Chicken-Fried Democrat
By Mark W. Clark, Citizen, Freelance Writer
Irving, TX
MMMMM … Chicken-Fried Steak. One of the great comfort foods in the South. My bride and I spent the better part of our courtship cuddled around plates of one of Texas` finest, yet least understood delicacies.
You take a tough old piece of steak that would by all respectable chefs be discarded anywhere above the Mason-Dixon line and beat it senseless with a mallet. It`s called "tenderizing". Get the grease hot, up to maybe 340 degrees or so, dredge that worthless lump of rump in liberal amounts of salt, pepper and flour, then deep-fry the life back into it. Mash potatoes, gravy (white, not brown) and whatever over-cooked vegetables you want to lay along side (something green is best, according to Mama). That`ll cure post-election depression like nothing else, and don`t forget the ice tea.
This year, as in many others, I took my place in line, pulled the "left" lever knowing full well that a Democrat vote in Texas is about as worthless as that aforementioned piece of nearly discarded meat. It`s easy to second-guess yourself when you live in a state surrounded by those who choose the obvious rib eye or T-bone, without checking out some of the lesser-explored parts of the cow.
So, we lost. But do you really lose when you do what you believe is right?
I still believe in patriotism. Patriotism doesn`t mean you support everything your government, or president, does. That`s nationalism, and Albert Einstein said it best: "Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind." It`s no more unpatriotic to say "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time" now than in the days of Viet Nam. The brave soldiers in Nam and Iraq are not maligned in the process. Many have fought and died for the right to make that statement, the right to disagree.
I still believe it to be just as noble a cause to help those who are already out here in the world as it is to protect the unborn. It is the height of hypocrisy to condemn embryonic stem-cell research while endorsing the culling out (i.e., destroying) of hundreds of thousands of viable embryos in the name of in vitro fertilization, a cause most right-to-lifers would get high behind. It`s also inconsistent to march in the picket lines of pro-life while marching off our children to an unjust, ill-conceived war.
I still believe in helping those less fortunate, and yes, even at my great expense. I don`t think Jesus, also my chosen spiritual leader, ever implied anything conservative about compassion. I don`t think he said to give the wealthiest the most advantages and they will make sure there are enough jobs for the slaves. No, you can`t be liberal enough with compassion. I think Jesus said it best that it was more blessed to give than to receive. For the record, Jesus was non-partisan. Someone please inform "W".
I still believe in an America that is a racially mixed uber-melting pot where diversity of color is craved, not merely tolerated. I find it ironic that a growing number of affluent African-Americans are shifting to the right, distancing themselves from the Democratic principals that brought about civil rights and eventually their current prosperity.
I still believe in a separate co-existence of church and state. This doesn`t outlaw religion as many of the Falwellians would have you believe. This means church and state are like oil and water. They can co-exist, even in the same container, but they cannot be mixed or both become unusable. This means you can pray at will even on public property, you just can`t make me pray your prayer on my time. Christian thought has been mandated before. It was called the Crusades.
I still believe that you can live in fearful times without being fearful, the crowning platform of this election`s winner. The terrorists used airline tickets and box cutters, for crying out loud! You can`t be a good person and hope to think like the evil-minded and counteract every twisted plot. Likewise, you can`t chase the wrong enemy for your own agenda. If you voted for "W", you have to honestly ask yourself if you did so because you were afraid not to.
In the 48-hour post-election letdown, I`m not angry. Disappointed? Sure, and even a bit incredulous that I stand with a very small number of my ilk in this grand state. Surprised? You bet, that so much of America has "drunk the Kool-Aid," of fear and admiration for an emperor with no clothes. However, one thing`s for sure. The pendulum never stops. I held my nose for 12 years once; I can hold it for another four.
So, get out the mallet and pound on me till I`m too tender to be tough or bitter. Dip me in heaping amounts of the pure flour of democracy, season me to taste the wisdom gained from loss, and lower me gently into the hot boiling oil of a rocky journey over the next four years. We honorably fought and lost a tough battle for democracy, but we haven`t lost the war for freedom and justice and an equitable political system. That`s the real war on terror-a war that continues to prevent us from achieving the America our forefathers visualized so brilliantly.
Perhaps it`s as hard for most Texans to identify with Democratic philosophy as it is for Northerners to recognize the divine anti-depressant powers of the Chicken-Fried Steak. "That don`t make it" any less delicious. If there`s room, I`ll have the peach cobbler!
