Dog Behavior and Politics

My dogs feel midwinter doldrums, like humans. Such is life. Being their kindly government, having taxed them to bark, I recently felt they could use a special treat. One promptly gobbled up his treat, wagged, and met my eyes with gratitude, fidelity, and joy. The other threw hers down.

Attitude. Attitude is everything. D’Artagnan, the scrappy rescue dog, part something and part something else, was overjoyed with his treat. Cassy, the thoroughbred Belgian Shepherd, instinctively less impressed, feels perpetually entitled. Sweet dog but entitled.

Reflecting on politics, my dogs’ behavior made me think about the American state of mind, or “states” of mind. Something has happened to society. Half is like my rescue dog: grateful, hard-working, faithful to old ways, ready to defend the place, never asking too much, glad to be here.

The other half seems more like the thoroughbred, only self-appointed, sure their status as part of an “entitled group” means that whatever others may do, however hard others work, they need not.

My shepherd is not unkind but misses what her brother sees. He is a survivor who had to fight for everything: peace, pats, and treats. She too knows how to work and wag –a herding breed, but somehow sees herself as deserving, whether she works or not.  

The truth is that dogs are more honest than people. He is rough around the edges, a former street dog, knows where his food bowl is in his sleep. He makes no excuses for lack of pedigree, loudness of his bark, or defense of the home. He has no idea how to preen, is just tough.

She actually learned to bark from him. Before he came along, she did not know how, but now she will keep at it long past any need, to show she can. She likes to be made much of. He could care less, so long as he can run outside a bit, chase a few squirrels, and dig dirt for chipmunks.

Why go further with the analogy? Because it fits. Something is afoot in the American electorate, and it relates to attitude – like my dogs’ very different personalities.

One group of Americans is slowly being acculturated by unappreciative, self-impressed critics, many unapologetically Marxist. That group of voters is told to ask more, resent more, because they are entitled – to everything. There is no set demographic, because this is about attitude.

The other group – happily growing – is unimpressed by this pitch to “blame others and get free stuff.” They recall their parents’ and grandparents’ attitude, appreciation for small things. They are offended by an invitation to swap dignity for “free stuff.”

That group, like the first, is not easily defined by age, race, profession, education, gender, ethnicity, income, or any other earthly quality. They are defined by their attitude.

Slowly, the second group is regaining True North, like a compass shaken then left still. Every day they are more unafraid to believe, do what is right, reassert the American Dream, and work for it – freedom, opportunity, respect, security.

Even TIME Magazine admits Americans are starting to spit back what they were force-fed – economic and racial Marxism, critical race theory (CRT), diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), environmental, social, and governance (ESG), 32 genders, trans-everything, downer ideologies.

Why? Whether Black, White, Hispanic, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, urban, rural or suburban, parent, married or single, young or old, wealthy or just getting by, people want their personal freedom. They are tired of being told what to do and not do.

The overwhelming majority – including many Democrats – reject the “woke” fiction, this top-down rush to government-mandated conformity, unsafe borders, mass illegality, fatal drugs, and demoralized police – while Marxists try to take their guns, jobs, children, and core rights.

Simply put, the second group has had enough, even of Biden’s economy. As TIME wrote, the 2024 election is “playing out under an umbrella of economic anxiety … pushing more working-class voters into Trump’s camp—especially nonwhite voters commonly aligned with the Democratic Party.”

As early as mid-2021, woke was failing. Every day people – grateful for things – do not like being told they cannot go places, speak, worship without penalty, buy firearms, gas cars, gas stoves, or what they want. 

In practical terms, what is happening is a resurgent love for freedom, opportunity, and stability – fast outpacing the woke, all-powerful-government types, and reshaping the electoral space.

Polling shows Trump – a surrogate for this emphasis on individual liberty – rising against Biden in unlikely groups, Blacks, Hispanics, and younger people, as simple truth spreads. 

If this continues, the world will shift – even if my dogs never do. We will likely see more D’Artagnan-like voters, grateful for everything, fewer Cassy-like entitlement voters.

Meantime, a little secret: After Cassy turned her nose up at that special treat, thinking she deserved better, D’Artagnan waited…then sallied over and ate it. Such is life.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.