There was once a land of very foolish donkeys. Although the donkeys thought themselves free, in fact, they spent their lives carrying the loads of others. They did get to vote for their leaders, but only after a process of selection that was acceptable to their owners. One day, the donkeys elected a leader with a golden mane who said, “Freedom means not allowing government to limit the burdens that businesses place on you. Furthermore, because there are donkeys hidden among you that hate your freedom and would rob you of it if they could, we must spy on you to protect our democracy.”
“If you must take away our civil liberties to protect our freedom, then so be it,” brayed the foolish donkeys.
One day a burro named “Bradley” discovered that the leaders were selling some of the donkeys to the nearby glue factory. He decided to let the donkeys know what was going on by releasing documents that showed that the Republic of Donkey Land was being lied to on a regular basis. To a one, the donkeys refused to read the released documents and they all approved when the leader cut out Bradley’s tongue.
“If you must lie to us to protect our sacred truths, so be it,” brayed the foolish donkeys.
One day the donkeys gathered before their beautiful leader with a golden mane who said, “There is not time to go through proper channels to declare war, but we must send our young donkeys to kill and to die. Furthermore, because of the grave nature of this threat, I will need to claim the power to assassinate any of you on the spot. I assure you that there is a valid process for making this decision but, unfortunately, for reasons of national security, I cannot tell you what that process is.
“If you must kill us to keep us safe, so be it,” brayed the foolish donkeys.