People are Humans too!

People are Humans Too!

(A constitutional Dilemma)

Lately I have come to believe that people are humans. Due to that revelation, I have decided that we should be given as much, or frankly more consideration, than species other than Homo sapiens. To be really candid about it, humans deserve much, much more consideration, than that given to various animals, including chickens, geese, cows, fish, toads, lizards, snakes, and now trees and grass. If not our unabridged right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” will indeed become abridged.

Animal rights group demands are diminishing us, and in fact, if things keep going in the direction they are, it is my contention that eventually humans will become an endangered species. Now, some may consider this hyperbole. Let me tell you why that is not so.

Animal Constitutional Rights

Ecuador has proposed, and now passed, a constitutional amendment that basically gives the earth the same rights as humans. Here is a quote that offers some insight.

“Ecuador's proposed constitution includes an article that grants nature the right to ‘exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution’ and will grant legal standing to any person to defend those rights in court….

…The concept that nature itself can possess rights runs counter to the classical liberal theories of government that hold sway throughout much of the West, which view rights as possessed only by individual human beings. But Ecuador is not the first country to propose granting rights to nonhuman entities: Many countries, including the United States, have long held that corporations possess many of the same rights - such as the rights to free expression and to due process - that human beings have. And in June, Spain's parliament approved a measure to extend some human rights to nonhuman apes…” (http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/09/04-7).

From another source:

“The voters of Ecuador overwhelmingly approved a new Constitution that grants more power to its leftist president, Rafael Correa... one of the most notable clauses affirms the inalienable rights of nature, explicitly stating that nature “has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.” (http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/index.php?p=1717)

Now it seems that other countries are considering adding this concept to their constitutions! What next? Citizenship to roads? Human rights to cars, buses and trucks? After all, the latter may have feelings too, and since they are often abused by humans, need to be taken care of by those of us who do may not qualify for such exceptional treatment ourselves. Our feelings and needs are irrelevant .

What more could happen that makes us a lesser species? Let’s explore some of the things that have already happened, and which are only the beginning of a process that will place us at the proverbial end of the pecking order.

California Chickens & Geese

If chickens cannot flap their wings, they are in peril. That is the position of the animal rights group that has convinced the California (Where else?) legislation that egg producers are the Heinrich Himmler of farming. How could egg producers raise chickens in a ghetto too small to allow these poor – dumb - chickens to flap away? Have they no understanding of how much a chicken suffers if it cannot flap? No, apparently not. Thus an intervention by the state – just like those good national socialists of old – was necessary. By decree each chicken must have space to flap, and even though that will cost billions to build larger coops, and drive the egg producers from California eventually that does not matter. Only the chickens matter. The consumer who now can buy a dozen eggs for less than $2.00 does not matter. So what if eggs cost $5.00/dozen? The chickens are flapping, happy and hopefully still laying eggs. (I guess that makes them flap happy.)

Actually what will happen is that egg producers will move to other states, thereby enriching the states, and making California even less productive than usual. This is a state of affairs difficult to comprehend, at best.

There was a simple solution to this. It was to “Just say no” to the morons who believe that egg laying chickens are more important that the consumer who purchases these eggs or the farmer who raises the chickens. Even more important than that is to suggest to these folks that unless and until a chicken can talk, and describe the physical and psychic pain caused by the space available in their coops, don’t bother us. When a chickens talks, we will listen.

Another thing to remind the animal rights person, is that we kill these chickens sooner or later, so allowing them to live at all, and to lay eggs is just about as good as it going to get. So in a word: No, we will not listen to your pleas, and we strongly suggest that you get lost. Sue us. We have more resources than you do, so this should be fun.”

If I were on a committee addressing these people I would also ask who supported abortion. If there were some who did, and I cannot conceive that this entire bunch is pro-life, I would ask them to explain how it is fine to kill a baby, but not so fine to raise chickens is a coop that does not allow the birds to flap. Perhaps I might find it in me to also suggest that they examine their priorities.

We, the ever trod upon humans, often forget the concept of limits and boundaries. Children and many adults need boundaries and limits in order to feel safe. When we do not supply them, children “up the ante”. Anyone who has ever had children, or watched children grow, knows how this works. First it is an annoying tug at your pant leg, then it is a kick in the leg, then it is a kick or pulls on the arm, then it is a temper tantrum, then it is a sulking, than it is…you know the rest. However those who establish boundaries and limits for a child, and by doing so help a child to feel safe, understand this. Good parents do it, fine teachers do it, and probation officers do it, as do wardens in state penitentiaries. The latter are those who deal with limitless children after they have finally upped the ante one or two times too many. (How do I know this? I treated abused, neglected, mentally ill, juveniles, for 28 years)

When we fail to set limits on groups, like animal rights activists, we fail ourselves, we fail our progeny, and we lose ground in the battle to insure human rights as they were envisioned by our Founding Fathers. If we continue on this path, we will join Ecuador.

Now For the Geese….to be continued