A badge of honor

I am still chuckling over this one. I went to the mailbox and pulled out my copy of "The Selma News". I was told ahead of time that I was going to find a stinging letter to the editor this week about my column. I was waiting with great anticipation for today's edition of the paper.

I find it very amusing that any individual would be offended over the idea that another individual can express themselves well with the written page. Perhaps Dave Holmes feels inadequate or threatened by my punctilious writing style. For the record, I do not use a dictionary or thesaurus when writing to find words for my column or blogs. I do use a dictionary when I need to check on spelling of a word and I don't have spell check or even if my spell checker flags a word I think is spelled correctly. Sometimes that happens, too, since not all words found in the dictionary are in spell check. That is the God's honest truth.

Is there something wrong with being relatively articulate? This, by the way, is not the first time that I have been bashed by those who want a "dumbed down" method of communication. Personally, I prefer to write as if I actually received a modest education, as if I am actually attempting to communicate effectively, and at a level worthy of my efforts. I do not write to impress. It is the message that I prefer to convey, not the style. I do believe in conveying those ideas in a style befitting them rather than articulating them towards the least common denominator, which is apparently Dave Holmes. I don't know about y'all (a little "least common denominator lingo" there), but I was taught to write, speak, and even non-verbally communicate in an effective and precise manner; or at least attempt to do so.

Are my opinions conservative? Abso-freakin'-lutely! I make NO apologies for that whatsoever. People generally love or hate commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and the like. Though I personally look up to Rush as a sort of hero in the broadcast industry, I do not seek to emulate any of them. Others that were loved or hated that I have read behind are Barry Goldwater and William Loeb. I grew up reading The Union Leader, Loeb's daily paper. I still read the online edition and scan for storied of interest to me on a daily basis. I love the conservative politics of Goldwater, having read "Conscience of a Conservative" many years ago, and even the new documentary "Goldwater on Goldwater", which I recorded. I found Goldwater too liberal for me on social issues such as abortion, however. Goldwater was also a heathen, to my knowledge, regardless of his Jewish or Episcopal roots.

Anyway, back to the letter to the editor. My views were not the reason I was not elected to town council last year. I can easily list several right here, as I did almost a year ago. First, I have only lived in Selma for four years now. Three as of the last election. I was not well known in town then. That has apparently changed (snicker, snicker). All other three candidates were known by the public, having been in Selma all their lives. Two of the other candidates were also incumbents. Incumbents always have the advantage of experience and name recognition, not to mention voter apathy. One candidate is Negro, which attracted the minority vote. Combine that with her past work with the NAALCP, and that a strong voting block.

I spent relatively little money ($700 is not little to my budget, but I did learn a lot from that experience), had relatively little time to be able to campaign, etc. I make no excuses for that. It is just the reality. Another reality is that even if I did do a lot of campaigning and spend a lot of money, in all likelihood, nobody else would have beat the two incumbents.

I DID do fairly well by comparison in my own precinct. I got a real good percentage of the vote on the west side (my own side) compared to the eastern side. I came within just 13 votes of the next highest vote getter, who had been on the ballot before, knew far more people, and has been a Selmite all of his life. I was told by several people that I did a lot better than they expected. In retrospect, I guess I didn't do too bad in the election. Many of these factors will be different next time around. Come to think about it, maybe it is better that we have at least one less voter like Mr. Holmes in town. The less liberals the better, and we all benefit.