I Vote For My Dogs
Carlotta Cooper
When you share your opinions with
people as much as I do, you tend to get a lot of feedback from
readers. Some of it is quite nice and I'm grateful. Those responses
usually come from people who read DOG NEWS. I get messages
that are much more hateful from animal rights people when I post
online about animal rights issues or reply to a news article about
dog breeding or animal legislation. If I listened to some of these
people I would have various broken bones and/or be dead by now. One
person told me that I was “pretending to be a humane person”
because the avatar photo with my online reply was a picture of my
dog. It seems that only animal rights people can love their dogs.
One kind of message always leaves me a
little confused. If I state an opinion disliking AR-inspired
regulation for dog breeders, I often get approving messages from
people who assume that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool conservative or Tea
Party person. They're ready to take me to the next meeting and tell
me all about the horrors of the Democratic party.
I should say right here that I don't
really have a party anymore. I'm a dog person. I vote for my dogs.
Property rights, regulation, finances – for me everything comes
down to how things are going to affect me and my dogs. When someone
runs for office, I want to know if HSUS owns them or not. Actually,
if HSUS can buy a politician, someone else can probably buy him or
her, too, but that's the issue that concerns me. I no longer care
which party someone is in. I think there are good and bad people in
both parties. One of the things I do in my state each election is
help the Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance send out and
analyze questionnaires about animal issues for candidates running for
office so we can make endorsements. They have volunteers in many
states who work on this project and it's a good way to know where
candidates stand on animal issues.
However, my best friend is a liberal
Democrat who does just as much to fight bad dog legislation as I do.
I know that it drives her crazy when people assume that you have to
be a conservative Republican to oppose animal rights. The tone of
many e-mail lists about dog legislation IS conservative or
Republican-oriented and that's too bad in some ways. I think it makes
Democrats and liberals feel under attack or responsible for some of
the things that animal rights people do in the name of “helping”
animals.
Why is animal rights linked to liberals
or the Democratic party? Well, it's a social issue. At one time, in
the 19th century, improving care for animals was linked to
improving care for children in our society. The idea that people are
brutish and it requires government intervention to make them behave
better and live the way they “should” live is a liberal idea.
Plus, we live in a time when increased government regulation is
associated with the Democratic party. And, it's the Democratic party
that includes a caucus for animal rights at their Convention. Animal
rights is just one of a long list of ways the party wants to make the
world better, even if people object.
Please hold your letters. I began life
as a Democrat, from generations of Democrats. FDR was a saint in my
parents' home. My great-grandfather was named after Thomas Jefferson.
I love the ideals of the Democratic party. I get them. I really do.
But what began as a rural party with an affinity for farmers is more
of an urban party now. When you look at polling data in any election
now, you usually find that Republicans and conservatives win in rural
areas – where there are more likely to be farmers and other people
deeply involved with animals. Democrats and liberals are more likely
to win in the cities. So, while today's Democratic party still shares
some of the ideals of yesteryear, the demographic has changed to a
large extent.
As you might imagine, this is a problem
for dog owners, whether they are Republicans or Democrats. While HSUS
donates to both Republican and Democratic candidates, they are far
more heavily invested in Democratic candidates. They have a much
stronger base in cities and universities and among young people. Many
animal rights people today are located in cities and when they speak
about animal issues they are speaking from ignorance. If they have
pets they have probably only had a spayed or neutered animal. They
don't know anything about breeding or whelping. They don't know about
most health issues. They don't think in terms of generations. And
they are usually completely ignorant of normal farming practices,
even mistaking some ordinary things for “cruelty.” It's not easy
to convince a 20-year-old college kid in the city that they don't
know everything there is to know about animals. Afterall, you've only
spent your entire life breeding and raising dogs. They have read an
article online. All of this makes them easy prey for a manipulative
group like HSUS to brainwash them.
It's easy for HSUS and ALDF (the Animal
Legal Defense Fund – an animal rights legal group) to recruit young
kids on colleges in urban areas. They can appeal to a natural urge to
help animals and portray breeders and farmers – older people who
live out in the sticks – as the bad guys. For these organizations
and their recruits, they can subtly promote animal rights as a war on
an older generation; as an attack on people whose values they despise
– people who defend their property and claim their animals are part
of that property by law. Because of the urban/rural party split, for
many people it's also an attack on conservatives and others who
believe the government is engaging in overreach and too much
regulation. “These breeders must be regulated! They are doing
terrible things to animals! Without government regulation, they will
_____.” Fill in the blank. It's whatever HSUS and their allies can
come up with to scare Congress and the public.
All of this happens without reference
to the people who are most knowledgeable about dogs, of course,
because, according to this paradigm, they can't be trusted.
Obviously, this version of reality
ignores the fact that HSUS raises millions of dollars annually by
using sad photos of kittens and puppies in order to spend the money
on lobbying, pensions, and other things of self-interest. It's called
“conflict fundraising.” Create a problem so you can make money on
it. HSUS is expert at it. You have to wonder how many young people
might choose to go into animal husbandry because they love animals if
they weren't being diverted by the conflict needlessly created by
HSUS. We have already lost several generations to the AR movement
when they might have been more productively involved in animal
welfare instead of animal rights.
All of this is to say that whether you
are a Democrat or a Republican, it doesn't matter. Our common enemy
is still the animal rights movement and HSUS. I would just point out
that you don't have to be a Republican or a conservative to hate the
over-regulation of breeders. In fact, some Democrats and liberals can
feel alienated by their more conservative friends on dog lists when
these subjects come up. Bad legislation is just that – bad
legislation. You don't have to belong to one party or another to be
able to recognize it or hate it.