We need more revolutionary politicians.
Representative Alan Grayson made a whole bunch of waves last month--good ones--by finally telling it like it is about the Republicans position on health care reform. Don't get sick, and if you do, die quickly.
Blunt. Honest. Refreshing.
The response was predictable. Indignation and outrage from those whose shameful, anti-American positions had been exposed for all to see. Calls for apologies. Playground-level antics which, while prettied up in the poison-honey vernacular of the United States Congress, amount to little more than "you take that back!"
Bless his heart, Grayson wasn't about to take it back. He kept on going. And he has been going ever since. He didn't offer an apology to the Republicans. He offered an apology to American citizens who are sick and dying because they can't get health care. He took the list of representatives who voted against it, and read their names into the public record along with projections of how many people in their districts were going to die because they couldn't get care.
Blunt. Honest. Long overdue.
This is certainly the first time I can remember seeing any politician, in D.C. or here at home, exhibit that level of candor and bravery. For all I know, it may well be the first time it has happened in my lifetime. I'm glad the Honorable Alan Grayson is in the house. I just wish he were my representative.
Which brings me to a phone call I got the other night. It was from Suzan DelBene, who has thrown her hat into the ring for the 2010 election for Washington's eighth congressional district. Suzan has been doing many of the right things in her race, such as showing up at pretty much every local event she can find in order to become known in the district.
I encouraged her to take a page out of Grayson's book and, when it comes to her opponent, tell it like it is. Because the truth about Dave Reichert is that the substance of the man bears virtually no resemblance to his public image. There's so little about how he appears that is true, that he is himself nearly fictional.
People don't know this. But they should. And as the frontrunner for the Democratic slot on the ballot, it's Ms. DelBene's job to point that out.
In the most blunt, honest, refreshing, and long overdue terms as possible.
Unfortunately, her response to that suggestion on the phone was less than enthusiastic. I hate to say this, I really do, but she sounded afraid of telling it like it is. That isn't what I want in a representative. If I wanted distortion and lies of omission, well, I've already got Dave Reichert for that.
I've been thinking a lot about this quote lately, ever since Alan Grayson showed that the truth is a powerful weapon against those who would sell their constituents down the river at the behest of their corporate masters.
Orwell was right. We need more truth. We need more revolutionary politicians with the guts to tell it. Grayson is making a start in the house. Al Franken is pushing the envelope of brazen truth in the Senate.
But they can't do it alone. Suzan DelBene, you're the one running for office. You're the one who wants to join the ranks of those brave, revolutionary men. You're the one who wants Dave Reichert's job, so I call upon you to step up and do what he won't: speak the truth we so desperately need.
Blunt. Honest. Refreshing.
The response was predictable. Indignation and outrage from those whose shameful, anti-American positions had been exposed for all to see. Calls for apologies. Playground-level antics which, while prettied up in the poison-honey vernacular of the United States Congress, amount to little more than "you take that back!"
Bless his heart, Grayson wasn't about to take it back. He kept on going. And he has been going ever since. He didn't offer an apology to the Republicans. He offered an apology to American citizens who are sick and dying because they can't get health care. He took the list of representatives who voted against it, and read their names into the public record along with projections of how many people in their districts were going to die because they couldn't get care.
Blunt. Honest. Long overdue.
This is certainly the first time I can remember seeing any politician, in D.C. or here at home, exhibit that level of candor and bravery. For all I know, it may well be the first time it has happened in my lifetime. I'm glad the Honorable Alan Grayson is in the house. I just wish he were my representative.
Which brings me to a phone call I got the other night. It was from Suzan DelBene, who has thrown her hat into the ring for the 2010 election for Washington's eighth congressional district. Suzan has been doing many of the right things in her race, such as showing up at pretty much every local event she can find in order to become known in the district.
I encouraged her to take a page out of Grayson's book and, when it comes to her opponent, tell it like it is. Because the truth about Dave Reichert is that the substance of the man bears virtually no resemblance to his public image. There's so little about how he appears that is true, that he is himself nearly fictional.
People don't know this. But they should. And as the frontrunner for the Democratic slot on the ballot, it's Ms. DelBene's job to point that out.
In the most blunt, honest, refreshing, and long overdue terms as possible.
Unfortunately, her response to that suggestion on the phone was less than enthusiastic. I hate to say this, I really do, but she sounded afraid of telling it like it is. That isn't what I want in a representative. If I wanted distortion and lies of omission, well, I've already got Dave Reichert for that.
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." --George Orwell
I've been thinking a lot about this quote lately, ever since Alan Grayson showed that the truth is a powerful weapon against those who would sell their constituents down the river at the behest of their corporate masters.
Orwell was right. We need more truth. We need more revolutionary politicians with the guts to tell it. Grayson is making a start in the house. Al Franken is pushing the envelope of brazen truth in the Senate.
But they can't do it alone. Suzan DelBene, you're the one running for office. You're the one who wants to join the ranks of those brave, revolutionary men. You're the one who wants Dave Reichert's job, so I call upon you to step up and do what he won't: speak the truth we so desperately need.
# Posted by Jason Black : 10:28 AM
Comments:
Thank you. I quite agree. Grayson made my heart sing for the first time in, well, forever. The usual babble arose, and continues, dismissing him as rude or impetuous or ill mannered or a nutcase.
It is another way to render him ineffectual, and I applaud any effort to negate that as well as your larger point about truth telling.
I'm afraid Ms. DelBene isn't going to be up to the task. They've already mentioned that she has not been a responsible voter, and unlike Darcy Burner, she has not made any efforts to show political leadership.
Here here!!
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