DRUMRIGHT COLUMNIST IS ALL WRONG
Apologies in advance for the following rant:
In the northern half of Oklahoma, about 42 miles southwest of Tulsa, is the small town of Drumright. (It is the hometown of one of the co-publishers of the newspaper where I work here in Tishomingo.) One of the regular features in their local newspaper, the Drumright Gusher, is a weekly column by a non-apologetic right-wing Trump-supporting Neanderthal by the name of Ed J. Lebeau III.
Mr. Lebeau devoted one of his recent columns to a tedious comparison of Bernie Sanders’ campaign platform to the 1936 Soviet Constitution. Along the way he gets in his typical jabs at those who are concerned about climate change and white supremacy, and who are offended by Trump’s words, deeds and behavior. He also expresses disdain for those who support such things as (and this is HIS list, quoted verbatim) “equal rights for women, free education, free healthcare, the right to choose your profession and be trained in that profession.”
Roughly halfway through the column he begins to refer to such people was “statists” - a term first coined in the 1850s to define those who believe that “the state should control either economic or social policy, or both, to some degree.” (I looked it up.) From there he goes on to talk about how “Liberty has served us well,” but for the life of him he can’t figure out why people would support such horrible notions as equal rights, fighting climate change, etc.
Finally, near the end of this bellicose barrage of belligerent bilgewater, he makes the following statement:
“If you are not a communist or a statist, and you are enamored of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren or more most of the other Democratic presidential hopefuls, then maybe you should think again about what you believe.”
Now, I’ll admit that I have still not as of yet made up my mind which Democratic Presidential candidate I’ll be supporting. (At the moment I am firmly in the “Anybody but Trump” camp, which is sufficient for my peace of mind until I can narrow the field down in my mind a bit more.)
But I will also admit that this guy’s usual “if you don’t support Trump you’re not American” stance had already worn pretty thin with me well before reading this particular column. And his apparent belief that “the right to choose your profession and be trained in that profession” should somehow be anathema to the ideals expressed by our Founding Fathers just plain cheesed me off.
So this morning I fired off the following letter to the editor, just to get it off my chest. I harbor no illusions that it will see publication; not every paper is willing to publish opposing points of view the way mine does. Which is why I’m sharing said letter here now. At least this way it will be a part of the public record.
The letter reads as follows:
To The Editor:
With regards to a comment made by Ed J. Lebeau III in his Aug. 29 edition of ‘Against the Grain,’ and with all due respect to a fellow newspaper columnist, I wish to offer the following rebuttal.
If you are not a racist or a Klansman, and you are enamored of Donald Trump, then maybe YOU should think again about what you believe.
Liberty has indeed served us well. But Liberty weeps today as a result of the injuries inflicted upon her by the current occupant of the Oval Office.
My late grandfather was among those members of the Greatest Generation who went to Europe and fought a war to save other parts of the world from precisely the same kind of evil that endangers the United States today. As much as I miss my grandfather, who passed away in 1981, there is a part of me who is grateful that he did not live to see what is happening in this country today. He would be so disappointed, and so angry.
God bless America, indeed. We need all the help we can get.
Respectfully,
John A. Small
Tishomingo
No, it won’t change his mind - or anybody else’s for that matter. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lebeau doesn’t take some personal shots at me in some future column - including, no doubt, a few juvenile derogatory comments about my last name. (I get those a lot from people incapable of intelligent debate. It is apparently SO much easier to just call me “Small minded” or “Small thinking” than it is to come up with an actual response with any kind of substance.)
But that’s okay. Sticks and stones, and all that jazz. I’ve never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer - but my parents did teach me right from wrong, and Lebeau is as wrong as they come.
And I feel better for having told him so.
End of rant.
In : Opinion
Tags: politics
John A. Small is an award-winning newspaper journalist, columnist and broadcaster whose work has been honored by the Oklahoma Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Newspaper Association, and the Oklahoma Education Association. He and his wife Melissa were married in 1986; they have two sons, Joshua Orrin (born 1991) and William Ian (born 1996).
Mr. Small is the News Editor and columnist for the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Tishomingo, OK. He obtained his nickname, "Bard of the Lesser Boulevards," from a journalism colleague - the late Phil Byrum - in recognition of the success of his popular newspaper column, "Small Talk." (In addition to the many awards the column itself has received over the years, a radio version of "Small Talk" earned an award for "Best Small Market Commentary" from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1998.)
John was born in Oklahoma City in 1963; lived in the Bradley-Bourbonnais-Kankakee area of Illinois for most of the next 28 years (with brief sojourns in Texas and Athens, Greece, thrown in to break up the monotony); then returned to his native state in 1991, where he currently resides in the Tishomingo/Ravia area. He graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais in 1991. The years between high school and college were a period frought with numerous exploits and misadventures, some of which have become the stuff of legend; nobody was hurt along the way, however, which should count for something.
In addition to his professional career as a journalist he has published two short story collections: "Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West" (2007), a collection of western stories; and "Something In The Air" (2011), a more eclectic collection. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Locus Award-nominated science fiction anthology "Myths For The Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe," edited by Win Scott Eckert. In additon he has written a stage play and a self-published cookbook; served as project editor for a book about the JFK assassination entitled "The Men On The Sixth Floor"; and has either published or posted on the Internet a number of essays, stories and poems.
He has also won writing awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Library of Poetry. He is a past president of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce in Tishomingo; was a charter member and past president of the Johnston County Reading Council, the local literacy advocacy and "friends of the library" organization; served as Johnston County's first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in 1994-95; served two terms as chairman of the Johnston County (OK) Democratic Party; and has taught journalism classes for local Boy Scout Merit Badge Fairs. He is a member of the New Wold Newton Meteorics Society.
