Friend of the Animal World

Assemblymember Lloyd Levine has got to be one of the most eclectic lawmakers in Sacramento. Levine's crusade to liberate elephants from their prison cells at California zoos and circuses is yet another Levine original to add to a list that mocks the virtue of a coherent legislative agenda. Slot that into this hit list of legislative priorities straight out of Philip K. Dick's imagination:

• Ban on pet cloning (Is this for real? Apparently so.)
• The California Vampire Slayer Act of 2006 (Again, no shit: "Vampires" are "electronic devices that continue to 'suck' electricity even when you think they are turned off.")
• Assisted suicide bill

Ok, so assisted suicide is a pretty serious issue. The point being, though, that none of these issues are big polling winners in the West San Fernando Valley, or really anywhere else on earth. It's hard to imagine some hard-nosed political consultant saying, "Ok, Lloyd, I've crunched the numbers, and this is what we've got to do to win: Pet cloning, energy-sucking electronic devices, euthanasia and elephants."

Which brings me to my second point: Lloyd Levine has got to be one of the most principled lawmakers in Sacramento. Because there's no way he's taking on Big Zoos just to position himself for his run at Senate District 23. Santa Monica might be liberal, but this probably isn't the hallmark issue of the district.

As hard as it is to imagine, it seems like Lloyd Levine is just a guy who finds certain issues morally important, and takes them on for that reason alone. And you'd have to be quite an asshole to argue against the morality of saving animals from dying of heat stroke while stuck in unattended vehicles. Whether in cars or cages, captured animals don't have a lot of powerful actors looking out for them, and Levine, for one, is stepping up to the plate.

When it comes down to it, zoos and circuses are monuments to voyeurism and captivity, and civilization would be better off without them. Lloyd Levine is trying to do something practical to make them a little more humane, and could give a shit what political dividends result from it. In the context of today's brand of transactional politics, that makes him a goddamned hero.