Tommy Douglas's reminder...

The Story of Mouseland

Mouseland, was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were
born and died, and lived pretty much like you and I do. They even had a
Parliament. And every 4 years they had an election. They used to walk
to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the
polls. And got a ride for the next four years afterwards too. Just like
you and me. And every time on election day, all the little mice used to
go to the ballot box and they used to elect a government. A government
made up of Big Fat Black Cats.

Now if you think it's strange that mice would elect a government made
up of cats, you just look at the history of Canada for the last 90
years, and maybe you'll see that they weren't any stupider than we are. Now
I'm not saying anything against the cats. They were nice fellows, they
conducted the government with dignity. They passed good laws - that is,
laws that were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats,
weren't very good for mice. One of the laws said that mice holes had to be
big enough so the cats could get their paws in. Another law said mice
had to travel at certain speeds - so the cat could get his breakfast
without too much physical effort. All the laws were good laws for cats.
But, oh, they were hard on the mice, and life was getting harder and
harder.

When the mice couldn't take it anymore, they decided that something had
to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls. They voted the
Black cats out. They put in the White cats.

The White cats had put up a terrific campaign. "All that Mouseland
needs is more vision." They said, "The trouble with Mouseland is all those
round mouse holes we got. If you put us in, we'll establish square
mouse holes." And they did. And the square mouse holes were twice as large
as the round mouse holes, so now the cat could get both his paws in.
And life was tougher than ever.

And when they couldn't take that anymore, they voted the White cats out
and put the Black ones in again. Then they went back to the White cats,
and back to the Black cats, they even tried half Black cats and half
White cats. And called that coalition. They even got one government made
up of cats with spots on them: they were cats that tried to make noise
like a mouse, but ate like a cat.

The trouble wasn't the colour of the cats, but the fact that they were
cats. And since they were cats, they naturally looked after the cats,
instead of mice. Presently, there came along one little mouse, who had
an idea.

My friends, watch out for a little fellow with an idea.

And he went to the other mice and said, "My friends, why do we keep on
electing a government made up of cats, why don't we elect a government
made up of mice?" "Oh!" They said, "He's a Bolshevik! Lock him up!" So
they put him in Jail.

But what I want to remind you, You can lock up a mouse or a man, but
you cannot lock up an idea.

~ As recited by Tommy Douglas,
1st January 1961, on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio. The speech
was written in 1961 by Clare Gillis for Tommy Douglas, leader of the
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (now the New Democratic Party),
a democratic socialist party in Canada.

text and audio ~ Saskatchewan NDP
Mouseland ~ Wikipedia