My wise sister was in town yesterday. She spoke intelligently and insightfully about a number of issues pertinent to good government. Had I written a newspaper article about the things she shared, it would be far more valuable than the weekly he-said-she-said from local government meetings.

One of the most memorable stories was not about government, but it is. Sister likes to go to zoos, and she is quite the Dr. Dolittle. She related the story of a little monkey that either wanted her ponytail or her sunglasses. He grabbed a monkey cake and offered it through the cage. She knew the game, and she didn’t want to play. During the standoff, a crowd of people assembled. The little monkey did not like it, so he proceeded to spray “monkey water” on the onlookers, much to their horror.

I remembered the story while reading again about the protests that are occurring throughout the state. “Faith leaders” are speaking for the low-income and minority (LIM) community. This, in and of itself, is weird. Just because somebody lost their job or has a different skin color than the “faith leaders” is no reason to believe they are like trees and incapable of speaking for themselves. People do, however, tend to live up or down to expectations.

(I am reminded of a UN conference I attended years ago. Bella Abzug was speaking on behalf of women in economically-depressed countries. She told of scenes on the TV of high-ranking officials deplaning on the tarmac. They were always men, but Abzug said, and I paraphrase, “We want to see your women coming off those planes.” To this, a lovely woman from Botswana, who was making tons of sense throughout the conference, replied, and I paraphrase, “We don’t want to see our women coming off your planes. In fact, we don’t even want your planes landing in our country.” I digress.)

Putting words in the LIM community’s mouths, the “faith leaders” oppose “Republican” legislation such as attempts to require voter ID, refusal to expand Medicaid, and shifting of the tax burden from upper to lower classes. Back to the allegory of the monkey, match the symbol with its embodiment in the current story:

A. Monkey
B. Sister
C. Sunglasses or ponytail
D. Monkey cake
E. Crowd
F. Monkey water

a. Votes
b. LIM community
c. Disengaged citizenry
d. “Faith leaders”
e. “Unintended consequences”
f. Enabling legislation.