A LESSON FROM THE BEES
By Mary Starrett
December 9, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
In 1934, a French mathematician concluded that bees should not be able to fly. After all, he reasoned, their small wing-to-body-size ratio showed they simply should not be able to pull off lift off. His empirical data showed that bees did not have what it takes to do what they did and had done for millennia.
Glad the bees paid no mind to Frenchy, because they might have taken the math whiz’s conclusion to heart and grounded themselves. After all, when all the calculations were in, the ‘facts’ showed bees can’t fly.
Of course, that’s nonsense, as anyone who’s actually observed a bee suspended in mid air knows. Bees can fly just fine, thank you.
Years later, a Caltech biologist worked on the conundrum and found that sure enough, honey bees don’t have an easy time of it because of their wing size and other challenges. He discovered that though bees have a harder time flying than other insects, they not only fly, but hover, even when loaded down with a full tank of nectar.
While most insects move their wings in long motions at about 200 beats a second, honeybees flap in short strokes at over 240 beats per second.
In other words, they have to work harder to fly.
In much the same way, nay-sayers have been busy as bees explaining why we could never expect a third party to get lift-off; that given the size of third party wings they should never be able to fly. But we who look beyond the ‘conclusions’ of the ‘experts’ say “nonsense.”
We must work harder to fly, but like the bees, we think it will ultimately be worth the extra effort.
The Constitution Party, the fastest- growing of any political party (Republican, Democrat and all other third parties) saw unprecedented growth this past election. CP voter registration increased close to 67% (not including the state of California) since 2004. (Ballot Access News, 12/08)
Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin, who wasn’t even on the ballot in big states like Texas and California, and whose name appeared on only 37 state ballots broke all Constitution Party vote total records. Despite a virtual blackout by the media, and with no money for ads, Baldwin’s message resonated with Constitution-minded Americans who simply would not vote for evil again.
In state and local races Constitution Party candidates were credited with unseating a 3 term incumbent Republican U.S. Senator (who was more liberal than his Democratic challenger) and one candidate captured over 30% of the vote.
We do well to remember our history lessons about the then third party- the Republicans. They arrived and summarily dispatched the “conservative” party of the day- the Whigs. The Whigs went away because they ignored their base.
Sound familiar?
The GOP, in turn, ignored its base. Now it’s been grounded and Americans have concluded that elephants can no longer fly. The conservative base is slowly wising up to that fact.
A political writer named Eric Dondero recently opined that hot-shot political strategists’ post mortem on the GOP’s 2008 loss is way off base. He notes the “experts” say the GOP went down in flames because the party wasn’t “centrist” ( read ‘leftist’) enough!
Based on that mistaken notion the writer warns:
“Move the (Republican) Party more to the Center for… 2012, and watch how the Libertarian Party and Constitution Party's vote totals increase. Watch how many more voters on the Right get disenchanted with the GOP, and just stay home.”
Americans are tired of seeing the supposed “conservative” party sell out on issues like gun rights, abortion, illegal immigration, undeclared wars, exporting of jobs through NAFTA and GATT and the great “bail-out” bank heist of 2008.
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Should president-elect Obama manage to sidestep that sticky little question about his eligibility for office based on his citizenship, then right-minded Americans will have their work cut out for them. If they choose to, they can ignore the naysayers and take off.
If they learn a lesson from the bees.
� 2008 Mary Starrett - All Rights Reserved
