May 19, 2011

Saving a Dog Is More Important Than Saving a Politician

Last week, I was driving down a busy neighborhood street near my home when I spotted a fashionable-looking dog darting about in the busy traffic. Suddenly, she charged head-on into my car.

What would you have done? I stopped, put on my flashers and scooped up the dog to take home with me.

She appeared not to be too badly hurt. But I have no dog of my own, so I had to improvise in finding “treats” to soothe her.

Last week, I was driving down a busy neighborhood street near my home when I spotted a fashionable-looking dog darting about in the busy traffic. Suddenly, she charged head-on into my car.

What would you have done? I stopped, put on my flashers and scooped up the dog to take home with me.

She appeared not to be too badly hurt. But I have no dog of my own, so I had to improvise in finding “treats” to soothe her.

She was clearly loved by someone. She had bows in her fur and a fake diamond collar, although it bore no name or address.

She soon clung to me, and she jumped into my bed that night and didn’t budge until morning.

Fortunately, the next day, through much work, we found her owner.

What has this to do with politics? Plenty.

Let’s start with Donald Trump. He certainly had the jewels and the bows and the pricey attractiveness of that little dog I rescued. But in the end, his timing proved disastrous in the presidential sweepstakes. Like the little dog rushing to and fro in heavy traffic, Trump darted this way and that, not realizing the dangers surrounding him.

For my money, I believe Trump could have been a formidable candidate. I don’t know the man, but I liked his blunt talk, and I believe he could have taught the Republican Party a lesson in reality and toughness.

The rescue dog also reminded me a bit of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, both of whom are now frontrunners in the race for the GOP nomination. As for Newt, he’s running headlong from one side of the street to the other. If he doesn’t soon focus on his phenomenal achievements as onetime speaker of the U.S. House, he could get flattened by the oncoming traffic.

As for Romney, he picks and chooses which “car” he will challenge, and when. But he gets run over a lot anyway. Exhibit One was his recent speech to justify “RomneyCare” health care reform in his native Massachusetts.

The dog looking most like the blue-ribbon winner right now is Barack Obama. He’s the guy that not only caught Osama bin Laden, but killed him. And just I expected, his polling numbers have been rising in the aftermath of the Navy SEALs raid in Pakistan. Beyond that, nobody I know of characterizes the president as mean or arrogant. That’s important when you take your case to the American people.

The real “dog” in the 2012 presidential race is the Republican Party. As a whole, they seem too timid to embrace issues that a vast majority of Republican and libertarian voters support.

For example, my polling tells me that most Republicans and independents want a shutdown of the federal government to prove that at least the GOP is serious about major reforms in government spending. When it comes to this subject, I can’t help but picture Congress as a rescue St. Bernard dog that is so busy chasing the bright ribbons on his tail that it has forgotten its rescue mission altogether.

Genuine Republicans, plus many independents, also want to end the current income tax system and instead move to what they describe as a Fair Tax. Republican officeholders seem sheepish in their support of this idea because it can easily be twisted to lead Americans into believing that they would be paying more taxes than they do now.

It’s a complicated proposal, but in essence it eliminates all federal income taxes and embedded taxes, and it provides a “freebate” to families to defray the costs of essential items such as groceries.

On this issue, most Republicans are not like the brave little dog I took home for a night. Instead, they whimper, cower and refuse to stand by the concept.

Right now, President Obama’s biggest problem is an economy that is not getting better. Do you personally feel that you’re back to the standard of living that you enjoyed in the early 2000s? My guess is no. And for those in their 40s, there’s the added fear that Medicare and Social Security will either be abolished or greatly curtailed.

In a sense, this is exactly what needs to happen. But with such changes would come additional pain for an entire generation of Americans that has paid for their parents’ and grandparents’ needs by having bankrolled these funds for so long.

I’m not sappy, but I can tell you I’m glad I rescued that dog. Otherwise, she would have been run over and left for the birds to eat.

It’s time now for the Republicans to get their act together before they all become so much political roadkill. It can take a stout heart and a focused compassion to save both the slightest of creatures and the greatest of nations.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.