Newspaper Page Text
The Champion, Thursday, May 21 - 27, 2015
OPINION
Page 5A
R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Are we losing it?
May is getting an awfully
bad reputation.
While it’s the time of
year when many folks are
filled with pride and joy, it’s
also when bad manners are
being exercised and are on
public display.
At high school and col
lege graduations exuberant
parents, relatives and friends
scream, applaud and sound
noisemakers when their
graduates’ names are called
during ceremonies to mark
the occasion. Some purpose
ly arrive late to avoid the
speeches, and others leave
the event immediately after
their child’s recognition.
School officials often
urge audiences to remain
silent until all students are
recognized and to wait until
gale@dekalbchamp.com
Lifestyle Editor
the program concludes be
fore exiting, however, these
cautions usually fall on deaf
ears.
A colleague of mine
shared that at a recent con
vocation for Georgia State
University students, what
should have been an enjoy
able event devolved into a
barely tolerable one as fami
lies rose and left the room
after their child’s name was
called and people began cel
ebrating loudly in an adja
cent hallway while the cer
emony was still under way.
Such unbridled joy is
somewhat understandable—
some students are the first
in their families to graduate
and for others it’s been a
hard-fought achievement.
However it’s disrespectful
for one family’s moment of
joy to come at the expense
of everyone else. That loud
and prolonged applause and
those shout-outs often mean
that the next student’s fam
ily misses hearing his or her
name announced. Walking
out of a program before it’s
over shows a lack of respect
for the speakers, the other
graduates and their families
and the institution. It’s also
disruptive as people are
shuffling about as individu
als are getting up and leav
ing. And consider the mes
sage it’s sending to younger
family members.
Unfortunately, what hap
pens at graduations is just
one example of the broader
lack of respect that we have
for each other. Sometimes
it seems that we have all
become so self-centered
that we have little regard for
the implications of our own
actions on others. We’ve
become too focused on our
priorities, our convenience
and our interests.
Walking out of events be
fore they are over, convers
ing during formal programs,
scanning cell phones while
someone is speaking are just
a few examples of behavior
that’s increasingly becoming
commonplace.
We’re better than that.
We should remember that
we are a community—part
of a collective whole. If we
would think about how our
actions might negatively
others, we might make other
choices. Choosing to be
more considerate of others
and choosing to be more
patient and tolerant could
lead us to becoming a more
respectful society. Wouldn’t
that be nice?
= ONE MAN'S OPINION =
A bigger tent...or a longer revival?
“I think we let emotions
take over in ‘12 versus real
ly thinking about it. I think
that is the difference with
‘16. Now folks are really
looking for a candidate who
can win. ’’ Glenn McCall, a
Republican National Com
mittee member from South
Carolina, the first southern
GOP Presidential Primary
state in 2016.
The 2016 GOP presi
dential candidate field is
growing as if injected with
yeast. The Republican Party
has tradition, mathematics
and a tired incumbent in
President Barack Obama
giving them the perception
of an edge in 2016.
Prior to the GOP hold
ing the White House for two
terms by Ronald Reagan,
followed by one term of
President George H. W.
Bush; the last two times
either party maintained the
White House for more than
eight years were during
FDR’s long tenure and the
first elected term of LBJ,
following his completion of
JFK’s second term after his
assassination.
The pendulum that is
American politics tends to
swing right and then back
left or vice-versa and makes
a mid-course correction just
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
Columnist
shy of every 10 years.
Partisan infrastructure, fi
nances and voters lists con
tinue to play a significant
role, and in the state GOP
tent, a big and noisy battle is
under way.
Here in Georgia, that
will play out at the GOP
convention in Athens May
15-16. There may be as
many as a dozen credible
presidential candidates, with
six already officially having
entered the field, and yet
with nearly as many of the
biggest names and guns still
“officially” not quite off of
the sidelines. But there may
end up being enough GOP
contenders to field a pla
toon, the battle shaping up
is largely over the general
direction and focus of the
Grand Old Party.
The most recent poll of
potential GOP Iowa Caucus
voters finds former Florida
Governor Jeb Bush with the
highest name identification,
but the support of only 5
percent of potential caucus
goers. But before you begin
to write off probably the
brightest of Barbara Bush’s
talented progeny...remem
ber...in 2008, the GOP Iowa
Caucus was won by former
Arkansas Governor Mike
Huckabee, with Mitt Rom
ney a distant second. In
2012, Romney tied with
Pennsylvania Senator Rick
Santorum, a standard-bear
er for GOP conservatives.
In addition, the Iowa Caucus
winner is rarely a White
House predictor any more...
much less even a strong
GOP nominee indicator.
All that said, there are
largely two schools and
groups of candidates vying
for the right to run well to
the right of Hillary Clinton
in the fall of 2016.
One school envisions a
broader and larger GOP tent,
more friendly to minorities
and particularly stronger in
the fast-growing Hispanic
community, as well as more
open on key social issues
such as medicinal cannabis
oil and gay marriage, which
have long caused the GOP
establishment to be labeled
as “cranky old White men.”
Across the parking lot,
or in another wing of the
Des Moines, Iowa Conven
tion Center, a more vocal
GOP faction is more simply
focused on firing up and
turning out the base. Push
the tent stake pole higher,
but just keep the revival go
ing by throwing out more
red meat. Audit the Federal
Reserve, secure the borders,
deport illegals, protect the
family and pass laws pro
tecting Christians from faith
discrimination.
Without choosing sides,
I have seldom seen an ar
gument of separatism and
“staying small by choice”
win the day in the long haul.
Clinton already under
stands that, and is making a
direct appeal to do all that a
president legally can to con
vey “legal” status upon an
estimated 11-14 million un
documented foreign visitors
here. This will be one of the
dividing issues of this elec
tion cycle, but for the GOP
to have a cogent response,
they first have to reach a
consensus, something that
does not appear to be in the
cards anytime soon.
Head over to Athens for
the GOP convention if you
want to see some red fly
ing and there is no football
game or spring training
there for a bit.
The outcome of the
Georgia GOP chairman’s
race is now being fore
casted for the incumbent
chair, John Padgett of
Athens. The convention is
in his backyard and home
turf, and the Georgia GOP
experienced its most suc
cessful statewide election
in party history, in terms of
offices won, voter margin
of win and state and local
offices now held. However,
hear me well those of you
who like to place your bets
early. Never, never, never
underestimate the GOP’s
long-proven ability to deftly
snatch defeat from the open
jaws of victory!
Bill Crane also serves
as a political analyst and
commentator for Channel
2’s Action News, WSB-AM
News/Talk 750 and now 95.5
FM, as well as a columnist
for The Champion, Cham
pion Free Press and Georgia
Trend. Crane is a DeKalb
native and business owner,
living in Scottdale. You can
reach him or comment on
a column at bill.csicrane@
gmail.com.