Whenever
politics rises up on my morning Hike with Mike, I have only to wait for some bit
of NRA or tea party propaganda to pop up.
The topic varies from day to day but always stems from a few common bits
of misinformation.
Mike is an
excellent neighbor and friend. We’re
fortunate to live upstream of him. I’d
trust him with my life and/or Gloria’s. We
won’t ever see eye to eye on politics.
Mike will
tell you that his voting decisions are determined by the 2nd
Amendment and the 10th Amendment.
I own and shoot firearms but have very little use for the NRA as it has
recast itself today. When it returns to a
basic mission of teaching hunting and firearms safety, I’ll think better of
it.
As for the 10th
amendment, the Civil War pretty much negated that. We are intended to be a single nation, not a
confederation of 50 different components.
Those powers not originally defined by the Constitution were defined on
9 April 1865 when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses Grant. Don’t agree, too bad. That decision was paid for in the blood of
men and women who deemed the nation more important than any single state.
Lately, Mike
has repeatedly brought up the name Saul Alinsky, as a purported model for the
actions of others such as President Obama.
He maintains that Alinsky’s writings follow Marx and Engels work
exactly. Somehow, the teavangelists have
strung together the words Alinksky, Chicago, Community Organizer, and Obama to
create some horrible bogeyman where no such creature exists. Alinksy was long gone before Obama worked as
a community organizer. His writings were
all but forgotten in the Reagan-Bush – Bush II years. Alinsky was brought back to the fore by the
GOP/teavangelist propaganda factory in need of someone to terrorize the
base. Since that base is poorly read,
fed only upon talking points and sound bites playing endlessly and truthlessly
upon Fox News, Mr. Alinsky now stands analogous to Lucifer for the
teavangelists and their even less well-read spawn.
The truth is
that Alinsky was not, ever, a communist, or any other “ist.” He never taught or mentored Mr. Obama. He did not base his writings upon Marx or Engels.
The even worse aspect of the truth is that the GOP/teavangelist base will
swallow the lies they are being fed, will believe them, and will vote for
others who also believe the lies spread by the GOP/teavangelist machine. Before the next generation takes their place
in the halls of government, it is not inconceivable that the lie factory will
have Grant surrendering to Lee.
Mike
is our best-read, best educated neighbors.
Just goes to show how dangerous it can be for us Yankees to move into
red states.
Who is Saul Alinsky, and why is Newt Gingrich so obsessed with him?
Newt Gingrich keeps
likening President Obama to radical community organizer Saul Alinsky. But
Gingrich seems to have adopted Alinsky's tactics himself, as has the tea party.
Mainstream Republicans aren't happy.
“Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it
away."[7] Alinsky
did not join political parties. When asked during an interview whether he ever
considered becoming a Communist party member, he replied:
Not
at any time. I've never joined any organization—not even the ones I've
organized myself. I prize my own independence too much. And philosophically, I
could never accept any rigid dogma or ideology, whether it's Christianity or Marxism.
One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described
as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're right.' If you don't
have that, if you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you
become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated. The greatest
crimes in history have been perpetrated by such religious and political and
racial fanatics, from the persecutions of the Inquisitionon
down to Communist purges and Nazi genocide.[4]
We met Alan
Woodruff this morning. He is running for
Congress, opposing Phil Roe for the 1st District TN seat in D.C. He’s highly personable, heavily committed to
winning a difficult election and someone that I can vote for rather than
someone I would choose to vote for only as a least evil option. I support most of his positions and can
tolerate his position on those where we differ.
See for yourself: www.alanwoodruff.com
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