Clearing the Barrel

Imagine that you have a 55-gallon barrel that's been sitting outside for years. People have walked by it. Rain has filled it up so that it's always full of water. To stare at it, it's just a barrel of water.

One day, you stick a garden hose into it and turn the water on full blast.

Over the years, people have dropped garbage into the barrel, but the garbage settled into the bottom. Dirt and debris lie still, deep below the surface of the water. Looking into the top of the water, you've never really seen the crud at the bottom. But now with the hose turned on, all of that is stirred up. Garbage, slimy crud, and other ugliness now floats at the top of what once appeared as undisturbed water.

It's gross.

President Donald J. Trump and his people are that hose in the barrel of our federal government. Together, they're stirring up the nastiest slime for all to see.

The fresh water that now flows into the barrel is purifying what's in the barrel, but it's a process. It's not clean all at once. You realize, as you watch the garbage spill out over the top edge of the barrel and onto the ground around it, that it will take some time to push the debris out and replace it with clean water.

The truth is that the water was never clean; we just never saw how dirty it really was. Now, we do. It's not Trump's fault. His people didn't dirty the water. It was nasty and unclean before he shoved a hose into it. But by shoving a hose into it, it's now obvious how unclean it was.

We're surprised at how dirty and nasty our government has become. The lawless have figured out how to have reign over the lawful for a long time. They used the system to acquire power and do their dirty deeds in secret. But the those deeds are coming to light, and they're fighting with all they have to prevent that from happening.

They're trying to push the hose out of the barrel.

I tell everyone in my seminar that there is no "polite" in politics. The two share a similar root word but have nothing in common. The joke that politics actually comes from "poly," meaning many, and "ticks," which are blood-sucking creatures makes people laugh for the truth of it. Our government is replete with parasites.

It takes time to heal an infested body. It takes time to clean a cruddy barrel by inserting clean water into it.

It takes patience. And persistence.

The truth is that the barrel will never be fully clean and clear. For the size of the federal government, some rogue elements will remain. We need to embrace and support this effort to push out the nasty grime. It will be nasty and grimy. It won't be polite or gentlemanly. It will be a brawl.

That's the fight. 250 years ago people died in their fight. In this fight, death isn't required. Just a strong stomach and the will to continue.

2 Comments

Aiken MaryAnne (Feb 28, 2025 6:29 AM):

Great analogy.
You are 128175 correct. I hope the American ppl have the patience to see this thru.

Paul Anthony Hale (Mar 1, 2025 8:36 AM):

Very good comparable to illustrate the truth of all this.