Harold Ford and Tennessee Good Ole’ Boys

It was exciting to see the Democrats win back Congress Tuesday night. I’m happy that we’ve got a good chance at getting a minimum wage increase, stem cell research assistance, and implementation of the 9/11 commissions recommendations. Democrats did well in states where they usually stand little chance, and they won back some voters that haven’t helped put Democrats in office since Regan.

Maybe the only real disappointment of the night came in the defeat of Harold Ford Jr. by Bob Corker in Tennessee. A three term congressman Ford is a member of the ‘Blue Dog Coalition’, a group of social and financially conservative Democrats. He’s a good politician, and his politics are perfect for Tennessee. The only problem is he’s black.

Ford was ahead in the race, when an attack ad featuring a blonde white woman who said they met at “the Playboy party.” At the end of the ad the woman holds her hand up like a phone, winks, and says “Harold, call me.” In the great state of Tennessee the idea of a black man meeting white women at a party must still touch a nerve, because his opponent’s poll numbers surged.

Ford would have been the first black senator ever from the south. It’s outrageous that the Republicans ran this ad, but it’s also outrageous that the voters responded to it. It’s really strange to think that Tennessee is in the same country we are. I can’t help but think that the Civil War was the greatest missed opportunity in our nation’s history. The embarrassing states all said they wanted to go, and millions of men died to stop them. What would we have missed out on? Evangelicalists? George Bush? Larry the Cable Guy? I say we finally take them up on their offer of secession.

Yes I’m happy that the Democrats have got the congress, but it worries me that they did it with a third of the evangelical vote. We need more than a right and a far right wing in our legislature. A lot of these politicians were not elected because of their progressive stances, but because they didn’t have an R after their names, and the leadership will have a hard time getting these representatives to vote with them.

That is how democracy is supposed to work. It’s not a fault of the system, but of the country we live in. It’s too big. The concerns of the people of New York are not the same as the people from Louisiana. What would the harm be of breaking the one country up into smaller entities (besides the people having more of a say)? The Northeast and California could remain the United States, and everything else will become a new country called “Jesusland”. They can legalize slavery, ban abortions, force the teaching of the bible in school, or whatever other crazy thing they come up with, and we’ll fund the sciences, the arts, and implement universal healthcare. Everyone gets what they want.