Who is brave enough to “BELL the CAT”?

To “Bell the Cat” … meaning to perform a dangerous or difficult task. It is taken metaphorically from the Aesop fable about a mouse who proposes to put a bell on a cat so that they could hear the cat creeping up on them. A wise idea but who would be brave enough to actually put the bell on the cat to begin with.

I heard that phrase on NPR a few days ago in reference to politics. The discussion was about the difficulty of getting anything done in the Senate on a bi-partisan basis since the Republicans have openly expressed that their only desire is to block any and all of the Democrats proposed legislation.

The speaker used the phrase and added “if we were brave enough as a nation we could insist that our elected servants all wear a metaphorical bell that would check their motives and honesty”. If we heard the tinkle of the bell we would be forewarned and could call them on it.

All well and good but it takes courage. Let's all of us “Bell the cats”, those House and Senate members who represent our 50 States. Let's listen for the tinkle of the bell when the politicians speak and make them pay for it when we hear it. It's about time that they stand up for the values on which they were elected.