Mascots:

Nick Gillespie (Reason’s Hit & Run) reports on the Department of Homeland Security’s new mascot:

Reports USA Today:

Starting next month, children in grades 4 though 8 and employers nationwide will be asked to help get families and companies better prepared to respond to a crisis.

In schools, on the Internet and in TV and radio ads, youngsters will be introduced to a new Homeland Security mascot: a dog (an American shepherd) that will be named in a contest. The campaign, using the dog and a set of Ad Council advertisements, will encourage families to develop an emergency plan and talk about where kids should go, who will pick them up and how they will make contact.

. . . [T]here exists some real questions as to whether there is in fact an “American shepherd” breed of dog. There is something called the American Tundra Shepherd, a mix of the Alaskan Tundra Wolf and German Shepherds (those German Shepherds have ways of making you talk).

(Go to the Hit & Run post for links.)

So here’s my question (one about symbolism, but the whole point of mascots, whether Lions or Banana Slugs, is symbolism): If the Homeland Security mascot is an “American shepherd,” what does that make us?

UPDATE: Reader Mike Zorn points to a site describing American Shepherd White. And, come to think of it, the tundra is kind of white, too. Aha! Now the truth comes out — it’s a sinister racist plot.