Grayson County Democrats for Progress

By Dorothy N. Fowler It’s 2:34 p.m. in New York City right now, Tuesday, August 02, 2011. The stock market has another 26 minutes to go before it closes for the day with a loss of about 154 points unless a miracle occurs before 3 p.m. The tea partiers and other “experts” assured us all [...]

Forty years ago on Friday, President Richard Nixon launched America’s war on drugs, calling illegal drug abuse “Public Enemy No. 1.” Last week, an international commission issued an authoritative report declaring what we’ve pretty much known all along: The global war on drugs has been a complete failure. Not only has consumption of opiates, cocaine [...]

Not to interrupt any punch-ups, but the call has gone out across America for a toning down of violent and/or harsh political rhetoric. This is easier said than done.

Still, thanks must go to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., for setting a fine example.

Appearing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he was asked about the “birther” movement, which seeks President Barack Obama’s birth certificate as the knights of Camelot sought the Holy Grail — except the birthers have a more medieval defiance of logic.

When Gov. Rick Perry talked about Texas seceding from the United States at one of the tea party rallies, there were cheers and smiles all about him. Jefferson would have calmly said, “If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union to change its Republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated and reason is left free to combat it.”

Recently, I e-mailed an old friend from Sachse and asked her about her thoughts on the tea party victories. She was my neighbor and the Republican precinct chair. I was the Democratic chair. We got along well, and elections were fun, with me assisting her as alternate election judge. I don’t know what I said exactly that offended her, but she has not replied (probably not to offend me). I’m planning an apology in hopes of renewing discussions with her. I will remind her that Thomas Jefferson once said, “I have never considered the difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as a cause from withdrawing from a friend.” Then I will tell her that she and her family are still in my prayers, as I know I am in theirs.

We need to be more Jeffersonian today — we need to find wisdom, get active, use reason and stay friendly.

IS ARIZONA HEADED TO ANARCHY BY THE ANTI- GOVERNMENT TEA PARTY?

IS TEXAS ON IT’S WAY TO A SIMILAR FATE?

Today on one of the Sunday morning news shows, my daughter, who is a teacher, heard a discussion about why the American middle class is disappearing. That it is disappearing, and disappearing rapidly, is an indisputable fact as the bulk of wealth in the United States becomes more and more concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest two or three percent of the population.