I do not believe that I ever related this story on DU: [View all]

[PCIntern]

This is a true story and the dialogue is only slightly paraphrased. It was one of the most memorable moments in my career, listening to people vent, sometimes very significant people vent…

Some of you folks who have been around here a long time might recall that at one time I was treating the aristocracy of the Democratic fundraisers here in Philadelphia. Several of these people had literally been venerated as having gotten Jimmy Carter elected president in 1976, and were extremely influential and powerful in the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania political scene. For three of these people whom I treated, their reach extended into the White House when President Clinton was living there, and they had his personal cell number.

One day, one of the gentlemen was sitting in my chair and he told me that his buddy, a former Frank Rizzo senior advisor and aide, was going to run for mayor of Philadelphia. He told me that this was the last chance that white people would be able to run the city, since we were being “overrun“ by, and I use the polite phrase rather than that which he uttered , people of color. Fairly stunned, I sat there neither nodding nor shaking my head in some form of disbelief that he would actually verbalize this. He was adamant that this was the last chance that “we” would have to get what we could get before the “end times“ of politics here in Philadelphia.

The gentleman to whom he was referring happened to live not far from me in the suburbs, so I asked him how was he going to claim to be a resident of Philadelphia when everyone, and I mean everyone, knows full well that he lives outside the city? The fundraiser replied that that was all taken care of and his son’s condominium would suffice as legal residence for purposes of the election. Of course, it was virtually immediately disclosed that he did not live in the city and a suit or petition was filed with the courts to prevent him from being on the ballot. To make a long story short I suppose they got to the judge, and the judge ruled that he could be a candidate for mayor and that this other candidate who brought the suit was not able to convince the court that all this was true, factual , or relevant to the notion of residency. Don’t ask. It’s how things worked here for years, and may still…

The fundraiser came back to my office for some further work, and I mentioned to him that his court battle was won and things I suppose, could proceed. He told me that he hired a very prominent Philadelphia attorney to go after the candidate who had done this to his candidate, and that she was going to pay for this. I mentioned to him casually that the female candidate, although of Iowan WASP extraction, had an an Hispanic last name and most Philadelphians assumed that she was Hispanic although it was actually her husband who was. I further mentioned that I thought this would become a problem within the minority community and there might be some backlash. He waved me off and basically called me incompetent and alluded to the fact that possibly my dentistry was not up to par because my politics and political knowledge certainly weren’t.

Well, the instant it came out in the news that the candidate was suing the accusing candidate, his poll numbers plummeted and he disappeared off the scene. This guy I could tell 50 stories about, but won’t because it’s unseemly and this is neither the time nor the place.

The point I am making here Albeit circuitously, is it I think that the republican party is doing the same: that they feel that the minority population is increasing at such a rate that in a reasonable time, they will be the minority party by far and will have no shot of power outside of certain geographic regions within certain states. They are trying to grab all they can, and ruin the system so that this process occurs more slowly, but it will occur. The question I have is can we prevent the country from becoming totalitarian or are we going to enter some very strange existence, a 21st century South Africa perhaps? Time of course will tell, but I thought this analogous story might have some relevance to today’s situation. I thank you for your time and patience.