Most of us can agree that the Republican debates are a clown show worthy of Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey.

All that these debates lack are outlandish shoes, white make-up, big red, bulbous noses, a pointy cap and orange hair!

But wait, who is that coming into the ring of sawdust, jammed into that tiny car? Why it’s the Democrats!

While the Republican clowns are whopping each other with their flour-filled stockings, the Dems are squeezing out of the car and — ohmygosh — they’re climbing the ladder up to the high-wire way above the arena floor.

And now, — I don’t believe it — they’re on the wire, forming a precarious pyramid, dangerously balancing, swaying a little to the right, a little to the left and inching forward, flirting with certain death. What an act! It’s incredible!

No matter how many times I see their act I cringe with fear. In the “Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Act,” under their head clown, Willie, they eviscerated AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) and replaced it with TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) which threw nearly a million children off welfare and plunged thousands into abject poverty. (Peter Edelman, the assistant Secretary for Health and Welfare, resigned in protest.)

Their next stupendous act, under Willie-the-Clown, was the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, voted for by Vermont’s own Senator Patrick Leahy, eliminating the fire-wall (Glass/Steagle) between commercial banks and the casino-recklessness of investment banks, leading to the Default Swaps debacle.

Then, as a parting shot, Willie, his day-glow nose glowing with pride, signed into law The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which deregulated derivatives, those financial instruments equivalent to shooting craps in Las Vegas.

No wait, I’m wrong!

I said “deregulated,” but some regulation remained — the gamblers would regulate themselves! And please notice, I haven’t given the spotlight to the Republicans in this account.

No, the drum roll and trumpet flourish is for the putative friend of the working class, the Democratic Party!

Coming up-to-date, we now have Vermont Democrats wringing their hands over Governor Shumlin’s anti-labor, anti-safety net, anti-unemployment benefits, pro-“One Percenters” agenda!

Will someone hand Shumlin a shovel? The elephant parade has left unsightly piles blocking the road to fairness!

Al Salzman

Fairfield