Loretta: I was listening to Democracy Now! this morning—
Bob: More liberal clap-trap.
Loretta: It’s progressive, not liberal.
Bob: It comes to the same thing—clap-trap.
Loretta: Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive.
Bob:
Loretta: I said Teddy Roos—
Bob: I heard you the first time. I just couldn’t think of a rebuttal.
Loretta: It isn’t everyday that happens.
Bob: It isn’t everyday I have to listen to you, talking about liberal—
Loretta: Progressive.
Bob: –clap-trap radio.
Loretta: Anyway, there was a debate with some assistant professor and Gloria Steinem.
Bob: Swell. Loretta: What did you say, dear?
Bob: I said I couldn’t think of a rebuttal.
Loretta: Anyway, listening to this debate, I decided that the whole public discourse was misguided.
Bob: Misguided, hon?
Loretta: Yes, dear, misguided, and if you give me a minute, and save your need to rebut I will explain it to you.
Bob: I’m all ears.
Loretta: First, I decided that Barak Obama had begun the discussion about race, referencing Martin Luther King, Jr. His campaign was very smart to turn the tables on the discussion, and the mass media picked up on it, and tarred and feathered Hillary Clinton with the race card, but the truth is Barak Obama began this discussion. Now, as far as I can tell, and our son, Livy, in his piece on genocide talks about this, got me thinking that the whole conversation is really about class.
Bob: I read that whole piece, and I didn’t read anything such thing about class. Are you sure you read the correct piece, or is this more of your woman-think?
Loretta: Bob: I guess it isn’t. Go on, dear
Loretta: Thank you, hon. As I said, I decided the whole conversation is really about class, and that’s where John Edwards is, but the media, you see, don’t want to give him any credence because the mass media has a nervous breakdown when some one candidate starts to talk about class. You see, if you keep the subject on race, then you create divisions that can be…what’s that word Livy likes… uh, it’s, ‘exploit.’ You see when the subject changes to class then the mass media and the corporations behind them because the business of newspapers is to sell advertisements, not to report the news; anyway, say what you will about John Edwards, but he is to be commended for his effort to change the dynamics of the public debate away from race, to class.
Bob: Loretta: Why do you look as if I told you that none of our children were yours?
Bob: The longer I stay married to you the more unpredictable you become. Now, you’ve taking to manning the barricades.
Loretta: Is that some kind of allusion to class warfare? Because you know that’s what used to happen in the past. I believe it was William Bennett who came up with that. Bob: So, it’s the fault of Republicans for the state of the public debate? I thought the primaries were about the delegate count, as a matter of fact. I mean, hon, sure, there’s a lot of debate, and there ought to be, and I mean the right kind of debate, but this all really about how many delegates the candidates bring with them to the party convention. So, I mean, luv, that we need not to get hung up on issues that obscure the debate, and not lose sight of the fact that the primaries are all about delegate count, and all the candidates should be allowed to participate. At least, as far as my party goes, that seems to be true. What I mean, hon, is that the only place the debate is not stifled, right now, is the Republican Party. So, I repeat the question: is it the fault of the Republican Party for the level of debate? Loretta: Well, no, dear, but if the shoe fits, put it on. Bob: You know I don’t think it does, but that is not to say I can’t follow where you lead, over hill, down dale, through the forest, and look at all those trees.
Loretta: Is that supposed to be a joke—dear?
Bob: If the shoe fits—
Loretta: Thank you, dear. I also started began to think about the subject of race, and the fact that we still have to have this discussion, and it led me back to that series Livy wrote on genocide, and he talked about how the allies won the war but lost the peace because genocide, the legacy of Nazi Germany, is very much a part of our world, and I decided that we could say the same thing about the Civil War. The Union won the war, but they lost the peace to the south because they have set the terms of the discussion about race. You know they have had this ideology of race since 1836, and a literature, and a whole mythology about the natural superiority of whites, and this has infected the whole nation’s civil discourse, not to mention the way race is so much a part of every facet of our culture.
Bob: Race and class.
Loretta: Class, dear. John Edwards has that much going for him.
Bob: You going to change your vote, then, hon? You did say you wanted to vote your heart.
Loretta: You?
Bob: I stand beside my man. You?
Loretta: The sanctity of the ballot is a wonderful part of our democracy.
Bob: So, where’s this going to go? Loretta: I thought out to the kitchen for a cup of tea and a slice of pie. Would you care for some?
Bob: Do we need to continue this discussion, or can we call this a break in the, uh, dialogue?
Loretta: We have to take our breaks where we find them.
Bob: You can say that again—but you don’t have to.
Loretta: Then, we can say—
Together: See you soon.
Tags: race and class, The Civil War, the primaries, the public debate
