That was the subject of significant discussion after the meeting, among a number of us firefighters. It turns out that all of us are Democrats too -- Southern, mountain Democrats of the old fashion. It must be the last place on earth where this faction, the Jacksonian faction, still exists. One fellow said he was going to go down to the registrar and change his party affiliation; another, the oldest of us, averred that he was ashamed now of his party membership. There were no kind words for the party, its leadership, its direction, its vision, nor any other facet of what it has become.
The candidate seemed like a decent guy for a cop; when he's not doing work as a deputy US Marshal he sells auto parts and performs vehicle repairs. Like a good Southern Democrat, he addressed the meeting wearing a t-shirt with pictures of classic muscle cars. He had the sense to see that we were conducting a training session tonight that would take hours of our time, and the courtesy to keep his remarks short.
I still won't vote for him because his solution to the problems was to bring in more Federal law enforcement, and more of the Federal government in my community is the last thing I want. He said that currently the Feds consider this county an almost forbidden zone for their activity; that's sweet news to my ears. Ordinary decent criminals I can deal with; indeed, they've never caused me one moment of trouble in my entire life. The political criminals are far worse.
I probably will never switch to the Republican party, which is full of scoundrels as well -- especially its establishment wing. But the old party of my youth, still for the moment strong in these mountains, is probably in its last hours.
12 comments:
There's a lot of people (like myself) who switched long ago. Carter was the last straw for me.
However there are still many who will not, in the name of tradition or as an old dear friend from Marietta once said "If I switch parties I won't be able to vote for the weakest candidate in the primary to make sure he gets trounced by a republican in the general."
People have reasons ;-)
Any human organization will be inflicted by the presence of scoundrels in its midst. That's no way to choose a political party. The question should be whether you have any reason to believe that the policies advocated by the party will make things better or worse.
I am a registered Independent. I left the official Republican Party years ago. While I may vote for Republican candidates it is only if and when they are the most conservative candidate. At this point, I think all citizens should turn their backs on the official parties. All parties have become what George Washington warned they would become, corrupting influences that seek their own interests and power and not what is best for the country.
For what it's worth, I don't think any of us with seniority would say that we belong to the political party of our youth any more. The issues and conflicts of prior years have gone by, and new voices have emerged.
Contra to Anon above, I have developed a certain nostalgia for Jimmy Carter though the years. In my youth I considered him venial but now recognize he was no more so than any other politician, and that many of his polices actually presaged the ones that Reagan would continue. He did the best he could with the hand he was dealt, and when the facts on the ground changed (specifically Afghanistan) he recognized the need to change policy, not just messaging.
I can feel a kinship with your Southern Jacksonian Democrats as my Yankee Republican father exhibited many of the same traits - civic minded, loyal to the ideals of the United States, desiring to avoid foreign entanglements but open to exchange, seeking to build a level playing field for all and not envious of those who excelled in fair competition.
"Afflicted," I meant to say, not "inflicted."
So the incumbent sheriff is stepping down? I thought I saw signs for him in Tuckaseegee a few days ago. I assume you're talking about Jackson County?
Maybe, Grim, you should run for sheriff. You've the common sense for it, if not the resume experience; your deputies could provide that advice.
Eric Hines
The incumbent has decided not to run for re-election, yes.
It's too late to file to run this year, but we'll see what the future holds. I have no desire to be a policeman, but they do need somebody who thinks about this stuff differently from the way that they do.
I had forgotten that the prior sheriff stepped down in 2014. But it looks like he's running again since Chip Hall is retiring.
The two sheriffs prior to Jimmy Ashe were both retired NC State Troopers, Bob Allen, followed by Jim Cruzan.
Jimmy is running again. He’s addressed the VFD as well.
. I have no desire to be a policeman, but they do need somebody who thinks about this stuff differently from the way that they do.
This is so true in general. The cops in general should not come to the job from the ranks of the military. School superintendents should not come into that administrative/leadership role from the ranks of teachers and principals. I'm not real wild about judges who come to the supposedly neutral bench from the desks of prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The best "senators" of the legislature are generally ill suited to be governors, or president. Nor are state governors fit to horse-trade and log roll in the US Senate. And I can't think of any soul who has served as a "representative" in any legislature for several terms who remains literally representative of his / her constituents.
I wonder how an administrator over a large team of specialists (like the head of a hospital over doctors, or a airport manager over the various flight crews and support operations) would do as a county sheriff?
In the same vein, it's a well-know problem in the design professions (engineering, architecture, etc) that the set of skills and talents that makes someone a brilliant engineer is very different than those of a good business executive.
More than one successful small firm has really struggled once it grew to the point that the owners were no longer doing what they were good at because they had to spend all their time running the business.
Even the ones who knew these challenges would come and tried to prepare, still went through tough times as their firms grew through phases where they were too big for the old ways of running things, but not yet big enough to hire the business skills that they were personally weak on.
And yes, there are all kinds of ways to tackle this challenge, but if you have a particularly bright up-and-comer - someone who is used to solving tricky problems - it can be hard to get them to recognize that this new set of problems might not succumb to their brilliance as easily as they are used to.
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