Get Real

Random thoughts on some of the extraneous nonsense going on in the South Dakota Legislature –

Disclaimers – I am a Partisan and I seek partisan advantage when I deem it appropriate, however partisanship has its place. I believe in the value of conferences and have attended many over the years (and some were political junkets including several resorts and the Republic of China.) The value of conferences I learned over the years, whether political, professional, or volunteer were almost never the subject matter of the meeting but what I learned from my interaction with colleagues and peers. Sharing common experiences with others who had similar duties and challenges was always more beneficial than the conference subject matter.

In the past several months there has been considerable noise about creation of partisan staffs in the Legislature and having the State pay for memberships in non-government Legislative Associations, specifically American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) a Conservative group.

I like conservative groups and think they can impact the process. I just don’t think it is very conservative that the government augments their efforts with public money.

I favor the conservative group Freedom Works that provides public policy solutions to elected officials. For the record - Conservatives Jack Kemp and Bill Bennett organized Freedom Works with strong support from David Koch. I also favor the private work of the American Conservative Union that was founded by William F Buckley, and is currently chaired by a friend and former colleague, Al Cardenas. While I like these groups, they are not deserving of public support.

Paying for partisan legislative staff is a horrible idea. The purpose of the Parties in the Legislature (because we have a two party system) is to organize the government; elect Officers, organize Committees and appoint Committee Chairmanships – that’s it. Since the best I can determine it was a Republican idea to create the partisan staffs, why would the far stronger South Dakota GOP want to extend an organizational benefit to the weaker Democrats by offering them paid staff? If it is a good idea then the stronger and better financed GOP should hire staff from Party funds not Government funds. No reason to help the opposition.

The only contrary yet positive idea heard in this debate was from Rep. Rev. Steve Hickey. Representative Hickey opined there is a need for more legal help from the Legislative Research Council to help Legislators in drafting legislation. Certainly if the need exists it could be provided by additional non-partisan LRC staff like is currently provided.

Concerning Legislative Travel and non governmental memberships –

In the recent past, all out of State legislative travel was furloughed because of shortfalls in State revenues. Obviously the Republic didn’t fall, thus questioning the necessity of such non-essential travel. Senator Shantel Krebs I understand proposed renewing the ban on travel and was defeated by a wide margin.

Now the GOP majority has extended travel and paying memberships to Legislative Associations. In the case of ALEC, they may have handed the Democrats a political issue. More importantly while they find they may have pulled a fast one on the South Dakota taxpayer (over a $50 annual membership) I question why would those that believe and espouse smaller government want to have the State pay for their non government partisan activity?

ALEC may provide important conservative ideas, some of which I support but the State of South Dakota should not pay.

The State Legislature also participates in the National Conference of State Legislatures. While the NCSL is billed as non-partisan, de facto that is not the case. NCSL studies issues and in most cases proposes government-based solutions. Consequently many Conservatives feel that ALEC that looks more toward non-governmental solutions provides a balance.

Thus it seems reasonable to me, if Legislators are going to participate and if the State is going to pay that each Legislator be given a small allowance (maybe $500 or $750) annually and be allowed to use it to attend whichever conferences they choose. The balance of the cost could be borne from their personal funds or their campaign accounts (that in detail provide the source of the income and expense detail.) As always such an idea provides the proverbial slippery slope – that today's $500 annual allowance is next year’s $2500 one.

As noted collaboration can be a good idea but why not let the non- government funded parties pay?  Can’t more technology be employed – Webinars, websites, facetime and the like. Private enterprise accomplishes quite a bit these days without travel. With a little creativity and sticking to our conservative free enterprise principles our Legislature might do the same. 

Hometown Heroes

Golf today is the connection between my Fort Worth hometown pride and my adopted home of almost 40 years, South Dakota.

Argus Leader sportswriter, Mick Garry pens a very nice feature story in the Sunday Leader about hometown Girl made good, LPGA star and Sioux Falls native Kris Tschetter. The story ran in conjunction of Tschetter being inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.

Fort Worth and Sioux Falls have much in common. Both are Cowtowns, have a meandering river thru town, and have abundant beautiful parks. Garry although only describing Tschetter, catches the character traits the citizens of Fort Worth and Sioux Falls most have in common: “hard work, resiliency, friendliness.”

Kris Tschetter is a (TCU) Horned Frog. She attended Texas Christian University to play golf. She later went on to her distinguished LPGA career. For a time she too was a resident of Fort Worth. While in college she established a relationship with golfing great and legend Ben Hogan. 

She wrote a wonderful book about her relationship with as she refers to him “Mr. Hogan.” Tschetter’s book, “Mr. Hogan, The Man I Knew” is worth the read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. So much in fact after reading today’s Argus may give it a second read.

My brush with fame – I too spent time with Hogan, only was far too young to appreciate his greatness or even his close proximity. Clearly because of golf, Mr. Hogan related to Miss Tschetter. Not so much with a five year old. In 1949 Hogan was the victim of a horrific automobile accident with a Greyhound Bus. He double fractured his pelvis and broke his collarbone. For a time it was doubted that he would walk much less play golf again. In 1950 he won the U S Open.

In 1950 I was diagnosed with paralytic polio, fortunately a mild case. The U S Open winner and I shared an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Louis Levy, of the Fort Worth Bone and Joint clinic. On several occasion throughout those years “Mr. Hogan” and I took physical therapy at the same time at the clinic. Though too young to appreciate it, the golfing legend was in the next cow tank over, getting a warm whirlpool before being stretched out and put through our rehab by the therapist.

Endbar – Hogan who lived in Dublin, Texas until age 9 when he moved to Fort Worth. Local trivia says Hogan was the second most famous person from Dublin; the first being Dr. Pepper, that was invented and first bottled in Dublin. 

The Texan Who Conquered Russia

Van Cliburn, a Long Tall Texan, left us this week.

I was full of Texas pride as I reflected and read about Fort Worth's most famous citizen since Ben Hogan.

Foreign Policy is occasionally affected thru cultural exchanges. Oftentimes it is felt that understanding another nation’s culture helps to improve relations. Senator George McGovern sent the South Dakota State Basketball team to Cuba, President Nixon sent the U S Ping Pong champions to Red China, and Dennis Rodman was in North Korea basketballing with Baby Kim this week.

Sidebar - Speaking of This Week, Rodman was on the Sunday ABC news show with George Stephanopoulos (whom I respect). George asked a few probing if not tough questions to which Dennis made a fool of himself. It must have been a slow news week to give Dennis 8 minutes. I suppose Bob Woodward and Sequestration weren’t worthy of more time. And of course elevating experts like Rodman.  Rodman and Kim are a joke. Is Dennis Rodman the image of America we want to project?

Van Cliburn in contrast was a Cold Warrior that won the Russian people’s affection thru his talent and warm-hearted spirit. Time Magazine called Cliburn the Texan who conquered Russia.

Watch the video below of Cliburn and Gorbachav at the Reagan White House to understand the depths of  Cliburn's talent musically and diplomatically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juk7DHbVDOM

Van Cliburn rest in peace.

End bar – Cliburn’s association with another Long Tall Texan. 

Epic Lincoln

On an outing this past weekend, Susan and I viewed the latest edition of Steven Spielberg writes history – “Lincoln”

“Lincoln” is compelling! Size matters – this film demands to be seen on the Big Screen. Get to the movie theatre and view. Don’t wait for downloads, cable or the DVD.

The flick is long, over two hours. It has beautiful cinematography but it is essentially a film of dialogue. There are some iconic shots, Lincoln telling stories, reading to his son, walking down the hall of the White House, but this movie is a talker. There are many many conversations that fully develop the characters; Obviously Lincoln but many others, Mary Todd Lincoln, Robert Lincoln, William Seward, Thaddeus Stevens, U S Grant, Preston Blair, Edward Stanton, and others.

Lincoln’s best attribute and what I found most enjoyable was his use of story telling and parable using it for political persuasion and advantage. The movie is spot on in this regard.

The movie credits the book being based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin’s history, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln”. The movie credits also note that Civil War historian James McPherson was a consultant.

I recently read “Team of Rivals” and enjoyed it thoroughly. I like Ms. Goodwin. Her book had original research and presenting Lincoln in a somewhat different way. Her book focused briefly on Lincoln’s history but was about his nomination, election, and Presidency (focusing primarily on Lincoln’s conduct of the War.) The movie caught Lincoln’s traits as described by Goodwin but the book was much broader in scope than the film’s focus on the 13^th Amendment. Goodwin’s book is focused on Lincoln’s political skills and interpersonal skills in dealing with his cabinet, some of whose members had opposed him for the Republican nomination.

Politically an interesting aspect of both the book and the movie was the fact that a President actually consulted with his cabinet. He just didn’t use them for propaganda and photo opportunities.

James McPherson like Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Goodwin won for “No Ordinary Time”, about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Goodwin’s best book was “Wait Till Next Year”, her memoir of growing up a Brooklyn Dodger fan, the Dodgers move to Los Angeles, and the suburbanization of America in the last half of the 20^th Century. 

McPherson won for “Battle Cry of Freedom.” If you are going to read only one book about the American Civil War, this is the one. McPherson is readable and lays it out culturally, socially, economically, militarily, and thus historically. I am not sure what McPherson added to the movie, other than perhaps as a “fact checker.”

Sidebar – “Fact Checker” is a new word that seems to have been added to common usage if not our vocabulary in the 2012 Presidential Election. I guess this has been necessary as veracity lately has been hard to come by. Sometime, I may post on this modern day need for someone to make sure our politicians are truthful. In the good old days when a politician was not honest he lost his credibility and often that was a career ender… anyway back to Honest Abe.

Essentially “Lincoln” is the story of the Congressional (House of Representatives) passage of the 13^th Amendment (the outlawing and abolition of slavery) to the U S Constitution

The time frame is the last months of 1864 and January of 1865. To those interested in politics, the passage of the enabling legislation is not only interesting but compelling and instructive. The film depicts, political opponents who actually talk to each other. There is fiery debate, much lobbying, and even some horse-trading for jobs among some defeated Democrat house members. The amendment was passed during a lame duck session after the November 1864 General Election.

The cast – Lincoln is portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis. Lewis was born to play this role. You do not see Lewis in this film. You see Abraham Lincoln. I cannot explain it but it is True. This if for no other reason is why you must see this film. If you want to see Abraham Lincoln go see the movie. Perioid!

If it were not for the fact that Lincoln is in the movie playing himself, Tommy Lee Jones (that would be Assistant US Marshall Samuel Gerard and Al Gore’s Harvard roommate) steals the show. Jones plays Thaddeus Stevens. Sally Fields as Mary Todd will be looking for another Oscar (reportedly Field gained 25 pounds to play a proper Mary Todd). Unbelievably (but very believable) the 87year old Mark Twain er Hal Holbrook shows up with a stellar performance as Preston Blair. All the acting is tremendous.

Lincoln will walk away with Best Motion Picture and probably as many as nine of the little gold guys. John Williams for score, Spielberg again, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, costumes, screenwriting – the whole package.

If you are even remotely interested in History – SEE IT!