[Jesse]

<strong>Written By:</strong> Jesse
<strong>Date:</strong> 2006-01-18 03:00:00
<a href="/article/125631924-mouseland">Article Link</a>

Now I'm not saying anything against the cats. They were nice fellows. They conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws--that is, laws that were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats weren't very good for mice. One of the laws said that mouseholes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw in. Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds--so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort.

All the laws were good laws. For cats. But, oh, they were hard on the mice. And life was getting harder and harder. And when the mice couldn't put up with it any more, they decided something had to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls. They voted the black cats out. They put in the white cats.

Now the white cats had put up a terrific campaign. They said: "All that Mouseland needs is more vision." They said:"The trouble with Mouseland is those round mouseholes we got. If you put us in we'll establish square mouseholes." And they did. And the square mouseholes were twice as big as the round mouseholes, and now the cat could get both his paws in. And life was tougher than ever.

And when they couldn't take that anymore, they voted the white cats out and put the black ones in again. Then they went back to the white cats. Then to the black cats. They even tried half black cats and half white cats. And they called that coalition. They even got one government made up of cats with spots on them: they were cats that tried to make a noise like a mouse but ate like a cat.

You see, my friends, the trouble wasn't with the colour of the cat. The trouble was that they were cats. And because they were cats, they naturally looked after cats instead of mice.

Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends, watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, "Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don't we elect a government made up of mice?" "Oh," they said, "he's a Bolshevik. Lock him up!" So they put him in jail.

But I want to remind you: that you can lock up a mouse or a man but you can't lock up an idea.

The Moral of the Story
----------------------

"Mouseland" is a political fable, originally told by Clare Gillis, a friend of Tommy Douglas. Tommy has used this story many times to show in a humorous way how Canadians fail to recognize that neither the Liberals or Conservatives are truly interested in what matters to ordinary citizens; yet Canadians continue to vote for them.

This transcript, audio version, and other links can be found at:
<a href="http://www.saskndp.com/history/mouseland.html">http://www.saskndp.com/history/mouseland.html</a>





[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on January 18, 2006]

[DL]

Good story, sums it up nicely. I've always thought Canadians should be in neck braces from whiplash injury the way we keep flip flopping back and forth between the Liberals and the PC's, like there isn't an alternative. If people think that parties like the NDP are irrelevant or ineffective, they should turn in their health care cards, and show us how they can manage on their own, without government "handouts". Many people who will vote for harper, will also use Medicare without ever giving a thought to the political ideology, or the massive uphill battle that people like Tommy Douglas fought to bring us this benefit, and how the lives of ordinary Canadians changed, for the better.
I give up. Canadians get the goverment they deserve if they are stupid enough to turn to Stephen Harper. I can still see Harper, as he appeared on a news clip after we said no to Iraq, on a stage somewhere in Alberta with the American flags prominently displayed, throwing ripe tomatoes on the decision not to join the coalition of the willing. That tells me everything I need to know. Mice voting in cats to watch over them, sad but true.

[hoopoe]

Thank you for finally restricting comments to registered users.

I remember seeing a portion of this speech on the Tommy Douglas segment of The Greatest Canadian series on CBC but unfortunately as I remember it was only a very brief part of it (like a soundbite intended only to show a picture of him rather than present his ideas with any sort of substance). Too bad, with that kind of exposure of this speech Canadians might have got some sense of what they have been doing for the past umpteen decades and come to their senses.