Monkey See, Monkey Do: A Tea Party Parable

When you let a bunch of jabbering, psychotic monkeys into your house, you really shouldn't be too surprised when they start to wreck it. Because, after all, they are jabbering, psychotic monkeys and that's what they do.

You threw out the old pets because they stopped entertaining you. You let the monkeys in because you thought they were cute and more or less harmless. You were sure you could control them.

Now there's monkey shit all over your house and the neighbors are starting to talk. And whatever you do to appease them, the monkeys seem to be getting angrier. So, naturally, you're looking around for someone to blame.

Of course, the idea that you might try to blame somebody else for what is plainly your mistake is laughable.

But sadly it is also very, very American, circa 2011.