With the current political race for the presidency heating up, it’s rather easy for us to lose sight of the fact that we are all still Americans. When we come out in support for one of the candidates it can often feel as if we are neglecting the unified values that make this country the leader of the free world since we tend to reject the entirety of the opposition's platform. The ultimatum that is enacted when supporting a candidate is such that you can only tow that candidates line, at least that’s what matters with your vote and it can seem rather polarizing, and rather grim. It divides us, and it can sometimes fog our vision of what it means to be American. Fortunately, there is a beacon in the darkness and, as it seems all too often, this beacon comes from our animal companions.

A friend of mine came to my house this week with a present for my dog. At first, I thought it was just another plastic toy of some sort, maybe a biscuit, anything that we would normally give to our dog to munch on. But when she opened the bag there was something entirely different inside, a chew toy that was made in the likeness of one of the current presidential candidates. I’m not going to get into which one it was for neutrality's sake, but I will say that it was one of the candidates who are still in the race. If you haven’t yet realized how the presidential chew toy speaks volumes about our American values, I’ll explain.

Over the course of history, many rulers have happened to run their country with an ‘iron fist.’ Squashing out descent in the most brutal of ways was a common occurrence in nations of the past and it even happens today in nations that would seem to us as if they're in the past, but despite that, they exist in the present. Now, could you imagine for a second if one of these dictatorial countries that are always in the news for some human rights violation found out that the likeness of their leader was fashioned into a chew toy for a dog? I don’t even have to presume that the makers of the chew toy and the people who own the chew toy would find themselves quickly in a prison cell somewhere, or worse.

But not here, not in America. No, in America we have the right to satire. We have the right to free speech and the right to freedom of expression in all of its forms. In this country, our American values laid down for us as inalienable rights will always surpass any sort of strife that we have as Americans. Any sort of division that we face due to our voting decisions or our political actions that seem to divide us, can always be overcome by returning to our legal and moral rights which we all share. When I witnessed this specific right exercised in the manner that it was, it reminded me that not only does this right exist, but Americans aren’t afraid to use it. We as Americans are not ashamed to engage in mockery of current authority figures and we do not fear government reprisal and we never will.

When thinking about this fact, especially during the current, rather polarized, political climate in America. It’s important that we all remember exactly what values we all share, regardless of our party affiliation or political beliefs. The fact is, that the constitution doesn’t grant rights to one political party, nor does it retract rights from another. Regardless of what happens this November, and regardless of what happens four years from now, and four years from then ad infinitum, we are still American. We all are valued the same according to our constitution, we are all afforded and endowed with the same rights. So remember to thank your dog next time you see him or her munching on the face of Clinton, or Trump, or Sanders. Because the constitutional ramifications of what your pup is doing, is the exact thing that unites us all under one banner, under one flag, under one constitution.