A Letter to Thwart Masters and Dogs

O thou politician, cease your infinite dribble over the comfort of the miserable, and the security of the inept, and the safety of the downtrodden, and the protection of the weak, and the fortune of the unlucky, and the interests of the poor. You advocate that the impoverished be exalted, yet you grind their faces all the same; and this in your mad graspings for power. You grind the faces of us all! We have seen the fruits of your labor, and they are black with mold and corruption. You pour your slogans into our ears, that the sick and the elderly will be provided for, yet in the United Kingdom they are euthanized or cast into the metaphorical gutter called the "waiting room." Where is the promised care? And in Greece, you promised us lives free of hard toil and care, and yet we can't even access an ATM anymore. How will raising minimum wage assist the poor when doing so throws them out of work? O thou snake in suit and tie, we care not for your imaginary promises and declare them venomous. Those of us who remember the lax canine and the taut wolf in the fable narrated by the Roman fabulist Phaedrus so long ago, know what role thou politician plays in the story. Read and find out:

Fable VII.
THE DOG AND THE WOLF.

"I will shew in a few words how sweet is Liberty.

A Wolf, quite starved with hunger, chanced to meet a well-fed Dog, and as they stopped to salute each other, “Pray,” said the Wolf, "how is it that you are so sleek? or on what food have you made so much flesh? I, who am far stronger, am perishing with hunger.” The Dog frankly replied: “You may enjoy the same condition, if you can render the like service to your master.” “What is it?” said the other. “To be the guardian of his threshold, and to protect the house from thieves at night.” “I am quite ready for that,” said the Wolf; “at present I have to endure snow and showers, dragging on a wretched existence in the woods. How much more pleasant for me to be living under a roof, and, at my ease, to be stuffed with plenty of victuals.” “Come along, then, with me,” said the Dog. As they were going along, the Wolf observed the neck of the Dog, where it was worn with the chain. “Whence comes this, my friend?” “Oh, it is nothing.III.22” “Do tell me, though.” “Because I appear to be fierce, they fasten me up in the day-time, that I may be quiet when it is light, and watch when night comes; unchained at midnight, I wander wherever I please. Bread is brought me without my asking; from his own table my master gives me bones; the servants throw me bits, and whatever dainties each person leaves; thus, without trouble on my part, is my belly filled.” “Well, if you have a mind to go anywhere, are you at liberty?” “Certainly not,” replied the Dog. “Then, Dog, enjoy what you boast of; I would not be a king, to lose my liberty.”'

O thou Politician, you play "the master." you style yourself as the cosmic supreme, and the tyrant father to all of us children. Our necks are growing raw from the chain as we beg for scraps at your table; we beg for collage grants yet we find no job, we beg for food stamps yet food becomes scarce, we beg for regulations yet our commodities cheapen into costly garbage! And for these petty scraps you expect us to cast our full measures of devotion at your princely feet. You slaughter us in psychotic wars, you corrupt our children in "public" schools, you tax our paychecks before the money even goes through our hands! And you claim to be serving us?

Yet you fear. Because we appear to be fierce, you fasten us up in the day-time, that we might be quite while it is light; which has worked. but when you unchain us when night comes, we will not return. We will follow the sage wolf and become strong and silvery as he is. We will not surrender our poor and our weary to you! We, the pack, will look after them ourselves, and see they are provided for! We will keep our liberties and go where we wish. For those of us to cowardly to be free: “Then, Dog[s], enjoy what you boast of; I would not be a king, to lose my liberty.”