JAN 25

Now that the college football season has finally ended and most hunting seasons are closed or closing, the attention of the average southerner is turning to our real national pastime, politics. On the national scene the combination of Donald Trump and Sarah Palin is proving to be the best thing that ever happened to late night talk shows. The dynamic duo provides an avalanche of material.

While The Donald dominates the Republican campaign, he is creating an unexpected side effect. He’s drowning out the entire Democratic effort and putting the Bill and Hilary show deep into the back pages. The prospect of Trump as President doesn’t seem likely, but he might de-rail the whole Hilary juggernaut

At this point no one has actually faced the voters. One would expect Trump to do well in those states that have the caucus system. Trump’s Tea Party faithful can overwhelm a local caucus. When there is a primary election and Trump is exposed to real voters, he may not do so well. We’ll just have to watch the movie and see.

On the subject of politics, my post last week titled America Through the Looking Glass prompted a reasonably strong response. I’d like to share Joe Denton’s remarks which I found insightful.

I just thought he was a Conservative

In 1974 I became involved in the candidacy of Gil Carmichael, an auto dealer from

Meridian and a Republican, for governor of Mississippi. His Democratic opponent

was Cliff Finch, a lawyer from Batesville. Cliff Finch became governor in 1975.

In the course of learning the ropes of political campaigns, I had the opportunity to

meet the leaders of the Mississippi Republican Party. Chief among these was

Robert(Bob) Hederman. The Hederman family owned The Clarion Ledger

newspaper in Jackson. The impression I was left with was that Mr. Hederman was

the archetype Republican. Very firm in his very conservative beliefs.

In 1984, at 44 years of age, I moved to Boise, Idaho. My wife and I went into the

printing business. Some of our early clients were Republican candidates for office. I

understood the strength of the Republican party in Idaho and extended credit to the

candidates. Extending credit to political candidates was unheard of in the area. Our

offering credit resulted in gaining business from local, state and Congressional

candidates.

After several years of experience with the Republicans of Idaho, I came to realize

that I was witnessing a completely higher level of conservatism. I came to think that had

Mr. Hederman lived in Idaho, he likely would have been considered a Democrat!

Joe

I’m sure Joe is right about the Montana conservatives, even those who live in the towns, let alone those who are holed up in armed bunkers up in the mountains. A true Montana conservative makes an Alabama Tea Party member look like a Brownie Scout.

My 2016 Subscription Campaign, (Beg-A-Thon) has entered its fourth week, and so far it has resulted in 70 new subscribers. The response from my loyal readers has been gratifying, and almost a dozen have sent out emails to their friends suggesting that they check us out.

My friend Jim Sikes has been my biggest cheerleader. Jim writes a weekly food column in our daily newspaper, and this week he included As I Like It!  Until recently Jim owned one of our area’s top restaurants, which I reviewed in 2010. Click here to read. I have re-printed the portion of Jim’s column that refers to As I Like It! here:

My friend Tom Lawrence is an excellent writer and has several books to his credit. He also pens a blog that deserves your attention. He calls it “As I Like It.” He tells me that this way he can talk about whatever he wants.

Tom travels and knows more than a few things about food. He also has a penchant for College football. Stories about his Mississippi childhood evoke memories of true southern life that make for good reading.

The good news is that you won’t get 3 emails every day nor will your name be distributed or sold somewhere. Tom writes for fun and loves to share with others. In real life Tom is the principal at Capital Consultants in Opelika. You can check out his blog by clicking on www.tomlawrenceblog.com to see for yourself.

If you’d like to receive Tom’s post by email, look to the right hand side of the home page to “Subscribe now.” Enter your e-mail address and click on “Subscribe.” You will receive an email asking you to “confirm,” and simply choose the “follow” option.

There is biographical information about Tom, as well as a list of the four books he’s written. I hope you’ll give his blog a try. I sure enjoy it.

In addition to the above column, Jim sent out an announcement to his entire email list and posted on his face book page. I appreciate Jim’s efforts and will never be able to repay him. If you would be interested in helping out with the subscription drive Click Here and go to the contest rules.