BRATTLEBORO-Happy, the elephant, died on May 26 at the Bronx Zoo. That same day, Ken Paxton, endorsed by President Trump, defeated Texas Senator John Cornyn in the Republican party primary by an overwhelming margin (28 points!).
Cornyn is a longstanding member of the Grand Old Party, a Bush-era Republican. He has held his seat for 23 years, served as Republican whip for six of them, and is known for his bipartisan deal-making.
Like the GOP of old, also suffering from liver and kidney failure, Happy was put down by zoo officials after a long period of senescence. Once an elephant of grand stature and uncommon intelligence, Happy was named for the character in the fairy tale of Snow White while coming of age in a Florida petting zoo. She found no sanctuary there or in the Bronx Zoo, where she resided since 1977.
There, in the 1980s, Happy, with a parade of partners, was trained to do tricks, give children rides, and perform in shows known as Elephant Weekends. Her intelligence opened the cage of captivity to assertions of her right to liberty in a New York Court of Appeals case in 2022 in a controversial decision to keep her in the zoo.
I visited the Bronx Zoo as a 10-year-old with my family, before Happy's days. My impressionistic memory is of watching two giant pachyderms, in a cavern of concrete, eliminate honey-dew-melon-size plops of dung from high and then being startled by the thunderous thud as the droppings hit the floor resoundingly.
Now, many decades later, I am astounded once again. Petting zoo officials, attempting to perpetuate the evil Queen's part of a Snow White fairy tale, have looked into the mirror on the wall, and in a horribly distorted reflection of fairest of all, have chosen Paxton as the superior candidate to represent Texas on the Senate floor.
If one looks and listens, like a wide-eyed, keen-sensing 10-year-old, one should be shocked by the dung being flung. The poison apple of amoral character and conduct that Paxton could be a poster boy for, infests what remains of the necrotic Happy parade and further infects the Grand Old Party with maggots.
Happy's life was ruled by controversy over animal and human rights. It's time to right the wrongs, with moral clarity and conviction. In common cause, we can expose the despicable conduct of high officials and evict those foisting poisoned apples upon us.
If we see it for what it is, and only support and vote for elected officials of high integrity and moral sense, happier days will be back again.
Hank Lange
Brattleboro
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