I hope my neighbor doesn’t see this post; no offense is intended, but she surely will be offended. The sentiment expressed in her lawn sign responds to Republican Vice-Presidential candidate JD Vance and comments that he made during a 2021 interview about Democrat “childless cat ladies“. Looking around my neighborhood, dogs would be even more applicable.
San Diego, like most of California, is largely liberal and relatively young. Median age is 35.8 years. I see plenty of couples going about, but rather than push baby carriages or walk with youngsters, the majority pull leashed dogs—often two or three. I loathe the commonly used euphemism “pet parents”, but it punctuates the point Vance tried to make in that interview.
Family is the natural state of humanity, which means humans—not people and their pets. Vance stating that the “entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children” isn’t far from the mark. I see it every day among professional couples who are the right age for kids but who are pet parents instead. Should politicians who parent pets rather than children control the country? The national election, 81 days away, may decide.
I pick a bone, so to speak, not in support of Vance—or even his “cat ladies” statements—but to express the weirdness of people who regard themselves as pet parents and quite literally pamper animals like children. That absolutely is one of San Diego’s defining cultural characteristics and one that I detest.
I used Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to take the Featured Image, today. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/400 sec, 115mm (film equivalent); 4:47 p.m. PDT.