Evil seed

Driftglass has quite the effective post this morning. As soon as I read it, I thought back to the best book I've read in years, The Book of the Dun Cow. I found it at The Strand on the $1 shelf outside the store. I'm not sure why, given its remarkable quality.

The book is a moving, occasionally frightening, parable of good, evil, and earthly sacrifice played out in a world of coops where roosters govern (mostly kindly) and animals talk. The story begins when a proud and aging rooster, Senex I believe, is fooled into laying an egg that contains Cockatrice. This half snake/half rooster kills Senex and begins systematically raping the hens in Senex's coop, thus populating the Earth with evil basilisks. The animals in the Senex's coop rise up too late, and are overcome by this evil.

The parallels between this story and Driftglass' post are obvious. But, I would argue that moderate Republicans are more like the rooster Senex rather than the obsequious hens. It's not just a matter of them bowing to radicalism in their party. They, in their vainness and driven by a desire to be part of a ruling party (?), are in fact parenting, giving birth to the allegorical snakes of radical Republicanism. Christy Todd Whitman claims it's her party too. Is that right? I think not. To the radicals she's a RINO, and ultimately just as unworthy as you or I for continued political existence. However, for the time being she's a nice, moderate face to hide the scaly, reptilian nature of the fundy radicals seizing power. Given them time, give them power, and they'll drop the mask of moderation. I think it's just a matter of time, just like Driftglass suggests.