Monday, 11.5.12 ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net VIEWS PAGE: [email protected] 4 PRESS DAKOTAN views By The Associated Press Today is Monday, Nov. 5, the 310th day of 2012. There are 56 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Nov. 5, 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt, in- cumbent Republican William Howard Taft and Socialist Eugene V. Debs. On this date: In 1605, the “Gunpowder Plot” failed as Guy Fawkes was seized be- fore he could blow up the English Parlia- ment. In 1781, the Continental Congress elected John Hanson of Maryland its chair- man, giving him the title of “President of the United States in Congress Assembled.” In 1872, suffragist Susan B. Anthony defied the law by attempting to cast a vote for President Ulysses S. Grant. (Anthony was convicted by a judge and fined $100, but she never paid the fine.) In 1911, aviator Calbraith P. Rodgers arrived in Pasadena, Calif., completing the first transcontinental airplane trip in 49 days. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roo- sevelt won an unprecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican chal- lenger Wendell L. Willkie. In 1942, American showman George M. Cohan died in New York at age 64. In 1968, Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Vice President Hu- bert H. Humphrey and American Inde- pendent candidate George C. Wallace. In 1974, Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to win a gubernatorial office with- out succeeding her husband. In 1987, Supreme Court nominee Dou- glas H. Ginsburg admitted using marijuana several times in the 1960s and 70s, calling it a mistake. (Ginsburg ended up withdraw- ing his nomination.) In 1990, Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Brooklyn-born Israeli extremist, was shot to death at a New York hotel. (Egyptian na- tive El Sayyed Nosair was convicted of the slaying in federal court.) In 1992, Malice Green, a black mo- torist, died after he was struck in the head 14 times with a flashlight by a Detroit police officer, Larry Nevers, outside a suspected crack house. (Nevers and his partner, Wal- ter Budzyn, were found guilty of second- degree murder, but the convictions were overturned; they were later convicted of in- voluntary manslaughter.) In 2009, a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas left 13 peo- ple dead; Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psy- chiatrist, was charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder. Ten years ago: In midterm elections, Republicans won control of the Senate and strengthened their hold on the House while claiming a majority of the governors’ races. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt resigned under pres- sure after a series of political missteps that had embarrassed the White House. Randy Johnson won his record-tying fourth straight National League Cy Young Award. Five years ago: Hollywood writers went on strike, forcing late-night talk shows to immediately start airing reruns. Police in major Pakistani cities fired tear gas and clubbed lawyers protesting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s emergency rule. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey promised to “clean house” after a dorm matron was ac- cused of abusing students at Winfrey’s school for disadvantaged South African girls. Joe Torre was introduced as the new manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, less than three weeks after walking away from the New York Yankees. One year ago: Former Penn State de- fensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, ac- cused of molesting eight boys, was arrested and released on $100,000 bail after being arraigned on 40 criminal counts. (Sandusky was later convicted and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for sexual abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year pe- riod.) Today’s Birthdays: Actor Chris Robin- son is 74. Actress Elke Sommer is 72. Singer Art Garfunkel is 71. Actor-playwright Sam Shepard is 69. Singer Peter Noone is 65. Actor Nestor Serrano (”24”) is 57. Ac- tress-comedian Mo Gaffney is 54. Actor Robert Patrick is 54. Singer Bryan Adams is 53. Actress Tilda Swinton is 52. Actor Michael Gaston is 50. Actress Tatum O’Neal is 49. Actress Andrea McArdle is 49. Rock singer Angelo Moore (Fishbone) is 47. Actress Judy Reyes is 45. Rock mu- sician Mark Hunter (James) is 44. Actor Sam Rockwell is 44. Country singers Heather and Jennifer Kinley (The Kinleys) are 42. Actor Corin Nemec is 41. Rock mu- sician Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is 41. Country singer-musician Ryan Adams is 38. Actor Sam Page is 36. Actor Jeremy Lelliott is 30. Rock musician Kevin Jonas (The Jonas Brothers) is 25. Thought for Today: “Examine what is said, not him who speaks.” — Arab proverb. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life. Psalm 138.7. Portals of Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis T HE P RESS D AKOTAN THE DAKOTAS’ OLDEST NEWSPAPER | FOUNDED 1861 Yankton Media, Inc., 319 Walnut St., Yankton, SD 57078 OPINION | OTHER THOUGHTS In Tight Election, Every Vote Counts TODAY IN HISTORY FROM THE BIBLE YOUR LETTERS MANAGERS Gary L. Wood Publisher Michele Schievelbein Advertising Director Tonya Schild Business Manager David Jeffcoat Circulation Director Tera Schmidt Classified Manager Kelly Hertz Editor James D. Cimburek Sports Editor Beth Rye New Media Manager Kathy Larson Composing Manager Bernard Metivier District Manager Published Daily Monday-Saturday Periodicals postage paid at Yankton, South Dakota, under the act of March 3, 1979. Weekly Dakotian established June 6, 1861. Yankton Daily Press and Dakotian established April 26, 1875. 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SUBSCRIPTION RATES* (Payable in advance) CARRIER DELIVERY 1-month . . . . .$12.09 3 months . . . .$36.27 6 months . . . .$72.53 1-year . . . . . .$133.09 MOTOR ROUTE (where available) 1 month . . . . .$14.51 3 months . . . .$43.53 6 months . . . .$87.05 1 year . . . . . .$139.14 MAIL IN RETAIL TRADE ZONE 1-month . . . . .$16.93 3 months . . . .$50.79 6 months . . .$101.57 1-year . . . . . .$148.82 MAIL OUTSIDE RETAIL TRADE ZONE 1 month . . . . .$19.35 3 months . . . .$58.05 6 months . . .$116.09 1-year . . . . . .$186.33 * Plus applicable sales tax for all rates CONTACT US PHONE: (605) 665-7811 (800) 743-2968 NEWS FAX: (605) 665-1721 ADVERTISING FAX: (605) 665-0288 WEBSITE: www.yankton.net EMAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] ——— SUBSCRIPTIONS/ CIRCULATION: Extension 112 CLASSIFIED ADS: Extension 108 NEWS DEPARTMENT: Extension 114 SPORTS DEPARTMENT: Extension 106 ADVERTISING OFFICE: Extension 122 BUSINESS OFFICE: Extension 119 NEW MEDIA: Extension 136 COMPOSING DESK: Extension 129 Andrew Atwal Derek Bartos Brett Beyeler Cassandra Brockmoller Rob Buckingham Randy Dockendorf Jeannine Economy Jeremy Hoeck Nathan Johnson Muriel Pratt Sheldon Reed Noelle Schlechter Jamie Selves Cathy Sudbeck Kelsey Thomas Brenda Willcuts Jackie Williams DAILY STAFF *** BY BILL O’REILLY Creators Syndicate Here’s the big lesson from mega-storm Sandy: Mother Nature sneers at high tech, mocks modern convenience and couldn’t care less about what kind of person you are. She will smack you if she wants to. As we have become addicted to ma- chines, many of us have forgotten about nature. We must have gizmos. Sandy laughed and took them away. Power, gone. Internet, dark. Cellphones, not happening. Even your landline phone, not available, because “all circuits are busy.” Suddenly, it’s 1850 with one exception: battery-operated flashlights and radios. So what is the lesson here? Actually, there are a few. First: No government agency can help you when disaster strikes. Any assistance will be after the fact and painstakingly slow. Second: In order to ride out any storm effectively, you should be self-reliant and resilient. That means you have to anticipate problems and have some solu- tions at the ready. For example, where I live on Long Island, the power infrastructure is a disaster and has been for years. The power company, LIPA, simply cannot keep the juice flowing under duress. I have accepted that, and so I bought a generator. However, during Sandy, the generator did not work. You can imagine how many four-letter words were uttered. But I had a Plan B. I know some guys who can repair generators, and they fixed mine very quickly. I have a long-term rela- tionship with these guys and will reward them. So, I rode out the storm pretty well, and that’s good because there are children in my home. Not once did I think the local, state or federal gov- ernment was going to help me in any way. When Presi- dent Obama speaks about government being there for you, I roll my eyes. In the history of mankind, no government has ever been there for the individual. Ever. Sadly, we are becoming a nation depend- ent on other people and very reliant on ma- chines. Sandy’s destruction brought us back to the 19th century, as the collapse of the machines was something to see. Many peo- ple were lost without their appliances be- cause they are not self-reliant. They do not think ahead. They do not figure out Plan B because they don’t even have a Plan A. Life is hard, and then you die. But while you’re alive, you’ll be far better off if you forget about the big-government nonsense, deemphasize the machines and begin incor- porating the discipline of self-reliance into your life. Sorry for the lecture, but my father always said that out of bad things can come some good. Ameri- cans need to wise up, and with the election just a few days away, we have an opportunity to do so. We the people need leadership that will solve problems, be fiscally responsible and promote indi- vidual responsibility. The charlatans that promise big- government protection will always be around, but they are no match for Sandy and her furious friends. That is the lesson of this terrible storm. Veteran TV news anchor Bill O’Reilly is host of the Fox News show “The O’Reilly Factor” and author of the book “Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama.” Lessons From A Storm Bill O’REILLY BY LEONARD PITTS JR. Tribune Media Services Well, I sure got that one wrong. Four years ago, on the eve of the last presidential election, I wrote in this space of how the country has spent much of the last three decades “re-litigating” the 1960s, arguing over the changes wrought in that decade. As far as social justice is con- cerned, of course, the 1960s stand second only to the 1860s as the most profoundly transformative decade in American history. It was in those years that black folks came off the back of the bus, women came out of the kitchen, Hispanics came off the margins and gay people first peeked beyond the closet. Conservatives have been trying to re- peal the decade ever since, a crusade that seemed to reach its greatest clarity and lowest depth in the rush to define a certain jug-eared senator from Illinois who was, in 2008, running for president. He stood to be- come the first black man to hold that job. This was not an incidental thing. For his supporters, it helped make him the embod- iment of “hope” and “change,” the renewal of inchoate liberal promises that died with Robert F. Kennedy. For his detractors, it was the realization of every para- noia-drenched, racially-tinged threat to the white picket fences and Mom’s apple pie of status quo. “You know what I hope Barack Obama is?” I wrote in 2008. “I hope he is reconciliation — the end of the 1960s at long last. And the beginning of something new.” He wasn’t. That’s what I got wrong. There are, after all, many words you could use to describe the period from 2008 to now. “Reconcilia- tion” is not one of them. To the contrary, the nation has endured a four-year temper tantrum of shrillness and ferocity nearly unparalleled in history. You have to go back to the 1960s, or maybe even the 1850s, to find a time when America was this angry with itself. Far from putting the ‘60s to rest, we have seen a fresh assault on what had previously been considered the settled gains of that era. I mean, who could have predicted this election season would see debates on women’s reproductive health? Or, that we’d have to defend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965? Or that the state of Arizona would ban ethnic studies classes? Or that there would be a new attack on the right of public workers to unionize? And that’s not to mention the new onslaught of coded racial slurs. They still say Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.A. Just the other day, Mitt Romney sur- rogate John Sununu, honest to God, called him “lazy.” Lord, have mercy. It’s like they can’t help themselves. “Restore Our Future” goes the name of a conservative super PAC. It seems increas- ingly obvious, though, that the idea here is to restore our past. Except, it’s less a real past than a collective yearning for the per- ceived simplicity and normalcy of yester- day. And it is not “ours” in any sense, belonging instead to the collective memory of those who had the color, gender, ethnic- ity or sexual orientation that signified right- ness back in that mythic long ago. In a word, it is not real — and never was. Yet, the power it holds over conservative minds is proved in the decibel level of the temper tantrum, the desperate fury of the resistance. We have seen rocks flying through windows and weapons taken to presi- dential speeches. We have seen the president called the antichrist and accused of favoring white slavery. We have seen brazen schemes of voter suppression that must have Fannie Lou Hamer spinning in her grave. Now, finally, we see Election Day. You will find no words about reconciliation here this time around, no suggestion the ‘60s might finally be at an end. Just a lament for the naive optimism that made such a sug- gestion possible — and for a nation where, these days, optimism is often devoured by rage. It turns out the mythic past dies harder than any- one ever knew. Leonard Pitts is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may con- tact him via e-mail at [email protected]. © 2012, THE MIAMI HERALD A Sad Longing For Yesteryear Leonard PITTS Thanks To Volunteers Paul Struck, Yankton Principal, Lincoln School Lincoln School students are fortunate to have a new, large piece of equipment added to their play- ground. The students are excited about all the fun ac- tivities that are part of the new Playworld Systems structure. On behalf of the Lincoln student body and staff, I would like to thank the following volunteers for their work in the installation of this new multi-purpose structure: Kevin Bender, Rod and Shelley McNatt, Bob and Katie Steinbrecher, Ron Galvan, Nathan Loecker, Dave Abbott, Ryan Kaiser, Tom and Nancy Langdon, Lyle Hoesing, Chuck, Shelley, and Ben Stoddard, Michael Donner, Randy Hlavac, Kyle Rohde, Tammi and Halie Adam, Cindy Lange, and Mike Van Winkle. I would also like to thank Clark’s Rental for allowing volunteers to use their equipment over two weekends and Concrete Materials for donating the cement to en- sure the structure is safe and stable. MCCOOK DAILY GAZETTE (Oct. 26): Freeman Clark was on his deathbed. We don’t know for sure what his ailment was, but the year was 1844, and it could have been any number of things. Perhaps even Freeman wasn’t sure just how sick he was, but he knew one thing for sure, he had to get to the county seat of Switzerland County, Indiana, to vote for his friend, David Kelso, for state senator. You see, Freeman Clark owed his life to Kelso, who had defended him in a murder trial years before, winning an acquittal. So Freeman begged his sons to carry him to the county seat so he could cast his vote. His insistence finally cost him his life, as he died on his way back home, but Kelso won the election — by one vote. When Kelso got to the Indiana statehouse, he found himself in the Dem- ocratic majority of one, controlling the Indiana senate. He couldn’t agree with his party, however, which was planning to nomi- nate for U.S. Senate — it was state senators’ job in those days — a man who promised to vote against the annexation of Texas if elected to the U.S. Senate. Kelso refused to vote for the party’s choice, however, and threatened to vote with the Whigs if the Democratic Party didn’t vote for the alterna- tive candidate he proposed, Edward A. Hannigan. The Democrats caved in, electing Hannigan by one vote — Kelso’s. The next year, Texas was admitted to the union as a state by one vote — that of Edward A. Hannigan of Indiana. Thus, Texas owed its statehood to one ailing Indiana man. Of course, those are only a few examples of instances where one vote changed the course of history. A few notable others: — On Nov. 8, 1923, members of a newly formed political party elected, by one vote, an ex-soldier named Adolf Hitler to become the Nazi Party leader. — In 1941, the Selective Service Act (draft) was saved by a one-vote margin, just weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. — In 1948, if Thomas E. Dewey had gotten one vote more in each Ohio and California precinct, the election would have been thrown into the U.S. House of Representatives, where Dewey had more support than his oppo- nent, incumbent Harry Truman. As Dewey was expected to win by a land- slide, many Republicans stayed home and Truman was sent back to the White House with 51.5 percent of the electorate vote. — In 1960, if just one vote per precinct in Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey and Texas would have changed, Richard Nixon would have been elected president instead of John F. Kennedy. In more recent terms, most of us remember that the Affordable Care Act — more commonly called Obamacare, even by the president himself — passed in the U.S. Senate by one vote, attributed to Sen. Ben Nelson of McCook. With most national polls showing President Obama and Mitt Romney in a dead heat, now is not the time for voters to sit out the election. Let’s hope the election turns out to be a decisive decision for whomever wins, giving him a mandate and setting the course of the nation for the coming years. The PRESS & DAKOTAN encourages its readers to write letters to the edi- tor, and it asks that a few simple guidelines be followed. n Please limit letters to 300 words or less. Letters should deal with a single subject, be of general interest and state a specific point of view. Letters are ed- ited with brevity, clarity and newspaper style in mind. n In the sense of fairness and professionalism, the PRESS & DAKOTAN will accept no letters attacking private individuals or businesses. n Specific individuals or entities addressed in letters may be given the op- portunity to read the letter prior to publication and be allowed to answer the let- ter in the same issue. n Only signed letters with writer’s full name, address and daytime phone number for verification will be accepted. 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Monday, 11.5.12ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net
VIEWS PAGE: [email protected] PRESS DAKOTANviews
By The Associated PressToday is Monday, Nov. 5, the 310th day
of 2012. There are 56 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Nov.
5, 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson waselected president, defeating ProgressiveParty candidate Theodore Roosevelt, in-cumbent Republican William Howard Taftand Socialist Eugene V. Debs.
On this date: In 1605, the “GunpowderPlot” failed as Guy Fawkes was seized be-fore he could blow up the English Parlia-ment.
In 1781, the Continental Congresselected John Hanson of Maryland its chair-man, giving him the title of “President of theUnited States in Congress Assembled.”
In 1872, suffragist Susan B. Anthonydefied the law by attempting to cast a votefor President Ulysses S. Grant. (Anthonywas convicted by a judge and fined $100,but she never paid the fine.)
In 1911, aviator Calbraith P. Rodgersarrived in Pasadena, Calif., completing thefirst transcontinental airplane trip in 49days.
In 1940, President Franklin D. Roo-sevelt won an unprecedented third term inoffice as he defeated Republican chal-lenger Wendell L. Willkie.
In 1942, American showman GeorgeM. Cohan died in New York at age 64.
In 1968, Richard M. Nixon won thepresidency, defeating Vice President Hu-bert H. Humphrey and American Inde-pendent candidate George C. Wallace.
In 1974, Ella T. Grasso was electedgovernor of Connecticut, becoming the firstwoman to win a gubernatorial office with-out succeeding her husband.
In 1987, Supreme Court nominee Dou-glas H. Ginsburg admitted using marijuanaseveral times in the 1960s and 70s, callingit a mistake. (Ginsburg ended up withdraw-ing his nomination.)
In 1990, Rabbi Meir Kahane, theBrooklyn-born Israeli extremist, was shotto death at a New York hotel. (Egyptian na-tive El Sayyed Nosair was convicted of theslaying in federal court.)
In 1992, Malice Green, a black mo-torist, died after he was struck in the head14 times with a flashlight by a Detroit policeofficer, Larry Nevers, outside a suspectedcrack house. (Nevers and his partner, Wal-ter Budzyn, were found guilty of second-degree murder, but the convictions wereoverturned; they were later convicted of in-voluntary manslaughter.)
In 2009, a shooting rampage at theFort Hood Army post in Texas left 13 peo-
ple dead; Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psy-chiatrist, was charged with premeditatedmurder and attempted murder.
Ten years ago: In midterm elections,Republicans won control of the Senate andstrengthened their hold on the House whileclaiming a majority of the governors’ races.Securities and Exchange CommissionChairman Harvey Pitt resigned under pres-sure after a series of political missteps thathad embarrassed the White House. RandyJohnson won his record-tying fourthstraight National League Cy Young Award.
Five years ago: Hollywood writerswent on strike, forcing late-night talk showsto immediately start airing reruns. Police inmajor Pakistani cities fired tear gas andclubbed lawyers protesting President Gen.Pervez Musharraf’s emergency rule. Talkshow host Oprah Winfrey promised to“clean house” after a dorm matron was ac-cused of abusing students at Winfrey’sschool for disadvantaged South Africangirls. Joe Torre was introduced as the newmanager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, lessthan three weeks after walking away fromthe New York Yankees.
One year ago: Former Penn State de-fensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, ac-cused of molesting eight boys, wasarrested and released on $100,000 bailafter being arraigned on 40 criminalcounts. (Sandusky was later convicted andsentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison forsexual abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year pe-riod.)
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Chris Robin-son is 74. Actress Elke Sommer is 72.Singer Art Garfunkel is 71. Actor-playwrightSam Shepard is 69. Singer Peter Noone is65. Actor Nestor Serrano (”24”) is 57. Ac-tress-comedian Mo Gaffney is 54. ActorRobert Patrick is 54. Singer Bryan Adamsis 53. Actress Tilda Swinton is 52. ActorMichael Gaston is 50. Actress TatumO’Neal is 49. Actress Andrea McArdle is49. Rock singer Angelo Moore (Fishbone)is 47. Actress Judy Reyes is 45. Rock mu-sician Mark Hunter (James) is 44. ActorSam Rockwell is 44. Country singersHeather and Jennifer Kinley (The Kinleys)are 42. Actor Corin Nemec is 41. Rock mu-sician Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is41. Country singer-musician Ryan Adamsis 38. Actor Sam Page is 36. Actor JeremyLelliott is 30. Rock musician Kevin Jonas(The Jonas Brothers) is 25.
Thought for Today: “Examine what issaid, not him who speaks.” — Arabproverb.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life. Psalm 138.7.Portals of Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
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BY BILL O’REILLY Creators Syndicate
Here’s the big lesson from mega-storm Sandy:Mother Nature sneers at high tech, mocksmodern convenience and couldn’t care lessabout what kind of person you are. She willsmack you if she wants to.
As we have become addicted to ma-chines, many of us have forgotten aboutnature. We must have gizmos. Sandylaughed and took them away. Power, gone.Internet, dark. Cellphones, not happening.Even your landline phone, not available,because “all circuits are busy.”
Suddenly, it’s 1850 with one exception:battery-operated flashlights and radios.
So what is the lesson here? Actually, there are a few. First: No government agency can help
you when disaster strikes. Any assistancewill be after the fact and painstakinglyslow.
Second: In order to ride out any storm effectively,you should be self-reliant and resilient. That meansyou have to anticipate problems and have some solu-tions at the ready.
For example, where I live on Long Island, thepower infrastructure is a disaster and has been foryears. The power company, LIPA, simply cannot keepthe juice flowing under duress. I have accepted that,and so I bought a generator. However, during Sandy,the generator did not work. You can imagine howmany four-letter words were uttered. But I had a PlanB. I know some guys who can repair generators, andthey fixed mine very quickly. I have a long-term rela-tionship with these guys and will reward them.
So, I rode out the storm pretty well, and that’s
good because there are children in my home. Not once did I think the local, state or federal gov-
ernment was going to help me in any way. When Presi-dent Obama speaks about government being there for
you, I roll my eyes. In the history ofmankind, no government has ever beenthere for the individual. Ever.
Sadly, we are becoming a nation depend-ent on other people and very reliant on ma-chines. Sandy’s destruction brought us backto the 19th century, as the collapse of themachines was something to see. Many peo-ple were lost without their appliances be-cause they are not self-reliant. They do notthink ahead. They do not figure out Plan Bbecause they don’t even have a Plan A.
Life is hard, and then you die. But whileyou’re alive, you’ll be far better off if youforget about the big-government nonsense,deemphasize the machines and begin incor-porating the discipline of self-reliance intoyour life.
Sorry for the lecture, but my father always saidthat out of bad things can come some good. Ameri-cans need to wise up, and with the election just a fewdays away, we have an opportunity to do so.
We the people need leadership that will solveproblems, be fiscally responsible and promote indi-vidual responsibility. The charlatans that promise big-government protection will always be around, butthey are no match for Sandy and her furious friends.
That is the lesson of this terrible storm.
Veteran TV news anchor Bill O’Reilly is host of theFox News show “The O’Reilly Factor” and author ofthe book “Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand inthe Age of Obama.”
Lessons From A Storm
Bill
O’REILLY
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.Tribune Media Services
Well, I sure got that one wrong. Four years ago, on the eve of the last presidential
election, I wrote in this space of how the country hasspent much of the last three decades “re-litigating”the 1960s, arguing over the changes wrought in thatdecade. As far as social justice is con-cerned, of course, the 1960s stand secondonly to the 1860s as the most profoundlytransformative decade in American history.It was in those years that black folks cameoff the back of the bus, women came out ofthe kitchen, Hispanics came off the marginsand gay people first peeked beyond thecloset.
Conservatives have been trying to re-peal the decade ever since, a crusade thatseemed to reach its greatest clarity andlowest depth in the rush to define a certainjug-eared senator from Illinois who was, in2008, running for president. He stood to be-come the first black man to hold that job.This was not an incidental thing.
For his supporters, it helped make him the embod-iment of “hope” and “change,” the renewal of inchoateliberal promises that died with Robert F. Kennedy. Forhis detractors, it was the realization of every para-noia-drenched, racially-tinged threat to the whitepicket fences and Mom’s apple pie of status quo.
“You know what I hope Barack Obama is?” I wrotein 2008. “I hope he is reconciliation — the end of the1960s at long last. And the beginning of somethingnew.”
He wasn’t. That’s what I got wrong. There are, after all, many words you could use to
describe the period from 2008 to now. “Reconcilia-tion” is not one of them. To the contrary, the nationhas endured a four-year temper tantrum of shrillnessand ferocity nearly unparalleled in history. You haveto go back to the 1960s, or maybe even the 1850s, tofind a time when America was this angry with itself.
Far from putting the ‘60s to rest, we have seen afresh assault on what had previously been consideredthe settled gains of that era. I mean, who could have
predicted this election season would see debates onwomen’s reproductive health? Or, that we’d have todefend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the VotingRights Act of 1965? Or that the state of Arizona wouldban ethnic studies classes? Or that there would be anew attack on the right of public workers to unionize?And that’s not to mention the new onslaught of codedracial slurs. They still say Obama wasn’t born in the
U.S.A. Just the other day, Mitt Romney sur-rogate John Sununu, honest to God, calledhim “lazy.”
Lord, have mercy. It’s like they can’t helpthemselves.
“Restore Our Future” goes the name of aconservative super PAC. It seems increas-ingly obvious, though, that the idea here isto restore our past. Except, it’s less a realpast than a collective yearning for the per-ceived simplicity and normalcy of yester-day. And it is not “ours” in any sense,belonging instead to the collective memoryof those who had the color, gender, ethnic-ity or sexual orientation that signified right-ness back in that mythic long ago.
In a word, it is not real — and never was. Yet, the power it holds over conservative minds is
proved in the decibel level of the temper tantrum, thedesperate fury of the resistance. We have seen rocksflying through windows and weapons taken to presi-dential speeches. We have seen the president calledthe antichrist and accused of favoring white slavery.We have seen brazen schemes of voter suppressionthat must have Fannie Lou Hamer spinning in hergrave.
Now, finally, we see Election Day. You will find nowords about reconciliation here this time around, nosuggestion the ‘60s might finally be at an end. Just alament for the naive optimism that made such a sug-gestion possible — and for a nation where, thesedays, optimism is often devoured by rage.
It turns out the mythic past dies harder than any-one ever knew.
Leonard Pitts is a columnist for the Miami Herald,1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may con-tact him via e-mail at [email protected].
© 2012, THE MIAMI HERALD
A Sad Longing For Yesteryear
Leonard
PITTS
Thanks To VolunteersPaul Struck, YanktonPrincipal, Lincoln School
Lincoln School students are fortunate to have anew, large piece of equipment added to their play-ground. The students are excited about all the fun ac-tivities that are part of the new Playworld Systemsstructure.
On behalf of the Lincoln student body and staff, Iwould like to thank the following volunteers for their
work in the installation of this new multi-purposestructure: Kevin Bender, Rod and Shelley McNatt, Boband Katie Steinbrecher, Ron Galvan, Nathan Loecker,Dave Abbott, Ryan Kaiser, Tom and Nancy Langdon,Lyle Hoesing, Chuck, Shelley, and Ben Stoddard,Michael Donner, Randy Hlavac, Kyle Rohde, Tammiand Halie Adam, Cindy Lange, and Mike Van Winkle. Iwould also like to thank Clark’s Rental for allowingvolunteers to use their equipment over two weekendsand Concrete Materials for donating the cement to en-sure the structure is safe and stable.
MCCOOK DAILY GAZETTE (Oct. 26): Freeman Clark was on hisdeathbed.
We don’t know for sure what his ailment was, but the year was 1844,and it could have been any number of things.
Perhaps even Freeman wasn’t sure just how sick he was, but he knewone thing for sure, he had to get to the county seat of Switzerland County,Indiana, to vote for his friend, David Kelso, for state senator.
You see, Freeman Clark owed his life to Kelso, who had defended him ina murder trial years before, winning an acquittal.
So Freeman begged his sons to carry him to the county seat so hecould cast his vote. His insistence finally cost him his life, as he died onhis way back home, but Kelso won the election — by one vote.
When Kelso got to the Indiana statehouse, he found himself in the Dem-ocratic majority of one, controlling the Indiana senate.
He couldn’t agree with his party, however, which was planning to nomi-nate for U.S. Senate — it was state senators’ job in those days — a manwho promised to vote against the annexation of Texas if elected to the U.S.Senate.
Kelso refused to vote for the party’s choice, however, and threatenedto vote with the Whigs if the Democratic Party didn’t vote for the alterna-tive candidate he proposed, Edward A. Hannigan.
The Democrats caved in, electing Hannigan by one vote — Kelso’s.The next year, Texas was admitted to the union as a state by one vote
— that of Edward A. Hannigan of Indiana.Thus, Texas owed its statehood to one ailing Indiana man.Of course, those are only a few examples of instances where one vote
changed the course of history.A few notable others:— On Nov. 8, 1923, members of a newly formed political party elected,
by one vote, an ex-soldier named Adolf Hitler to become the Nazi Partyleader.
— In 1941, the Selective Service Act (draft) was saved by a one-votemargin, just weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
— In 1948, if Thomas E. Dewey had gotten one vote more in each Ohioand California precinct, the election would have been thrown into the U.S.House of Representatives, where Dewey had more support than his oppo-nent, incumbent Harry Truman. As Dewey was expected to win by a land-slide, many Republicans stayed home and Truman was sent back to theWhite House with 51.5 percent of the electorate vote.
— In 1960, if just one vote per precinct in Illinois, Missouri, New Jerseyand Texas would have changed, Richard Nixon would have been electedpresident instead of John F. Kennedy.
In more recent terms, most of us remember that the Affordable CareAct — more commonly called Obamacare, even by the president himself— passed in the U.S. Senate by one vote, attributed to Sen. Ben Nelson ofMcCook.
With most national polls showing President Obama and Mitt Romney ina dead heat, now is not the time for voters to sit out the election. Let’shope the election turns out to be a decisive decision for whomever wins,giving him a mandate and setting the course of the nation for the comingyears.
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n Please limit letters to 300 words or less. Letters should deal with a singlesubject, be of general interest and state a specific point of view. Letters are ed-ited with brevity, clarity and newspaper style in mind.
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