Selfish Voters Day?
Luky has not been posting (dictating) lately. His eyebrows have been twitching like crazy since the first of the year. He says '07' is a big year for us, and he's trying to get his thoughts together.
His silence was finally broken just over a week ago when the USA Network aired the 131st Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, (http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/) and, once again, the judges overlooked Malamutes as "Best" - that is, best in their group, The Working Dogs, and thus, the Best in Show competition. He was not depressed, but his frustration was obvious, and he's taking it out on me philosophically . . . I'm not really surprised, but he is definitely talking with an air of intensity that I've not seen before.
He's made a list of topics he wants "us" to consider. Without personal knowledge of Luky, there's simply no way to prepare the reader for what's to come!
He started off yesterday morning, in honor of President's Day, with his considered opinion regarding the types of human American voters - and why we wind up with the president's we do.
According to Luky, taxes and God are the two determinants that move the largest voter blocks. There are many others, but these two, he says, are the ones that get us into the most trouble.
Luky says that many, though not all, of the most ardent anti-tax voters are very bright people. Of course, many of them are successful, and thus they have incomes or holdings which they seek to protect - so, it's not surprising that many of those humans are also intelligent. The problem is, as Luky puts it, anti-tax humans are, by definition, selfish.
"Okay . . .?" I asked, "Does 'selfish' necessarily mean, like, 'evil'?"
"No, of course not. That's not the point. Remember, humans tend NOT to have much sense of balance. They fish the oceans to the very last fish, strip mine and deforest the land to the very last spot of green, push the fluorocarbon envelope until the ozone is displaced - the illustrations are too numerous. The point is, anti-tax voters will typically not consider the degree of insanity they may coincidentally empower with their vote. Humans have bestowed political power upon some horrific despots throughout history, yet it's difficult to imagine that any one of them would, upon his platform denunciation of taxation, be automatically dismissed by anti-tax voters."
"I've heard your thoughts about 'W', so while I know you're not a fan, I can't believe you're comparing him to the Pol Pot's and Adolf's of the world."
"No. This one lacks the intelligence to execute that kind of tyranny, but your examples are not that crazy. Given the Devil they know, and the Angel they don't - as long as the Devil declares a hatred of taxes, the anti-tax voter will vote for him and simply hope to influence the administration toward a conscience. Of course, influencing is not much of a voter capability in an environment where big company political contributions allow for credit card companies purchasing the authority to write banking legislation, and oil companies buying the ability to set energy policy."
I stopped for a second and thought to myself - obviously, this is something Luky has been thinking about.
"So," I started, with a sigh, "are you criticizing voters, taxes, or politicians?"
"Taxes come and go. At the end of the day, even anti-tax humans - at least those with more brains than the average Chihuahua (Luky does not respect dogs in the Toy Group, but I think it's because they tend to be both smarter AND tougher than he is) - understand that zero Taxes implies zero Street Repair and Infrastructure, Civil Authority, Military, and so on. No, my complaint - and hey, it's your human government . . . clearly, Wolves have little to say about the running of things - but my complaint is that if a human is going to operate by such clearly selfish motives, then why would they even pretend to be seeking a better nation?"
"A better nation?" I asked, feeling as if Luky had changed the subject somewhat. "We are talking about taxes, right?"
"No - keep up, would you?" (See? That's what I mean when I say "air of intensity. . .") "The point is, taxes may well be a bad thing - and certainly, even if they are good, there's a point at which they would be bad. However, regardless of how one feels about taxes, if a human voter is disposed to grant his vote based on such a self-centered consideration - to the point that he might vote for a Pol Pot on an anti-tax platform - then clearly this is a voter who is way too selfish to have the best interests of the country at heart. So why would he ever claim that he was voting for a better nation?"
"Luky," I said with as much resignation as I could emote . . .
"Yes," he responded in his professorial tone, his chin whiskers looking even more like a beard now that he's actually nine years old.
"Is there going to be a test on this?"
"Oh, definitely! I might not live to see it, but you will."
I didn't have it in me to tell him I was joking. The truth is, I think he knew that but didn't want to play along. He is just a lot more intense these days.
His silence was finally broken just over a week ago when the USA Network aired the 131st Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, (http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/) and, once again, the judges overlooked Malamutes as "Best" - that is, best in their group, The Working Dogs, and thus, the Best in Show competition. He was not depressed, but his frustration was obvious, and he's taking it out on me philosophically . . . I'm not really surprised, but he is definitely talking with an air of intensity that I've not seen before.
He's made a list of topics he wants "us" to consider. Without personal knowledge of Luky, there's simply no way to prepare the reader for what's to come!
He started off yesterday morning, in honor of President's Day, with his considered opinion regarding the types of human American voters - and why we wind up with the president's we do.
According to Luky, taxes and God are the two determinants that move the largest voter blocks. There are many others, but these two, he says, are the ones that get us into the most trouble.
Luky says that many, though not all, of the most ardent anti-tax voters are very bright people. Of course, many of them are successful, and thus they have incomes or holdings which they seek to protect - so, it's not surprising that many of those humans are also intelligent. The problem is, as Luky puts it, anti-tax humans are, by definition, selfish.
"Okay . . .?" I asked, "Does 'selfish' necessarily mean, like, 'evil'?"
"No, of course not. That's not the point. Remember, humans tend NOT to have much sense of balance. They fish the oceans to the very last fish, strip mine and deforest the land to the very last spot of green, push the fluorocarbon envelope until the ozone is displaced - the illustrations are too numerous. The point is, anti-tax voters will typically not consider the degree of insanity they may coincidentally empower with their vote. Humans have bestowed political power upon some horrific despots throughout history, yet it's difficult to imagine that any one of them would, upon his platform denunciation of taxation, be automatically dismissed by anti-tax voters."
"I've heard your thoughts about 'W', so while I know you're not a fan, I can't believe you're comparing him to the Pol Pot's and Adolf's of the world."
"No. This one lacks the intelligence to execute that kind of tyranny, but your examples are not that crazy. Given the Devil they know, and the Angel they don't - as long as the Devil declares a hatred of taxes, the anti-tax voter will vote for him and simply hope to influence the administration toward a conscience. Of course, influencing is not much of a voter capability in an environment where big company political contributions allow for credit card companies purchasing the authority to write banking legislation, and oil companies buying the ability to set energy policy."
I stopped for a second and thought to myself - obviously, this is something Luky has been thinking about.
"So," I started, with a sigh, "are you criticizing voters, taxes, or politicians?"
"Taxes come and go. At the end of the day, even anti-tax humans - at least those with more brains than the average Chihuahua (Luky does not respect dogs in the Toy Group, but I think it's because they tend to be both smarter AND tougher than he is) - understand that zero Taxes implies zero Street Repair and Infrastructure, Civil Authority, Military, and so on. No, my complaint - and hey, it's your human government . . . clearly, Wolves have little to say about the running of things - but my complaint is that if a human is going to operate by such clearly selfish motives, then why would they even pretend to be seeking a better nation?"
"A better nation?" I asked, feeling as if Luky had changed the subject somewhat. "We are talking about taxes, right?"
"No - keep up, would you?" (See? That's what I mean when I say "air of intensity. . .") "The point is, taxes may well be a bad thing - and certainly, even if they are good, there's a point at which they would be bad. However, regardless of how one feels about taxes, if a human voter is disposed to grant his vote based on such a self-centered consideration - to the point that he might vote for a Pol Pot on an anti-tax platform - then clearly this is a voter who is way too selfish to have the best interests of the country at heart. So why would he ever claim that he was voting for a better nation?"
"Luky," I said with as much resignation as I could emote . . .
"Yes," he responded in his professorial tone, his chin whiskers looking even more like a beard now that he's actually nine years old.
"Is there going to be a test on this?"
"Oh, definitely! I might not live to see it, but you will."
I didn't have it in me to tell him I was joking. The truth is, I think he knew that but didn't want to play along. He is just a lot more intense these days.
posted by RAM at 11:10 AM
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