. Again, it is usually nothing that will feed the family for the year, but enough to keep us eating variations of ratatouille for the summer. It is healthy and tasty.

However, this summer was tough.

A dry, record-heat summer resulted in a lot of poorly developed desirable plants. But the weeds flourished. Having weeded the garden in late July, we went away for ten days, and returned to a jungle inside the fence. But the good plants did not have enough water.

The potatoes were dying, if you can believe that. Usually they are the last to go.

The basil had hardly budged. Most of the tomato plants looked sickly. Even the zucchini, which started strong, dried up and died a hideous public death. Somehow ISIS infiltrated the garden of Eden.

As a metaphor, this garden demonstrates the need for constant vigilance. If you leave it to itself, the good plants quickly get crowded out by the professional space-hogs, the weeds. And you can successfully remove a crop of weeds, and then a week later turn around and see a whole new crop blasting to the surface.

Similarly, a Republic like America cannot be left to itself. Its citizens – you, me, US – must stay on top of our government at all times. Or else the professional politicians, the career politicians, will get wedged in their spots and turn the purpose of government from serving We the People, to them, the weeds.