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f "JeffBucchino 01997
America shaped by folks who
were not the winners
(This award-winning column
by Roger Simon was written on
July 4, 1976, and has been
reprinted every year since.)
I have done some pretty
awful things in the name of jour
nalism. I have rushed up to
interview
children, husbands who have lost wives, families
shattered by a variety of emotional and physical
calamities.
AH reporters do these things. We wear a pro¬
tective cloak of professional indifference while
we write the names and ages and addresses in
our notebooks. The deedns done quickly and
quickly forgotten.
But I am going to have a hard time forgetting
a long, cinder-block corridor in a small
Wisconsin town that led to a bare, large room
where eight girls sat on folding chairs facing a
television set.
No accident had befallen these girls. No one
gone to jail or
been shot. What
had happened to
them, instead, is
just about the
worst thing that
can happen to a
person in this
country.
had
failed. They had wanted to be Miss America,
and now they never would be.
I had spent three days in Oshkosh, Wise.,
talking to the girls entered in the Miss Wisconsin
Pageant, the final step before Atlantic City,
where the winner would meet fame, fortune and
Bert Parks.
I had come to do a magazine article on the
American Dream, and I saw the contestants go
through endless hours of walking up and down a
stage wearing evening gowns and bathing suits,
trying not to wobble on high heels while the
same thoughts ran through their heads: "What if
I trip? What if I faint? What if I throw up?"
Their workdays were 18 hours long. And
wherever they went, they smiled.
But on the last night, the smiling stopped.
The names of the finalists were read, and the
eight losers ran offstage and were lead to a
room.
I walked past the door to that room three or
four times before I could make myself go in.
They swiveled on their chairs to look at me.
I had gotten to know them by the names of
the Wisconsin towns they represented, and that
is the way I think of them still.
Miss Watertown, who had the brightest smile
and the cheeriest outlook during the contest,
spoke nating one of the two thoughts that were domi¬
each of theinminds.
not best
Amidst the fireworks, parades,
the waving flags and family outings
of July 4, it’s easy to overlook the
significance of what we celebrate.
On July 2, 1776 the members of the
Continental Congress voted to
declare independence from Great
Britain (the formal declaration’s
wording was approved on July 4).
Theirs was an act of great courage,
irrevocably severing ties to a “moth¬
er-land” which was the world’s
greatest power — a country to which
most of them had strong ties. Their
decision could easily lead to humili¬
ation and defeat in the face of an
enormous military imbalance, a pop¬
ulation still far from unanimous on
the subject, and a less-than encour¬
aging record on the battlefields dur¬
ing the previous year. But they con¬
sidered the freedom to set their own
course in life as important as life
itself. Thus a nation was founded.
The last 228 years have brought
many changes. The founding fathers
would probably view some with
delight, others with grave concern,
and most with amazement.
A previous article on the
“gamei”of politics focused on the
Electoral College and the distortions
it introduces in todayfs presidential
election process. Designed to
address conditions in the 1700s its
rules remain largely the same,
despite the enormity of the changes
that have occurred in the country.
Clearly it is time to reexamine the
concept and look at better alterna¬
tives.
However, in addition to old rules
that are no longer applicable, new
Irulesi have changed the igamei
from its original concept. Political
processes today are very different
from those envisioned when this
country was bom.
The men who “designed” this
nation had little taste for large gov¬
ernment or political processes. They
were farmers and businessmen who
wanted to get on with their lives. A
federal government was necessary,
but most of them thought its role
should be limited. The United States
was referred to in the plural. There
were no political parties.
Today, politics is a national pre¬
occupation — a game to be played.
And like most sports, it has its rules.
As the federal government assumed
Simon Roger
COLUMNIST
don't know how I will face the people who came
here to see me," she said.
I wish I could have told them then what I feel
now. That they had branded themselves as fail¬
ures in a nation whose national religion is suc¬
cess. They were true dreamers of the American
Dream, and now they were paying for it. And it
is ironic, considering our nation's history, that
this should be true.
America was a country founded by failures
who could not get along in the Old World and
who came to a wilderness because there was
simply no place else to go.
America was a country settled by failures --
••
On the Fourth of July, 1969, at the
height of the Vietnam War, I refused to
stand up for the playina of the
National Anthem. I didn't Know then
what I have learned since.
America was a country built by failures —
men and women who never attained the
dream of owning their own business and
being their own boss. Men and women whose
lives were ruled by the alarm clock in the
morning and the factory whistle in the
evening.
Years and years of history books have
taught us that America was shaped by the
great deeds of great men and women. It was
not. America was shaped by the great deeds
of ordinary men and women.
On the Fourth of July, 1969, at the height
of the Vietnam War, I refused to stand up for
the playing of the national anthem.
I didn't know then what I have learned
since. That America always has been better
than its government, that its people have
always been more decent than their presi¬
dents, and that the strength and greatness of
this nation lies in them, the men and women
who are not great and who never will be.
So on this Fourth of July — for Miss
Watertown and Miss Sheboygan and for all
the other glorious failures who have made and
sustained this country — on this day. I stand
for them.
Roger Simon is a nationally syndicated
columnist. He can be e-mailed at
WriteRoger@aol.com. 1
Mei
Copen
an increasingly larger role, an enor¬
mous self-perpetuating political and
bureaucratic structure emerged.
Obtaining and maintaining power
has become an end unto itself.
Let’s look at a few of the new rules.
The original concept for the
House of Representatives was that
one member would represent 30,000
people. (The initial group of 65
Representatives grew to 105 after
the first national census.) Today,
that formula would generate more
than 9,000 House seats. For practi¬
cal reasons, the formula was modi¬
fied many times. In 1941, Congress
voted to limit the size of the House
to 435 members, with seats appor¬
tioned according to population.
Every 10 years a national census
provides data to make adjustments.
The actual division of states into
congressional districts was left to the
state legislatures. The law requires
that the districts must contain sub¬
stantially equal populations. The
task is, at best, extremely complex.
For example, if the population of the
U.S. is divided by 435, how does
one deal with left over fractions in a
state? The most complex piece of
this process, and the one most sub¬
ject to “games,” is the actual layout
of these districts.
The dominant parties in State
Legislatures have enormous power
to control the outcome of elections
through redistricting. By drawing
district boundaries, they can diffuse
opposition strength to dilute its
impact or can concentrate the oppo¬
sition into the smallest number of
districts — “political ghettos.” The
term “Gerrymandering” was coined
in 1812 to describe this process as
perfected by Elbridge Gerry, then
governor of Massachusetts.
An illustration. Assume three
congressional districts: traditionally,
District 1 votes 80 percent fof party
A; District 2, 80 percent for party B;
and District 3 splits 50/50. Both
parties now have an equal opportuni
ty to win the majority. Assume that,
"I just feel bad for my town,"
she said, fiddling with the hem
of her gown. "I feel I let them
down. I feel I let aU the people
down."
Miss Sheboygan, the girl I
secretly had been rooting for,
could not
adjust to the
crowded life
of the Eastern
Seaboard and
who went
West because
there was no
place else for
them.
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Wednesday, July 7,2004
in a particular year, party B wins
control of the legislature. Now, with
clever redistricting it can assure a
continued hold on power, A piece of
District 1 (containing the 20 percent
who support party B) is transferred
to District 3, and an equivalent piece
of District 3 (containing 20% who
vote for party A is transferred to
District 1. Now District 1 will shift
to 100 percent for party A no
change in the election results.
District 2 will still be 80/20 for Party
B — also no change. But District 3
will shift to 70/30 in favor of party
B. So party B will now get two seats
to party A(s one, assuring party B of
control, despite the fact that the
overall vote will still be 50/50 and
each Congressional seat still repre¬
sents an equal'number of people.
The game can become absurd.
As population grows and people
move, it clearly is necessary to redis¬
trict. But rather than use a random
process, political parties use their
clout to maintain or increase their
hold on power. Sometimes the
process is even more insidious, cut¬
ting across party lines, as incum¬
bents of both parties strike an agree¬
ment to redistrict to protect their
positions from challengers. And
many state legislatures no longer
wait for the 10 year census data to
play the game n instead they strike
when they feel they have the power
to push plans through. A recent
Business Week article indicates that,
with the help of this process, 98.2
percent of incumbents won re-elec¬
tion in 2002. And historian Allan
Lichtman states: Instead of voters
choosing their representatives, in
over 90 percent of districts, the rep¬
resentatives choose their voters.
Often the attempts to control elec¬
tion results have been so blatant that
Federal courts have had to step in.
As an extreme illustration of
what can result, Business Week
points to Atlanta’s 13th District. A
diagram looks like a four-tentacled
octopus with lumps at the end of
each tentacle, some of which sup¬
port tentacles of their own.
There are many more “rules”
issues that have to be addressed.
Campaign financing opens a
Pandora’s Box. The cost of running
for election is bad enough, but-the
rules relating to the size, nature and
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PAGE 9A
timing of campaign contributions
have to be changed if trust in elected
officialdom is to be restored. The
rules of this game have even led
John Kerry to Consider postponing
acceptance of the Democratic nomi¬
nation until after the Republican
Convention ft to place him on an
equal footing with President Bush.
In most games, emotion is a
strong factor. We root for a; sports
team in simple fashion — “for” or
“against.” We tend to support politi¬
cal parties or candidates the same
way. It fs rare to hear someone mak¬
ing an inventory of pluses and minus¬
es for each side. Instead we tend to
commit ourselves completely, often
based upon one or a small number of
issues. Political debate changes few
minds and often becomes an issue of
who can shout the loudest. The
founding fathers believed in debating
issues rather than establishing politi¬
cal parties (hat demand unswerving
loyalty. It is interesting to see the
number of Congressional votes that
follow straight party lines. Given
human nature, what is the probability
that several hundred people will
invariably agree with each other over
a myriad of issues? It simplifies life
to play '“follow the leader" but it
does not necessarily lead to the wis¬
est decisions. Evaluating each issue
by itself is a time consuming process
that creates a complex decision-mak¬
ing process. The pros and cons of
each issue have to be weighed. In
some cases, both may be found lack¬
ing.
Clearly, many of the rules need to
be changed. And the rules will only
change as the result of voter action
— refusing to follow party lines
blindly, putting substantial pressure
on the system, and pushing hard on
representatives in government at both
the state and the national level. And
the push must be strong, as in many
cases it goes against the self interests
of those representatives. In essence,
we need to remove the gamesman¬
ship from the processes which gov¬
ern our lives.
Dr. Melvyn Copen of Cumming
is an educator and businessman
who has worked and lived in many
foreign countries and provides con¬
sulting services for businesses and
organizations. Please e-mail him
at melcopen@hotmail.com.