A Dog For Mayor? Why Not?
By James Donahue
Members
of the Oakland, California Occupy Movement have jokingly declared their mascot, a dog named Einstein, one of 19 candidates
running for the office of Mayor in this year’s city elections.
Einstein, who has been a regular with his owners at Occupy Oakland events, is being promoted as a candidate to
best represent the city’s 98 percent. Fliers
and posters with the dog’s picture are appearing around town.
One promotional poster allegedly quotes Einstein as saying he was a candidate because “I like to run. A
lot!” It declares his slogan: “He’s a very good dog. He’ll be a very good mayor.”
While his name won’t officially go on the ballot, and technically,
dogs can’t hold public office in Oakland, there is nothing to stop voters from writing in Einstein’s name.
Suppose, just for the fun of it, that Einstein received more votes
than all the other candidates and got elected to office. And suppose that the town’s legal eagles could not find a law
on the books prohibiting an animal from holding office. Would Einstein technically be the town’s mayor for a term?
While nobody expects such a ridiculous chain of events to happen,
the dog campaign is serving as a creative way for the concerned citizens to pinpoint the hot political issues not only of
Oakland, but the nation this mid-term election year.
The issues for Oakland include: income equality, police brutality concerns, government surveillance, and a push
for a single-payer health care system instead of the insurance company governed and twisted system emerging under the new
federal health care system.
Perhaps Einstein
would do well to be running for Congress this year. Voters are looking for something better than what they have in office
now. A chamber of dogs would probably accomplish no less than most of the sold-out crooks currently holding those seats.
The dogs would do no harm, work for much less, and there is no doubt
that they would gain the respect of their constituents.
