[Written in late June, 2020,
during the world-wide "Covid-19" pandemic, at a time when
infections in the US were reported to be rising for the
second time. It may be read as humor.]
I have recently been reminded of a
story I probably heard in Tennessee in 1963. In those days the
Democratic Party always carried the votes of the "Solid South", a
strange deal with the "Southern Democratic Party" - the South
voted Democratic, the Democrats saw that the Federal Government
never interfered with segregation and the maltreatment of Blacks
in southern states. This system was beginning to break down when
the Northern Democrat John F. Kennedy and the Southern Democrat
Lyndon B.Johnson began to support voting rights for Blacks.
The story was of a very elderly man, who
was on his deathbed, surrounded by family. He could barely speak.
He had spent his life as what was called a "Yellow Dog" Democrat -
someone who would reliably vote even for a yellow hound dog, if it
was the Democratic nominee. Asked by one of his children if there
was anything the family could do, he croaked out "send for the
Registrar of Voters."
"The Registrar of Voters,
Father? Don't you want the Preacher? "
"I want the Registrar of Voters."
Bewildered,
the family made a few phone calls and shortly the Registrar of
Voters arrived. He sat down by the old man.
"What do you want?"
"Write me down as a Republican."
The children were
shocked. One of the grandchildren spoke up.
"But, Grand-dad, you've always been a
Democrat. Why would you want to be a Republican?"
The old man
was clearly struggling. But with a great effort, he managed one
last sentence:
"Better one of them should die than
one of us."
Another story I recall is from Kentucky
in the early 1970's when the sheriff in a small county was facing
opposition for re-election for the first time in many years. The
sheriff in small Kentucky counties, in those days, also was the
jailer. The sheriff had in his jail a local thief, who escaped
from the county jail a few weeks before the election. In a
few days the sheriff caught the escapee and put him back in jail.
The following week he escaped again. A few days later the sheriff
caught him again. Days later, less than a week before the
election, the prisoner escaped from the jail for a third time.
Questioned by the press, the Sheriff said "He's only doing this to
make me look bad. I can prove he is a supporter of my opponent in
the election, and he is doing this deliberately, just to try to
influence the election."
I'm reminded of these stories
because of some other more recent tall tales, about the differing
effect of the current epidemic on different groups of the
population.
I've been advised to become a
Republican, like the old man, because, according to some sources,
the epidemic is over. Republicans are no longer at risk from it;
they are able to attend rallies, conventions, meetings, bars, and
beaches without significant risk. Changing political registration,
as the old man did, may be the healthy thing to do.
I have also read that the
rising infection rates in the current epidemic are attributable
entirely to thugs, and criminals, and Democrats influenced by
"Antifa", who are deliberately conspiring to get infected and die
for the deliberate purpose of making people disbelieve the reports
of responsible government officials who have said that the danger
from the epidemic is over.
I stress that I don't believe many
of these tall tales. However, I was living in Lexington, Kentucky,
in the early 1970's and read the story of that rural Kentucky
sheriff in the Lexington Herald Leader newspaper as it was
happening. Some politicians seeking reelection, such as that
Kentucky sheriff, make statements that sound like tall tales.
Edward Ordman