I have nothing against the people of Minnesota, Arkansas or heartland Iowa, and I have a son who was born in the South. My beef is with the conservative philosophy that begins with the dismissive words ‘I spoke to people in the Midwest and they say…’
Listening tours, town halls and meet and greets at local supermarkets are necessary and useful. but when they become excuses to abandon leadership they are a problem. Paraphrasing a conservative pundit on a popular tv show today, ‘in my previous job I went around on buses and talked to people who are more concerned about kitchen table issues,’ than impeachment. Had that reporter worn pantaloons and recorded talks with a quill pen on parchment paper I would still be in chains. Fortunately, President Lincoln was not waiting on Joe-the-cotton-farmer to decide policy.
I hope the Democrats maintain the courage, not just the focus to continue to do what is right. Day after day, indictment after indictment, lie after lie the current President of the United States [Donald Trump] dumps on the Constitution. Defying lawful subpoenas, wielding Executive Privilege like a hammer in a porcelain factory; not caring if the broken and flying chards cut the valuable legs of the American system of justice.
Meanwhile Mr. Trump stepped up his distraction tour. On the heels of destroying the California vehicle emissions standards and condoning genocide in Syria, he resorted to his habit of name-calling and vulgarity at his counterprogramming rallies. Last night the President accused the former VP, Joe Biden, of kissing [the posterior] of former President Obama and hypothesized that as the reason why that made him a “good” Vice President. All this to the cheers and guffaws from those same salt of the earth Midwesterners, I am told Nancy Pelosi should seek guidance.
I am sorry, maybe I do sound elitist, or however Princeton and Harvard educated Texas Senator Ted Cruz labels me, but I do not want anyone in that crowd deciding my fate, more or less the man behind the microphone. The job of elected politicians, in a democratic republic, is to speak for us not to be led by hollow hyperbole. We have gotten into trouble before with this blatherskite in the past; The Army- McCarthy hearings of 1954, Japanese Internment Camps ordered by Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt; America’s involvement in Vietnam, spanning three administrations; Weapons of mass destruction and now Trump.
So, this idea that Fox News or MAGA hat-wearing Henry (sorry to all the Henry[s] out there) on a bus is the barometer of public thought is as ridiculous as me being the weathervane of the liberal winds. I am friends with well-read people, some not so well-read people, and some idiots as are most of us. I am willing to venture that if you are facing foreclosure, repossession, a broken pipe or divorce, you do not hop a bus, you find a financial expert, a loan officer, a plumber or a lawyer. With all due respect to Joe- the- Plumber—fix my pipes, not my life.
Vote in 2020 for Change.