PUPPIES, POLITICS, AND POLYNESIA
Those of us who reside in Chester County are fortunate to live within driving distance of Lancaster, PA, and the iconic Fulton Theater. South Pacific is now on stage at the Fulton, which I saw over the weekend. This classic by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II premiered on Broadway on April 7, 1947. The music and lyrics are timeless, and the show’s messages resonate today. For example, consider the song titled “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”:
“You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear –
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade—
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be carefully taught!”
These verses came back to me when I learned what South Dakota Governor, Kristi Noem (R), has written in her forthcoming book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.”
Noem writes about her nearly 14-month-old puppy “Cricket,” a wirehaired pointer, on a hunting trip. The puppy seemed to be having the time of his short life chasing birds, a behavior not conducive to a successful hunt, but puppies need training and time to mature, just like children do. In fact, we all need to be carefully taught.
The future Governor, seems to have been taught differently and once home, led the puppy to a gravel pit. One shot was all she needed to kill the dog. To prove her bona fides as a tough leader, she also gloats in the book about shooting her goat for good measure, but laments that the goat jumped so she needed two shots to kill the animal.
One wonders, what is it about the current Republican base, which creates the belief in a potential VP contender that killing a puppy is a badge of honor that will win support in the party of Lincoln?
I take little comfort in the repudiation of the gun-toting Governor, by Republicans and Democrats alike, excluding to date from the likely Republican 2024 presidential nominee. Perhaps being forced to sit in a Lower Manhattan courtroom for hours at a time, leaves little bandwidth for empathy from the former president, or maybe given his stated aversion to dogs, Governor Buckshot knew these revelations would resonate favorably with her audience of one. We can only begin to imagine what he was taught as a child.
My discomfort is with a segment of the electorate that remains enamored by a man with such little empathy, a defendant facing 88 criminal indictments, who led a failed coup on the country and on the president-elect of the United States. While I believe that few of the MAGA supporters endorse puppycide, too few of these fellow citizens repudiate the excesses of the former president and those who continue to enable him.
What were these voters taught as children and why do they hate and what do they fear?
Why do they remain committed to a fear mongering ex-president who taps into our worse sense of fear and grievance?
Will a puppy be enough to change hearts and minds among people intending to vote on November 5th?
At the risk of mixing theatrical metaphors, I must say that like Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore. At least not the Kansas of Senator Robert Dole, and those who put country before party.
Like our Founding Fathers, we have the opportunity to create a more perfect Union with our November ballot decisions. Let’s work together to teach our children by example to love and respect all lives on this planet, whether human, canine, or goat. Our voices and votes can make a difference in the quality of life for all Americans children and adults.
Oh, and Governor Noem, please keep your guns away from my grand dog, Jax.
Robert Kahn
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