I’m thinking Southern Democrats, some when I was young and some when I am old. And now I’m in a quandary. What about those Blue Dogs?
What I’m not thinking about is George Wallace, who got tired of being a Democrat by the time JFK was president. At the risk of repeating myself, I want to say how much Taylor Branch’s trilogy on the King Years brought home changes which happened in mid-20th-Century. Much has happened since Harry Truman issued an order to integrate the military, which was the first blow to the bigotry of separate but equal patriotism.
From the time of 1864 to 1964, there was denial of the “shadow,” as Toni Morrison portrayed it. She lectured on how all American literature had references to what we call the race question. But if you want deep thoughts turn to another Nobel Prize winner, Martin Luther King and his belief in non-violence. I can’t help but remember his mentor Ghandi, which makes me drift off to the great work his grandson has done in Memphis, and now in the Boston area. As MLK was learning how to learn from those he wanted to lead, he realized that the people are the deciders. Myles Horton, a political activist who held workshops in the early days of the SCLC’s assertion that voting was king, is one of the Tennesseans who made a difference.
But now, to the Blue Dogs. Of the 18 Democrats who voted with the Republicans on the FICA “fix” 10 were from southern states. Seven of the votes were from northern states. Two Tennesseans in the list were Lincoln Davis (4th Dist) and John Tanner (5th Dist), who is considered to have started the Blue Dogs.
I’ve watched John Tanner in the House and in newsprint and have come to admire his presence and his intelligence. When Harold Ford Jr. appeared in Nashville opposite Bob Corker in a Senatorial debate, Ford had Tanner to back him up. The problem with Ford was that he knew the Beltway but not us downhome folks. No one around here knows what a Blue Dog is. If I were to ask, they would probably correct my speech. We know blue TICK dogs. Be that as it may, we have Corker and not Ford. And the DLC has Ford.
In my District (2nd) we have a Republican who also thinks like a Blue Dog and belongs to a study group which believes in a strong military, but conservative spending otherwise. Congressman Jimmy Duncan, and his father before him, has this area in East Tennessee firmly in mind when he votes. To be remarked, however, is that he voted against the Iraq war, the surge and all those emergency spending bills. I correspond with him on many issues, and he reads my true feelings on the current administration whenever organizations antithetical to G W Bush ask me to sign a petition. When Speaker Pelosi allowed House members to give their take on the surge, Duncan was eloquent against the spending of good money for unwise causes. This is all a part of a pattern. Democrat or Republican, many Tennesseans are a group of people who will accept their Congresspersons’ pork barrel gifts and at the same time decry “tax and spend” politics. In my way of thinking, if the two groups would cross the aisle to look at their common platforms, the politics of what I have come to call the Eastern Establishment would be confronting us folks in the south in a new way.
It’s time to recall the Pace ad. Cowboys sit around the campfire eating their grub at the end of a long day. And Cookie has given them a jar of salsa which rankles their taste buds. One poke looks at the label and scornfully announces, “ No wonder, it’s made in New York City.” They want to “step up the Pace.” Former Senator Jim Thompson is the salsa in the election hall, once he throws in his hat.
The Town versus Country scenario has played out as long as I’ve been in politics, which I proclaim to be 75 years. Nowadays, with the McDonaldization of America (thanks, Pat Schroeder), it’s become a Virtual town and country. The name “redneck” may be associated with NASCAR and the NRA, but those who stand up for less government and stronger defense are waiting for their share of earmarks and welfare benefits. Red states may want to tout their independent stance on Medicare and Social Security while their residents are very dependent upon those two entitlements and more. Our governor Phil Bredesen is in his second term, limited by law to be his last. Such a good Democrat!
If there is a message in this ramble, let it be: Stop stereotyping us just because we are below the Mason Dixon line. And Steve Cohen proves the point. Miraculously, a white man is in Harold Ford’s old House seat. Not so miraculously he is doing what most Memphians probably expect of him. Impeach!
In my view, so much of what happens in the next administration depends upon housecleaning in government before the vote is held. Most of the people I talk with are sick and tired of Bush and his war. They may not have heard of Blue Dogs, but they know the country is the worse for wasting all that money on a useless war. Some may want God in the Pledge, but they don’t want others to make fighting words over their religion.
This is long and I’ll leave because my little reminiscing writing group needs my attention. Members are arguing among themselves about God and politics and I’m trying to make peace here in the Towers by saying that what we must do as writers is cut out the rant and stick with common decency. Two octogenarians, one from Montgomery and the other a naturalized Brit who fought in WW II, don’t want to talk to each other. All I want is to keep our word workers from acting like the MSM.