Grandpa wouldn’t keep a Roosevelt dime. Grandma saved every one she could find.
Dear Democrat voters in today’s primary elections in Kentucky and Oregon (especially left/progressive/liberals, one of which I am):
1. As you go to the polls today, remember that liberals are different from the Bad People. Remember that we are open minded and always willing to consider the possibility that we are wrong. Unlike the Unholy Devil Monsters of The Other Side, we do not vote as part of a herd. We pride ourselves in not thinking inside a box like automatons, in not knee-jerking ourselves into easy agreement.
2. My dear old Grandma taught me that there is no such thing as a “red” or “blue” state in the USA. She said it was true that some states in recent years have voted for Republican candidates and red pixels on a tv screen were used to signify that fact. But that does not mean that an entire state and its people are “red.” Same for so-called “blue” states. Grandma told me to tell you to raise your consciousness until you no longer believe that what is symbolic on the tube is automatically true on the ground. She said for us to try to understand that colored symbols used in reporting the news are not laws of nature or eternal verities.
3. Why are normally intelligent journalists so easily duped by what their own media turns out?
4. Political odds makers tell us that Hillary will win the Democratic primaries in Kentucky and Oregon today. If so, congratulations to her. Do you think that one reason Obama may not fare very well in Kentucky today could be because he declined to campaign here? Why did Obama refuse to visit us in Kentucky? Does he not like us? Or is it because his advisors think that the Kentucky people are, by definition, “red”? Well (I said in a huff), as a senior citizen born and raised in “Appalachia”, I am here to tell you that Obama would have been very welcome in Kentucky and would have found many supporters among “white working class people,” most of whom are pretty decent folks who hope that if he is the Democrat’s nominee, he will change his mind and come on down for a visit.
Sen. Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of 75,000 in Portland, Oregon, on Monday.
5. It would not have hurt Obama to wear the patriotic USA pin on his lapel throughout the primary campaign instead of wearing it only in West Virginia. Who did he think he was fooling? Now, if Obama is the Democrat nominee for President, he will have to answer two burning questions: Did he put his patriotic pin on before or after disembarking from the plane in Charleston? And, if he wins the nomination, will he wear the pin throughout his campaign, or selectively take it on and off, depending?
5. I am glad that both Obama and Hillary have paid attention to Oregon. They love Hillary out there, and rightly so, for she will make an outstanding President if she is elected. By way of dropping a hint to Obama: Yeah, the Oregon loggers have guns and enjoy hunting and otherwise shooting their guns. But before our urban liberal friends go nuts, remember Grandma’s question: does owning a gun and working outdoors and hunting a Cascade Mountains elk disqualify someone from being a good Democrat and despising the Bush administration because he has brought economic ruin to so many working Americans?
Grandma knew some things. When Grandad refused to possess a Roosevelt dime, Grandma ignored him and got hold of every Roosevelt dime she could find.
Gurney Norman is the author of Divine Right’s Trip and Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories. He teaches at the University of Kentucky and is a former reporter for the Hazard Herald.
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