Might the polls be wrong?
Or am I a victim of wishful thinking?
By LIONEL ROLFE calclass@earthlink.net
Might this just be one of those elections that proves the pollsters all
wet? The polls appear to be saying Americans are pretty satisfied (or else too
paralyzed to turn Bush & Co. out of office). The pollsters tell us that even
though jobs at Kmart are getting hard to get, the typical American still thinks
they need a guy like Bush to stand up and talk tough to bad guys. And look, the
stock market is rallying, sort of. Everything is coming up roses -- or is it?
I like to think that underneath it all a revolt is brewing. It defies
all logic to think that our pretender president from Enron has pulled the wool
over so many people's eyes, a majority could vote for any Republican. After all,
a majority voted against Bush in the 2000 elections.
Now none of my friends like Bush, but I know that's not an accurate sample of
the voting population. Still, I get some hope from reports I'm getting from my
scouts in the Midwest who are telling me that a lot of regular people
are increasingly dubious about him. Might there be an unexpected Democratic tide
out there that's coming Nov. 5?
I keep thinking of what Abraham Lincoln proclaimed. He said, "You may fool
all of the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all the
time, but you can't fool all the people all the time."
Folks like Bush and Ashcroft cause many of us a lot of uneasiness. Bush comes
across as a bit of a loose cannon, a religious zealot who cannot grasp a large,
complex idea -- you might say he and Ashcroft are the real "American
Taliban." It's apparently our patriotic duty to overlook all this,
because everything is doing pretty hunky-dory.
Right? Sure.
I can't help but notice that only the good guys die young -- Martin Luther King,
Robert and John Kennedy are some examples. And now Paul Wellstone. I'm not going
to say aloud what I can't help but think.
Yeah, I got to admit, I've been a lifelong Democrat. As a young boy, I got to
shake the hand of Eleanor Roosevelt. I pounded the pavement for Adlai Stevenson.
I've always been drawn to the Democratic party because it's supposed to be the
opposition to the Republican party. Mind you, emotionally, I understand voting
Green, and I have done so on a couple of occasions. But simple math tells me
that despite all the Republican crookedness and shenanigans in Florida, the
Greens gave us Bush.
I've heard that Tom DeLay, the house majority whip and another damned Texan, has
a sign in his office saying today might be the final judgment day. God knows, we
don't need these people making our lives their self-fulfilling prophecies of
apocalypse.
In the '60s, I moved more to the left, of course. In many ways I remain there.
I'm not a Centrist.
I think in European terms, I would be a social democrat, who believes that the
best economic system is one in which capitalism runs boutiques, restaurants and
publishing. But important things that people need -- transportation, housing and
medicine -- should be socialized.
So, you can see, I'm no centrist Democrat. Still, I wish Bill Clinton were
president today. Not just because he had style, although that would help. Wit,
that would help. Brains, that would particularly help. But because we wouldn't
be the victim of a half-wit leading the world into war and depression and
there's no way to stop him.
I asked a good friend, a fellow journalist, if he thought there was a chance for
a repeat of the Dewy-Truman poll debacle on Nov. 5. Usually he's the eternal
optimist, a good Democrat.
"It's hopeless man," he said. "The Democrats made deals with Bush
so that all the incumbents will be reelected. There'll be no upset in Congress.
None of them cares about ideology or philosophy or politics -- just in saving
their
own asses. Nothing will help us until the American people wake up and realize
they're being diddled by both parties."
"Jesus, man," I said. "Don't tell me that. There's really no
hope. We are going to descend into a new dark ages?"
"Yeah man, looks like that. But I'll still be out voting nonetheless,"
he said.
*
Lionel Rolfe is the author of "Literary L.A." and "Fat Man on the
Left."
*
Lionel
Rolfe is the author of the ebook, "Death and Redemption in London &
L.A." (deadendstreet.com). He also has authored "Literary L.A."
and "Fat Man on the Left"
Four Decades in the Underground," both from California Classics Books and
available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online.
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“LITERARY L.A.” AUTHOR TO ENJOY LAST BIG FLING
DATES FOR FLING EVENT AT BORDERS IN
MONTCLAIR AND PASADENA HAVE BEEN POSTPONED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED A MONTH OR
TWO LATER. WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED! SAN PEDRO EVENT IN NOVEMBER IS STILL AT THE
SAME TIME AND PLACE.
Noted Los Angeles author and literary authority Lionel Rolfe has been preparing
himself for further public events in the Los Angeles area on the occasion of the
publication of the third edition of his classic LITERARY L.A.
Because he's basically a shy and retiring type, he has assembled a troupe for a
series of three performances related to Literary L.A. San Pedro proletarian
poets Fred Voss and Joan Jobe Smith (their day jobs include working at a lathe
in a machine shop and dancing in an appropriately dressed way in a topless bar)
will be joined for the festivities by teacher-writer-and-poet Julia Stein. John
Ahouse, literary curator at USC’s Doheny Library, who edited the volume, is
also expected.
On Thursday, November 7 at 7 p.m., the whole gang will appear for a finale
at Williams’ Book Store, which was Bukowski’s favorite bookstore in San
Pedro at 443 West Sixth Street. The evening will be call “Bukowski Etc.”
Musical accompaniment is still being negotiated and yet to be announced. The
public has the right to expect big, expensive names from rock music. The public
has the right to expect anything it wants to expect.
In preparation for the evenings, our shy author has been out and about in the
real world. He showed up with Ram Dass at an afternoon event with Laura Huxley
in Malibu (photo by Bonnie Perkinson), also attended by George DiCaprio, father
of Leonardo; he went to a concert at the
Unurban Cafe in Santa Monica where Hyla Douglas, his daughter, performed social
protest songs out of the O60s; and took a great picture of Lorene and her dog
Spot holding up the cover of Literary L.A.
And it all began when Michelle Mills did a belly dance for the old man.
We wish him the best.
Lorene
Lionel's daughter Hyla
Laura Huxley, the widow of the writer Aldous Huxley and Lionel
Lionel and Oliver
Lionel at Gladstone's