Personally, I think things started going to Hell when folks were seriously asked, “Which candidate would you rather have a beer with?” Because, to be honest, there just aren’t all that many of my former drinking codkpaniopns I’d like to see in any positions of authority.

Zoom ahead a few years and we have supposedly sane men and women going ga-ga over a candidate because he or she talks just like them.

Advertisement

To quote an eloquent turn of phrase from the 1980s: gag me with a spoon.

The standard for “talking like us” sometimes seems to imply that a candidates’s authenticity in such a regard is all too often sounding like a crazy old man outside a general store on a Saturday night.

Advertisement

The reverse side of that coin is that if you sound too smart, well, you don’t sound like one of us, a real American, a Regular Joe, a man or woman who tells it like it is, damn it, and damn the consequences!

This indicates an ad hoc assumption that real Americans only sound like those who work with their hands. Well, real Americans sound like machinists, surgeons, poets, factory workers, farmers, songwriters, bricklayers, architects and even, on the rare occasion, bloggers.

Advertisement

Each man and woman has their own distinctive voice, and the same is true for those in public life.

Politicians who dumb down their language in an effort to reach what consultants tell them real Americans sound like are guilty of the worst kind of political condescension. It is as immoral an act as stealing from the public purse, because they are treating voters like fools, rubes ripe for the picking.

Advertisement

I despise such creatures as much as I despise those – of any political persuasion – who toss out cliches and slogans instead of actual ideas.

A pox on both their houses.

Advertisement

And I know that all too many voters fall for this, which is why we have some of the turkeys (sorry, I slipped back to the 70s there) in office today.

We have to expect more from our candidates. But maybe one thing we might do well to expect less of is a desire to have a candidate who talks just like us.

Advertisement

Because there is a whole lot of us, and like snowflakes, at the core we all sound different.

******

Today’s Soundtrack

I’m spending a morning listening to “An Evening with Don Williams,” and whether writing or not, he’s a good man to start the day with.

Advertisement

Yes, I’m typing on Tulsa Time today.

*****

Now on YouTube – Liz Garriss: You give me Fever

Some songs performed by Ms. Liz Garriss some years ago in the studio. You might be amused by my attempt to give the set a sort of night club feel.

Well, I think it looks good, and more importantly, the songs are great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaqhT7uRGcs

****

Quote of the Day

Hearts live by being wounded. – Oscar Wilde

rsdrake@cox.net

Be a part of something bigger

As a reader of the Arkansas Times, you know we’re dedicated to bringing you tough, determined, and feisty journalism that holds the powerful accountable. For 50 years, we've been fighting the good fight in Little Rock and beyond – with your support, we can do even more. By becoming a subscriber or donating as little as $1 to our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage and continue to bring important stories to light. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, it's clear that our readers value our great journalism. Join us in the fight for truth.

Previous article Arkansas Supreme Court orders gender neutral treatment of parents on birth certificates Next article Shroud of Chagrin – October 2017