Reply #54: If pets could vote, then they could be voted for, [View All]

and I would have voted for one of my pets before either of the majority choices on the ballot last November.

My dog would make a great president. She's friendly, outgoing, and territorial. She doesn't resort to threat of any kind unless someone poaches on her territory. She looks after everyone in our herd; humans, cats, chickens, sheep, and horses. She works well with them.

Outside the herd? She vigilangly patrols the home place and chases all intruders to the borders. Birds, bunnies, coons, deer, and everything else. Thankfully, skunks have never tried the border. ;)

When someone comes to visit, she welcomes them, but does not give ground. As long as they play by the rules, she is gracious. If they push beyond her boundaries, she pushes back. She smiles and wiggles her stubbed-tail back end, but she also leans on them and pushes them, one step at a time, back into their places.

And of course, all of that effort is on my behalf. I straddle the classes. I come from the working poor, and managed to scrabble upward into the lower middle class after years of work and night school. I've been homeless, I've been without transportation, food, or utilities, and I've been able to find a way to survive, and to sometimes reach out to help others. That's the group she's working to protect and defend. Not the power holders, but those who do the heavy lifting.

She would have voted for Dennis Kucinich, whether he was on the ballot or not.

My cat would have been good, as well. She doesn't work well with others, like the dog. She's pretty much a dictator. A gentle dictator, in my case. When she sits on my chest and pats my face at 4am to get me up, she keeps her claws sheathed. She knows when to ignore, and when to pay attention, and when to pay attention when it looks like she's ignoring.

When she goes hunting, she scores. When she sees fit, she consumes most of the prey herself and offers up head, tail, feet, and guts. More often, though, she presents her victories whole, as a gift. Occasionally, she, in her efforts to teach me to hunt, will present her gifts live and lively, in order to instruct me in her art as a race around the place, dumping furniture and tearing the place apart, trying to catch up with the goal.

She would do the same for Congress. Leave the heads, tails, and feet of some legislation. Leave some whole. And return some live to Congress as lessons. As far as the opposition? She'll eat them alive. She's ruthless, and, when it comes to engaging the enemy, she has no conscience to get in the way of making her kill. Whether it's quick and clean, or whether she chooses to play with it for awhile.

My cat would have voted for Cynthia McKinney, without a doubt.

Cats aren't Democrats or Republicans. They are independents, and it behooves us not to forget their influence.

Dogs? Dogs are Democrats, Greens, and Socialists, unless they've been bred and raised for folks like Michael Vick. Then they are Republicans; they can't help themselves.

Republicans themselves can be sharks or domestic, hybrid turkeys.

And, of course, way too many humans from all walks are lemmings.