Democrats believe in government regulation of private business, while Republicans generally oppose it.
Rules are essential for a civilized society to function. The law of the jungle belongs in the jungle. Arguments should be over details, not whether we’re going to have and enforce rules of behavior.
For years the U.S. Department of Agriculture has failed to regulate commercial dog breeding operations (aka “puppy mills”). Incredibly, “the USDA has not imposed a single penalty against a licensed dog breeder since 2017,” despite its inspectors documenting egregious abuse at some dog breeding facilities, The Hill says (here).
Now there’s a bipartisan bill in Congress called “Goldie’s Act,” named for a dog abused to death in a puppy mill, and another bill called the “Puppy Act,” that would increase funding for USDA dog breeder inspections, reform the inspection processs, and raise breeding facility standards in order to prevent the abuses described in The Hill’s story. Who could be against that?
Caged dogs are at the mercy of their human caretakers. People breeding dogs for profit shouldn’t be allowed to treat them however they please. The abuse and neglect that exists in some of these facilities should shock anyone with a conscience. But this is what happens when you don’t have regulation and enforcement. There shouldn’t be a place in our society for this kind of “freedom.”
