Kerry trying to solve problems that dont exist

Author: Sarah Riordan

Dog fighting is in no way an acceptable practice.  Can you even imagine taking a furry creature…man’s best friend…and intentionally placing them in a situation that will cause them great harm?  The thought is repulsive.  Any human being with even an iota of a soul would find the idea nothing short of horrifying.

That’s most likely why…recognize this name…John Kerry decided to sponsor bill S.1880 .  The bill proposes to add dog fighting to a list of crimes mentioned in Animal Welfare Act.   The cosponsors on Kerry’s bill are equally as recognizable personalities with names like Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Joe Lieberman appearing as supporters of Kerry’s efforts.  The problem isn’t the bill, as stated before.  With the exception Michael Vick, just about everyone can agree that dog fighting should be illegal.  The problem is that Kerry’s bill is in fact, highly unnecessary. 

Now this may be pretty general knowledge, but for the sake of making a point, let’s just go through how our great nation works. There is and always has been a centralized government, but the idea was to keep that central government somewhat small.  Instead of having one government that controls everything on every level, we have local governments.  We have a mayor, a governor, a state senate, elections…everything that makes up a government can be found on a local level.  This was actually a brilliant move.  A centralized government can’t necessarily tell what is good for an individual state from afar.  Each state has its own identity.   Illinois for example, has ample amounts of flat farmland.  Its neighbor Missouri however, has far too many rocks and hills in most areas to produce crops.  So, Missouri has a different set of needs than Illinois. And, because they both have their own government, they can make decisions based on their specific needs.

At this point, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with dog fighting.  Well, as it turns out, all 50 . . . count them . . .50 . . . U.S. states already have laws prohibiting dog fighting.  That’s why Kerry, despite his most likely noble intentions, is wasting Congress’s time.  If each state already says it’s illegal, then it is, in fact, illegal!  Anyone who violates state law is a criminal and will be prosecuted regardless of what Congress says. 

Though no one can read a person’s mind, Congress’s tendency to continually overlap state law makes a person wonder if Congress really has any respect for a state’s rights to begin with.  If they did follow the rules and allow states to govern themselves to a degree, they wouldn’t be so concerned with making laws that already exist.   Our centralized government has become so large and has their hand in so many things, that they can’t help but overlap state laws. 

The truth is, as taxpayers, we’re paying the salary of John Kerry and every other member of Congress.  Therefore, this bill is a waste of my money.  Kerry is wasting his, and everyone else’s time, trying to criminalize a problem that has already been criminalized.  Congress, stop wasting your time and our money attempting to pass laws that already exist.