Q: Is Howard Dean a maniac?
A: No, he is chairman of the Democratic National Committee
OK, I’ll admit it, if push comes to shove and the lives of my daughters were at stake, were you to ask me to which side of The Party I would cast my lot, I would and will say, the Democratic side. I have never, ever come close once to even considering pulling the lever for anything Republican, although I did work as a youth volunteer for John Lindsay in 1965. Lindsay was really a closet Democrat. He came out in 1971.
Believe me I am under no illusion that the people in power who are supposed to represent me or be representative of me, whether Democrat or Republican, are anything like me, no matter how much dope they smoked during their Wild College Years. But, when it comes to being a political party that supposes as its power base working class non-professional people with varying hues of dark skin, gays, literature professors, improvisational musicians, working women, Cook County municipal workers, Jews from Miami to the Five Towns, bankable Hollywood stars (except Charlton Heston, née John Charles Carter) as well as Tip O’Neill’s offspring, the Republicans don’t even come close, no matter how much the Democratic side ponders the idea of limiting a woman’s right to choose. As much as I like the wit and political acumen of Abe Lincoln, the candor of Barry Goldwater in his later years and admire Fiorello La Guardia’s ability to read comics to children over the radio, my political affinities go to the likes of FDR, JFK, George McGovern, Adlai Stevenson, Barney Frank, Shirley Chisholm (may her soul rest in peace), Jesse Jackson and Jerry Brown. At least these guys understood the benefit of bringing comfort to the masses. I mean, you’d be loathe to find the likes of Joseph P. Kennedy III working the third shift as a sheet metal mechanic in Fall River, MA. But at least you know that when left to his own money and devices, he did not retire to play golf full time in Palm Springs as Gerald Ford did. At least he created Citizen’s Energy, which I think did a whole lot more for helping out old people than owning the Texas Rangers or privatizing Social Security. (Say, I thought that my IRA already was the government’s effort to privatize my retirement benefits. Why isn’t anybody squawking about that?) Anyway, if I had a choice between acting according to God’s voice in my head telling me to spread freedom everywhere around the world or acting out of a sense of noblesse oblige, I’ll take the responsibility of kings every time. Santa Claus is just all right with me.
But I ramble.
So Howard Dean is now chairman of the party my mother voted for in every election in her life time, and my father did except for taking a jaunt out over Reagan. Now he does not vote at all. In his words, “they’re all crooks!”
I hope that Howard Dean will be good for the Democratic Party. He seems like a thoughtful, reasonable man despite the fact that Big Media made a mockery of his behavior during the 2004 campaign by manipulating the true meaning of his discourse into some sound bite collage that made him come off like a drunken high school basketball coach. Yeah, my real preference for a DNC Chairman would be some guy or single mom who worked the line at GM for 20 years, went to school nights to get a law degree and than was mayor of Detroit for a while. But, if I can’t get a working stiff, I’ll take a doctor. I mean I think that you still have to read a book or two to become a doctor, despite the emergence of the Internet.
Yeah, Dean is rich while most of us are still trying to figure out how to get over. But, I hope that the guy has the smarts and vision to build local, state and federal governments that serve a vast majority of the citizens well, if for no other reason than to avoid violent civil chaos. I mean, if you abuse the masses long enough and hard enough, you end up with an angry mob hungry for satisfaction and a sense of wellbeing. From where I sit, history’s response to a disgruntled, alienated population made mindless and militant on the euphoric concoction of retribution and entitlement has been overt dictatorship. And that my blog reading friends really, really, really sucks.
OK, I’ll admit it, if push comes to shove and the lives of my daughters were at stake, were you to ask me to which side of The Party I would cast my lot, I would and will say, the Democratic side. I have never, ever come close once to even considering pulling the lever for anything Republican, although I did work as a youth volunteer for John Lindsay in 1965. Lindsay was really a closet Democrat. He came out in 1971.
Believe me I am under no illusion that the people in power who are supposed to represent me or be representative of me, whether Democrat or Republican, are anything like me, no matter how much dope they smoked during their Wild College Years. But, when it comes to being a political party that supposes as its power base working class non-professional people with varying hues of dark skin, gays, literature professors, improvisational musicians, working women, Cook County municipal workers, Jews from Miami to the Five Towns, bankable Hollywood stars (except Charlton Heston, née John Charles Carter) as well as Tip O’Neill’s offspring, the Republicans don’t even come close, no matter how much the Democratic side ponders the idea of limiting a woman’s right to choose. As much as I like the wit and political acumen of Abe Lincoln, the candor of Barry Goldwater in his later years and admire Fiorello La Guardia’s ability to read comics to children over the radio, my political affinities go to the likes of FDR, JFK, George McGovern, Adlai Stevenson, Barney Frank, Shirley Chisholm (may her soul rest in peace), Jesse Jackson and Jerry Brown. At least these guys understood the benefit of bringing comfort to the masses. I mean, you’d be loathe to find the likes of Joseph P. Kennedy III working the third shift as a sheet metal mechanic in Fall River, MA. But at least you know that when left to his own money and devices, he did not retire to play golf full time in Palm Springs as Gerald Ford did. At least he created Citizen’s Energy, which I think did a whole lot more for helping out old people than owning the Texas Rangers or privatizing Social Security. (Say, I thought that my IRA already was the government’s effort to privatize my retirement benefits. Why isn’t anybody squawking about that?) Anyway, if I had a choice between acting according to God’s voice in my head telling me to spread freedom everywhere around the world or acting out of a sense of noblesse oblige, I’ll take the responsibility of kings every time. Santa Claus is just all right with me.
But I ramble.
So Howard Dean is now chairman of the party my mother voted for in every election in her life time, and my father did except for taking a jaunt out over Reagan. Now he does not vote at all. In his words, “they’re all crooks!”
I hope that Howard Dean will be good for the Democratic Party. He seems like a thoughtful, reasonable man despite the fact that Big Media made a mockery of his behavior during the 2004 campaign by manipulating the true meaning of his discourse into some sound bite collage that made him come off like a drunken high school basketball coach. Yeah, my real preference for a DNC Chairman would be some guy or single mom who worked the line at GM for 20 years, went to school nights to get a law degree and than was mayor of Detroit for a while. But, if I can’t get a working stiff, I’ll take a doctor. I mean I think that you still have to read a book or two to become a doctor, despite the emergence of the Internet.
Yeah, Dean is rich while most of us are still trying to figure out how to get over. But, I hope that the guy has the smarts and vision to build local, state and federal governments that serve a vast majority of the citizens well, if for no other reason than to avoid violent civil chaos. I mean, if you abuse the masses long enough and hard enough, you end up with an angry mob hungry for satisfaction and a sense of wellbeing. From where I sit, history’s response to a disgruntled, alienated population made mindless and militant on the euphoric concoction of retribution and entitlement has been overt dictatorship. And that my blog reading friends really, really, really sucks.
posted by Bob Reselman at 9:41 AM
2 Comments:
For the most part I agree... of course the shocking notion is that I have a degree in religion, so my perspective is a little different (I highly question their notion that they have "God’s voice in my head telling me to spread freedom everywhere around the world").
I've been meaning to write my thoughts on my spaces blog about how the Democrats could get religious (Christian) folks to vote for them... I'll probably also take a shot at telling the Constitution party (not someone you -- Bob -- would ever vote for) how to get more church-goers to vote for them...
As days go by I'm more more concerned about the apocalypse (and that the United States is starting it... As I have told friends I believe the world began in the Middle East and that it will end there...)
Could be worse,could be a dog's voice in his head telling him to shoot couples in cars. But, I think David Berkowitz is still locked up.
Post a Comment
<< Home