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Blogs by Marge B. Fulton
Boss Hogg in America 9/15/2008 3:21:48 AM
The state of our nation. "The smaller the town, the more vicious its politics."
This maxim has been said many a time. Time after time it is proven to be true. Undisputable, even as clear cut as D.N.A., it seems. Small towns seem to be all about choosing sides.
We found this out when we lived in a small town in Mississippi. I got a job in a nursing home for mentally disabled adults. In no time flat, folks were trying to pull us over to their side of the tracks. It was a train wreck. This may not be the best time for that analogy due to the wreck in California. My heart goes out to all those involved there.
The old farm where we lived was bucolic. We had many a party there, even tried to roast a goat once. That was another train wreck. The company was good but the food that time was putrid. Anyway, a co-worker of mine was there flirting with an old college friend of ours. Her father was the Boss Hogg of that small town. At another cookout, he tried to "buy" our vote. I was so clueless it didn't even register with me.
My husband got wind of it and cut the cord to that baby. Why my father lives in an even smaller town in that same state! He ran for mayor and lost to a female candidate. It broke my heart to know he lost but I guess the Good Ole' Boy system was not at fault in that one. Good Ole' Girls win just the same. I am not taking sides. She must have been a deserving candidate. Who knows?
I'd say he lost fair and square but one can never be sure about that. He has lived in that town for more than twenty five years. Maybe they considered him an outsider still after all that time. A country boy is still a country boy no matter where he hangs his hat.
Corruption is like a blood clot. Often silent, it kills bit by bit. Whether in Alaska or Alabama, it hurts the same. Goat roast to pig roast to Washington; politics can be brutal. With the election just around the corner, Boss Hogg is alive and well. I wish things could be different. Wishes often wither like vines in November.
