Why put yourself on the line, in this angry year of political hostility and economic crisis, to run for an obscure position in the Maryland General Assembly?
Read this post by Summer Burke, a New Orleans resident, and you’ll understand. It explains, in scary detail, just how dangerous the BP oil spill is. More importantly, it lays bare the political and economic crisis facing America today. It’s a long post, and the analysis sounds exaggerated – it can’t be that bad, or can it? Also a little bit of crude language, but ignore that. Do you think Ms. Burke is over-the-top, in the following brief excerpt?
“No separation of corporation and state means there are no people with hearts in charge — only ego-driven take-it-all ballers who feed the greedy green machines inside themselves. And they will not leave until we kick over the tables in the temple.”
Sounds like righteous anger, to me. One more excerpt:
“In America, I’m convinced now, we’ve got a three-party system: the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Gangster Party. The Gangster Party consists of about 17 dudes who secretly run everything. You think that’s a crazy notion? Look at the hierarchy of everything else in nature. It’s alright, they have their place — I mean, Reptilians need to exist, too, in the grand scheme of things — but are we supposed to let them win?
That paragraph makes you want to sit down on the floor and weep. Or you can stand up and do something.
“The Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Gangster Party.” Not my words, Ms. Burke’s. I wish I’d had that insight before she did. Pretty good political analysis, I’d say. Maybe the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are not as bad as people like to think. But it does seem that it’s the Gangster Party that’s calling the shots. Are politicians standing idly by and enabling the Gangster Party, for campaign money and other considerations to be named later? It sounds cynical in the extreme, but it also sounds sadly true.
A reporter phoned a few minutes ago to tell me she’d received a press release from a local politician, announcing his intention to run for Maryland House of Delegates in District 38B (Worcester County and part of Wicomico County). She was wondering if I still plan to go to Annapolis on Thursday, pay $50, and file to be a candidate? Run against two well-known Democrats, both of whom I admire, not to mention the Republican candidates?
Yes, I’m going. The papers are filled out. How can I not stand up and do something?
– John Hayden
