In his veto of the infamous “Cat Bill,” Governor Stevenson uses professional but deliberate diction and figurative language to logically but sarcastically dismiss and ridicule the utter absurdity of allowing the incarceration of the common house cat. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Starting at the beginning of the veto, Stevenson formally explains common knowledge regarding cats and their nature so that anyone reading the statement can logically understand his reasoning for the absurdity of the bill. Remind the reader that cats are free-roaming by nature and that keeping a cat on a leash or accompanying it on its nocturnal hunt would obviously be impractical. By reiterating this obvious information, Stevenson mocks the rationality that led to deciding that the harmless roaming of cats should be illegal and forces the reader to understand the utter futility of outlawing the natural behavior of cats. It also uses phrases like "rodent control" and "beneficial service" to provide a positive image of cats and at the same time persuade readers to think that cats do not cause any harm on a constitutional level. Later in the statement, Stevenson's argument becomes progressively more satirical, optimizing personification and hyperbole as he becomes increasingly frustrated with the Cat Bill. He describes the enforcement of this law as a “little hunt by dedicated citizens,” suggesting an imaginative approach to visualizing the bill's effects. This statement can humorously guide the reader into the image of ordinary citizens eagerly patrolling suburban neighborhoods, wearing safari hats and khaki shorts as they wait for predatory felines to fall into their wire traps. The simple exaggeration and mockery of these lively images introduced by Stevenson allows the reader to take the situation in question lightly and, consequently, to understand not to take the bill itself as seriously. Stevenson also sarcastically refers to cat wandering as "feline delinquency", which raises the question, since such things as feline delinquents exist, whether there are also feline citizens. There may even be a feline justice system with feline judges and juries. The inclusion of the phrase "cat delinquency" further mocks the absurdity of the bill in order to help Stevenson prevent cat detention from overflowing the state's federal prisons..
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