Lessons from Dogs

Yesterday, as I was engaging in the ever-difficult task of getting my 7 month old Catahoula Leopard Dog, Adelaide (the one on the left in the picture above), to go into her crate before leaving the house for the day, I stopped to think about her behavior in relation to the American electorate. Most of the time I have to drag Adelaide kicking and screaming into her cage so she doesn't terrorize the house in my absence. But when I'm not in the mood for that I just say "Adelaide, want a treat?" and get her excited about the treat. I go to the cabinet, get a Milk Bone treat about 2 inches long and a half inch in diameter and I dangle it over her crate. She goes right in, I close the door to the crate, and then give her the treat. For the next few hours she loses her freedom, and for the low price of a 3 oz. wafer.

Our Red Bone Coon Hound, Aries, on the other hand, prizes her freedom. Fortunately, she doesn't have to be locked in her crate because she is responsible with her freedom in our absence, but she loathes taking showers. It is the ultimate loss of freedom, it would seem, for her. No treats, toys, prizes, gimmicks, or anything will get her into the bathtub or shower. She has to be hauled in, and if there isn't a closed door, it's a two-man job. She then resents you for the rest of the day for putting her through such torture. She really loves her freedom, and it doesn't have a price.

They aren't much different than most Americans, it's sad to say. Aries is the Good Steward American--the one who works hard, saves, spends wisely, who when she messes up (like eating leftover Chinese food out of the trash can) feels guilty and owns up to her mistakes, is calm and dutiful, and never complains about her existence. She just wants to be left alone most of the time, and merely acknowledged the rest of the time.

Adelaide is like everybody else--give her an inch, she demands miles upon miles. Let her play with a t-shirt and she wants to tear up all of your socks, too. Let her play outside and she digs holes to get under the fence. Her treat isn't enough--she thinks she deserves Aries's treat too. And most egregiously she is willing to continuously, without fail, sacrifice her freedom for a lousy Milk Bone treat. (This isn't to say I don't absolutely adore Adelaide-and think she's incredibly cute, but she is frustrating sometimes...)

Is the American voter really quite ready to hand over even more of its freedom for some sub-standard, government-sponsored health care? The average American already spends 5 months in his metaphorical cage every year paying off Uncle Sam. And even so, Uncle Sam is broke--beyond broke. He can't balance his short-term check book or his long-term check book. So we continue running multi-hundred billion dollar budget deficits every year and keep ignoring the structural debt of over $75 trillion in unfunded liabilities in Social Security and Medicare.

It would seem that the people who are buying into the Santa Claus rhetoric of the Clinton, Obama, and Edwards candidates are not only saying they are willing to go into their cage for an indefinite amount of time, but they don't even realize there isn't going to be a treat when they get there.

Even my dog isn't that stupid...