the dam lunacy

[welshTerrier2]

once upon a time, in the little hamlet of Demville, a great struggle raged ... it seems the surrounding community of Repubville wanted to open the great damn just above the town ... if this idea was passed by the legislature, Demville would be flooded and would cease to exist ...

the citizens of Repubville, the Repubvillains, wanted to flood Demville to create a waterfront recreation area for their community of millionaires ... almost all of them agreed that Demville was expendable and that the benefits to the surrounding communities justified opening the great dam ... the people in Repubville wanted to make a new lake below the dam that would measure 100 feet in depth ... this would permit even the largest power boats and yachts to be used on the lake ...

but in Demville, opinions were sharply divided ... one group, the Dry Land Dems, saw this as a class war ... they argued that the policies being pushed by the citizens of Repubville were bad for their community and were designed solely to fulfill the Repubvillains greedy inclinations ...

the other group in Demville, the Small Boat Dems, saw the first group as unrealistic and inflexible and extreme ... they argued that it was more pragmatic to seek a middle ground ... they argued for a "split the difference" approach whereby Demville would be flooded to a depth of only 50 feet, i.e., just one half the depth pushed for in Repubville ...

the Small Boat Dems argued that by being more flexible and seeking compromise, they might even attract some of the Repubvillains to join them in other political ventures ...

the Dry Land Dems tried to point out that sometimes there is just no room for compromise ... they tried to point out that winning over some of the Repubvillains would be meaningless because the town would already be destroyed ... they tried to argue that policy is sometimes more important than politics ... they tried to point out that building political power by agreeing to ANY flooding did not make any sense ...

but the Small Boat Dems stuck to their guns ... "half depth is the best we can do" they argued ... "why must you be such extremists?" they asked ... "can't you see that our way is pragmatic?" they persisted ... "how dare you threaten not to support us - where's your loyalty?" they demanded ...