Pick the right bandwagon to jump on or you might get hurt, writes COLIN WICKING
IF you believe the internet, the word “bandwagon” was coined by P.T. Barnum — the circus guy — to describe the wagon carting around his circus band.
At the head of a parade, circus bandwagons transformed into rolling advertisements for upcoming shows and such, often trailing large, excited crowds in their wake.
Political strategists, being as sharp as they are, soon spotted an opportunity to steal the whole bandwagon/ parade idea and started using it to whip up a bit of excitement at election campaigns.
Everyone loves a parade, and the more followers you had the better, especially if a few of them risked broken bones by leaping onto your moving bandwagon.
Multiple fractures notwithstanding, bandwagons became so popular that everybody wanted to jump on them.
They still do, but in a plot twist P.T. Barnum couldn’t have seen coming, modern politicians are now the ones regularly dicing with death more than anybody else.
Even picking the right bandwagon to jump on is fraught with political danger.