Next week, Punxsutawney Phil will make his annual appearance to decide whether we will experience another six weeks of winter or whether spring has finally arrived. However, PETA has other plans — they have demanded that Phil be replaced this year with a robot. You got that right — a robot. According to the Associated Press:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it’s unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, a tiny borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. PETA is suggesting the use of an animatronic model.
However, it doesn’t look like Phil is going anywhere soon. According to event organizers, the groundhog is “treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania” and even receives an annual checkup from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
But while we will await Phil’s predictions, we don’t need him to predict the climate in Congress. We know that despite the shakeups of the last few weeks, far too many in Congress are still hostile to the sorts of market-driven solutions we need to get our country back on track and restore our place among the world’s freest economies.