BLAME
By J.D. Zumwalt, in National, Opinion
I have a one-eyed dog named Buddy. My wife found him in a blinding rain storm on the side of the road a little over six years ago. It was totally out of character for her to stop and pick him up; I am so glad she did. By the way, Buddy had two eyes and two testicles in those days, but that is another story.
Flash forward to the present. Last week I cooked a steak. I was looking forward to that steak. It was a great cut of meat and I had been working hard all day. I figured I deserved it. (Some of you have already figured out where this is going.)
I put the steak on my plate beside some mashed potatoes (Can’t type that word without thinking of Dan Quayle), and carried it over to a TV tray. I walked into the other room for less than a minute to get something. When I came back my steak was gone; so was Buddy the one-eyed dog. I never saw the steak again, at least not in the form of a steak. I did find Buddy.
Now if you know anything at all about dogs, you know that Buddy did not need me to tell him I was going to be angry. He had that information before he ever touched the steak. He didn’t care at the time. He wanted that steak and, if I was stupid enough to leave it alone, he was going to get it. He is not above teaching me a lesson from time to time.
Even so – Don’t think for one minute I said to myself, “Oh well, Buddy knows what he did was wrong. There is no use for me to say anything to him. He probably feels bad enough already.” Nope. I chased Buddy all over the house. He is smart enough to know all he has to do is run up and down the stairs once and I’m done. Finally, I just sat down and called him to me. He sat down in front of me and looked at me like, “What’s the big deal John? I’m a dog. What did you think I was going to do, cover it with foil?”
You know what? Buddy was absolutely right. I was blaming the wrong guy. I should have been blaming myself. I was angry at Buddy for acting like a dog. I should have been upset with myself for acting like an idiot.
It occurred to me the other day that is exactly what we (conservatives) in this great nation are doing. We are blaming the wrong guy.
We blame liberals every time some ridiculous legislation is passed. We blame them when we are subjected to more big government regulations enacted by unelected bureaucrats. We become furious at liberals because of actions on their part that we pay for. We get angry when they spend OUR money on foolishness or on folks who have never worked and who have no intention of EVER working. We are blaming the wrong guys. They are liberals. If we place power and money in their hands and we don’t keep an eye on it, of COURSE they are going to do what comes natural to a liberal. They are going to steal it from us and gorge themselves with it.
Who should we blame besides ourselves? We should blame the Republicans we voted in. We should blame the persons we voted for who assured us they were conservative and they would stand up for us. We should call them and make them come sit in front of us and explain to us exactly why they left our plate unguarded and when the hounds showed up and stole it – Our elected officials were not there to stop them.
They should be on the floor of Congress baying as loud as they can about the thievery and the sloppy ineptness of the liberals who are ruining our nation and they should be explaining in great detail what they intend to do to fix it. I am sick of the phrase, “We have got to stop this” from our elected officials. Then STOP it! Quit talking and do something. Otherwise, we will fire you and find someone who can do the job you promised to do – You liar.
I am finished directing my anger towards the other side. That does no good. They can’t help it. It is their nature. They are thieves. I am going to start holding MY side accountable and I hope you will as well.
I am sick of going to listen to a speech from someone running for office and hear them tell me about all the things the other guy is doing wrong. From now on, I want to hear what YOU are doing to stop them Mr. / Ms. Candidate.
I have a neutered one-eyed dog named Buddy. If I could, I’d send him to Congress. There would be the same number of balls there – but at least, there’d be one more spine.