In case you were wondering why SC Governor Mark Sanford wasn’t tossed out on his Appalachian Trail hiking ass, it’s because our Lt. Governor, who would have been his replacement, is a freak. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination and as such, spoke at a town hall meeting last night on the subject of providing government assistance to those in need:
“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better,” Bauer said.
Setting aside the equivalency Bauer draws between stray pets and poor people – yeah I know, that’s a HUGE one to try and set aside – I can’t help going back to the words “ample food supply”. The idea that we would deny any living creature – mind you, Bauer was discussing kids who get free lunches at school – an “ample food supply” when it is within our power to give them access, well that’s not the America I grew up in nor is it the South Carolina I have grown to love.
We feed stray pets for many of the same reasons we provide free school lunches to low income kids:
- We are a humane society.
- We have enough resources to share so that no living thing needs to go hungry in this country.
- We feel a sense of responsibility to those in need because they are members of our communities.
- We’re not freaks.
Although there was no chance I would have worked to support Bauer’s campaign before, I now have extra motivation to work for his defeat. Game on, dirtbag.
It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them. – Dalai Lama