Zion, IL
by A.B. Dada
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Michael Vick is being villified in every mainstream and blog news and opinion piece I’ve found, other than a few rare pieces at the LRC it seems. He’s being tossed out for being cruel to animals, and he’s plead guilty on Federal charges with a chance that the state will also toss in some criminal charges, to boot. From what we can see in the media and blogosphere, Vick has no friends. I’ll be the first to stand behind him and offer not just my friendship, but my defense of an extremely talented entertainer with a long history of poverty and restraint by the State that says they’re only there to help.

Vick was raised in one of the worst ghettos in the U.S. — the Hampton Roads East End section in Virginia. Hampton Roads is a pure ghetto with subsidized housing, a lack of public protection by the police, and could be one of the worst places in the country to try to raise a family. His parents both were hard workers, and it is evident that even with all the odds against Vick, he succeeded in exiting an area where infinite welfare is the most common life of the typical resident. He went on to becoming one of the highest paid sports entertainers in the industry, with massive sponsorships, endorsements and fan support. I don’t have many heroes in my life, but I know how to pick them out after researching them. I’d rather have my future son want to be dedicated to succeeding like Vick than like Paris Hilton, that’s for sure.

Now Vick is on the verge of losing his career forever: Federal charges (felony and misdemeanor) on actions where I see no Federal power to make laws over. From what I can tell, Vick is being charged using a variety of RICO-era statutes. A quick browse of the Constitution shows that Congress can only pass crime laws covering piracy, counterfeiting and treason — Vick’s actions fall under none of these. RICO is an unconstitutional law, originally intended to go after the Mafia, but now used against common citizens for actions that should only be regulated (if at all) at the state and local level. I see no power of the Federal Government to judge actions against animals, or even actions against humans, in terms of murder or abuse. For the same reason I am against any abortion policy at the Federal level, I am also against any violent-crime laws at the Federal level.

What exactly did Vick do? He bred dogs to kill each other for sport. It sounds awful. I have 6 cats, and I am definitely an animal lover, but I am also an animal hater. I love a big, raw steak. I eat crawdads out of the river fresh and live. I’ll be the first to chomp on locally-gamed venison jerky, and I’ve hunted pheasant and turkey in my years. I’ve skinned squirrel and catfish, and I’ve run over more than one animal while speeding down US 41. It’s gruesome, but we’re humans, bred to survive and live healthily, and that includes the consumption of animals for both pleasure and sustenance. I even like to spend the day at the horsetrack, marveling at man’s ability to wage dominion over the lesser beings.

Do I support animal abuse? Absolutely not, but I also don’t support forcing my definition (or anyone else’s) of animal abuse on others. Our moral judgment allows us to withdraw from markets where we feel there is an injustice committed. Some people won’t eat meat, or even honey, because of the their stance on what defines animal abuse. Would you want hot dogs and bologna to be withdrawn from the shelves because of how animals are treated? Then do so by not buying it, and telling others your side of the story on your blog. Ever been to a chicken ranch or a turkey farm? You’be surprised at how vicious animals may be treated at the average meat-generating farm. It’s a fact of life, one that we’re quick to ignore when it comes to our own consumption. Again, I love to eat meat, so I accept that animals are not treated with the same respect as humans.

Again, we don’t just chase and kill animals for sustenance — we also do it for fun. On pheasant hunting trips, we always had dogs who were trained to chase and kill the birds, even if we didn’t slay them with a bullet. The dogs’ training sessions were not unlike what Vick did between dog and dog — these dogs were trained to kill the birds on sight and command. Away from the hunt, the dogs were surprisingly docile, and even friendly to other animals. But their sole purpose was the killing of another animal. I’m glad it isn’t a crime to hunt pheasant in that way, and the bonding relationships I formed with other humans was a rarity in my life.

While I don’t support dog fighting, I also don’t understand why it is all of a sudden a big news issue. In the area I live in (Zion, Illinois), there is a large African American population, and I’ve seen a few amateur dog fights taking place while driving past an alley in the primarily black parts of town. It happens. It may be cultural, it might be something that a particular segment of society sees no problem with. For me, the idea of a unanimocracy encompasses the ability of individuals within a group to decide what is right and what is wrong. If a bunch of retirees decide they want to sit in an alley and pummel each other for sport, it is not my place to set laws on that group as long as it is voluntary. Many will say that I am wrong in comparing this to dog fighting, but dogs are not humans. They are animals, with a history of being trained to kill, maim and defend themselves against other beasts. Sure, we’ve domiciled dogs as pets, but in many countries they’re still dinner, too. Is it wrong for a man to go and kill a dog, drain its blood, skin it, salt it, and hang it out to dry to serve dinner to his family? Again, sustenance. Is it wrong for a man to go hunting in the woods for wild dogs? How is it different from turkeys or squirrels?

After all my thinking, I still can’t think of what Vick did that was so terrible. His dog fighting business, while mostly disgusting to me, still had a market of willing participants who engaged in the fights. These people voted with their time and their dollars in what they thought was morally acceptable, and they hurt no humans in doing so. Our Constitution was written to protect the rights of the PEOPLE, not to give government endless power or protect the rights of beasts. For me, the best way to eradicate the market of dog fighting is to not partake in it, and don’t support those who do. You are free to start a blog and try to convince people like Vick that dog fighting is wrong, but sending this man to jail and ending his career makes no sense from a freedom perspective.

He hurt no human. He violated no human’s rights. He stole from no one, defrauded no one, and violated no contracts or agreements with anyone. To me, that is called a victimless crime, no more horrific than slaying a pig for pork sausages. Speaking of pork sausages, I’m off to my grocery store to pick up a fresh pound of bacon — and my body and soul will be pleased at the sustenance, the flavor, the entertainment of eating and the fun I’ll have inviting my friends over for a bacon BBQ. Maybe I’m just as evil as Michael Vick, but it is not your right to judge me as long as I’m not harming you directly, or taking away your freedoms.

Michael Vick: I wish I could tell you to scream “Get off my lawn” to the monsters who wish to enslave you and steal from you your livelihood. Slavery in America hasn’t ended, it just changed its name to “The Court, the Jail, and the Powers that be.”