PCIntern
On the eve of every election I harken back to what my father of blessed memory used to say. He was a pragmatic progressive Democrat who was a four-year combat veteran of WWII, worked two full-time jobs his entire career, and held seven masters degrees in subjects from linguistics to Western History to Hebrew Literature. He obviously never slept but he was brilliant in ways which can only be imagined these days what with narrow, specialized learning tracks and generally poorly selected reading lists in schools including, but not limited to, most universities.
He had a few words of wisdom to impart. One was: there is rampant lying in the news organizations and at best, the truth is shaded. However, there is one publication which never intentionally lies to its readers, ever. And that publication is: The Racing Form. you cannot lie to gamblers - they will cut the ties forever. Whatever is printed within is the best knowledge available to the reporter. My Dad's assumption was that if a media member reported something as fact, that that fact was viewed through a specially colored lens and for whatever reason which might be utterly unknown to the masses, it was advantageous to report, or not report in a certain fashion. This policy was generally decided a priori way up in the editorial chain. If something were reported which should not have been, in the opinion of the powers-that-be, careful retrenchment was then executed to minimize the fallout.
The second consideration was that the Nation was headed in some direction, inexorably and inevitably. He used to say this before the Kennedy Assassination and afterwards he just shook his head and said that this was all a course-correction with respect to what Eisenhower had referred to as the military-industrial complex. My father respected Eisenhower for making the speech but knew that it would have little or no effect upon the March of Time. I've written about this before, but I will again share the anecdote when Goldwater was nominated, Eisenhower was interviewed on TV by two reporters. Ike was not happy about Goldwater's candidacy, but these two reporters kept interrupting and changing the topic, thus confusing the situation with respect to the viewer. I was 11 at the time. My father turned to me and stated words which I have never forgotten: "In America there is nothing worse than being a "former" anything. This man was a Five-Star General, led the Allied Forces against the most horrifying villains in history successfully, was a two-term President of the United States, and these two won't let him finish a sentence. Imagine how they'll treat you after you're retired if this is how they treat this man. I hold no briefs for his politics, I certainly didn't vote for him, but these idiots have no respect for the man; none." To this day, I recall that moment vividly.
The third occurrence was in 1980 on Election night. I called my father and said, "Dad, what are we gonna do?" His reply: "What you're gonna do is get up and go to work tomorrow morning and work hard, do the best you can, try to improve the lives of those within your sphere the best you can. Carter thought that he could lead Americans by sitting in the White House with a sweater on with the heat turned down and attempt to commiserate with them. Americans, for good or ill, don't want to hear that. They require the preacher's intensity and verve for better or worse. Reagan and Republicans know how, always knew how, to give this to them. they prey upon their weaknesses, their fears, and get them to vote against their own economic and life-lengthening issues by doing so. Democrats will only sporadically learn how to do this and then they forget. Republicans never forget the necessity of doing this.
The fourth and final statement he made in this regard was that the Fundamental Principle of Republicanism was for rich people to be able to hold onto their money; that in America it is extremely difficult to make a lot of money but even harder to hold onto it once it has been squirreled away. Every decision a Republican makes is with an eye towards this Principle. It is virtually inviolate.
We have found that nothing has changed. We need to win on Tuesday to allow the status quo, which admittedly isn't great, to continue. We know that losing will throw us into some, but not complete, turmoil. Some will suffer needlessly, but the narcissism of many of the electorate precludes them caring enough to think of the plight of others, even if they do attend the religious service of their choice on Sundays. I wish us the best luck and to GOTV.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025747317
Simply amazing that the janitor's father was indoctrinating modern-day liberal vernacular into his musings 50 years before libs even brought them up as topics of concern.
Let's see, we have:
1) The news is lying to you,
2) The PTB have a direction set for the country and will remove anyone/anything in its way,
3) Eisenhower and the MIC, (notice they never mention the warnings Eisenhower gave about the danger of the country going along with the liberals, which he most definitely spoke about more often than the MIC), and
4) Republicans prey upon weakness and fear (This coming from a post, and a website full of posts, that are nothing but "If the Republicans take the Senate, then FEAR! FEAR! FEAR!).
It would be no different than if someone here were to write "In 1976 on Election night. I called my father and said, "Dad, what are we gonna do?" His reply: "What you're gonna do is get up and go to work tomorrow morning and work hard, do the best you can, try to improve the lives of those within your sphere the best you can. This Carter will soon place the country into a form of malaise, losing the confidence of the American people in his ability to lead, and someone will step forward and become a shining light on a hill."
And then, those of us here would say things like...
mountain grammy
2. Your dad was ahead of his time. Thank you for sharing his insight and wisdom.
KT2000
9. Great post - thank you
Your father was so wise and special to share this with you. He really saw the big picture - one that still exists today.
And then people would read here and think that we're nuts, because like the primitives are today, we would be if we believed that tripe.
And yet they eat it up as if he were being honest.
I'll hand it to the janitor, he knows how to bleat in a way that his fellow sheep will bleat with him.
.
