Anecdote from the beginning of the DEM slide, 1982
James Albon Mattox (August 29, 1943 – November 20, 2008) was an American lawyer and politician who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives and two four-year terms as state attorney general, but lost high-profile races for governor in 1990, the U.S. Senate in 1994, and again as attorney general in 1998. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
I was Assistant District Director for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). I was based in my hometown of Dallas, Texas where my duties included engaging in politics. Along with the rest of the unions in the region, we supported a guy named Jim Mattox who got elected as a dem to the House of Representatives in 1976, a noteworthy election result in arch conservative Dallas. We helped him get re-elected twice, largely due to our precinct walking and a very aggressive yard sign campaign.
In early 1982, along with most of the top officials of most of the unions operating in the Dallas area, I was shocked to hear that "Jimmy" was planning to run for state Attorney General. We were naive as hell to imagine that Mattox cared about what we thought, but we demanded that he meet with us to talk about his plans. Amongst ourselves, we did not feel like we had to put up with any back-sass from the guy we elected to Congress. We resolved to tell him, en masse, that we needed him in Congress -- not the AG's office in Austin. We were no more than five minutes into the meeting before he made it perfectly clear that he was going to move up the ladder, and if we did not like it, we could go fuck ourselves for all he cared.
In hindsight, I can't find anything wrong about him following his own dream and us union guys were acting like rubes to try to push him around. But the story shows how democracy works in reality.
It takes a surplus of ego to run for office. It is a career choice rather than a moral calling.
That was the peak time for the beleaguered "liberals" of Texas, including Ann Richards and Jim Hightower who, along with Mattox were the last Democrats and the only overtly progressive statewide officials ever elected.
Other than get elected, none of them did a hell of a lot, but I still respect all three as human beings.
Comments
Molly Ivins
At least you had Molly Ivins to read.
Today, we got nothing.
Name calling and smugness. That's it.
Some local lawyer is
a Hightower. Sadly, she has become a drug addict, will likely be disbarred soon. She is about 45 yrs old. Didn't last long in the power structure.
I thought Ann Richards was great, except most folks don't understand the way our state constitution is written, the Governor has weak power, the Lt. Governor is the true mover and shaker.
I liked Jim, did not know he was a prick. Surprise!
Thanks for this, fwf!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I remember receiving a call before the election this year.
It was one of those "GOTV" calls. The caller told me that this was a "critical" election. I told her: no, it's not. It's not a critical election. Since this wasn't real communication, I did not explain to the caller why I thought this was so.
A critical election would be if the things I would later endorse with my vote stood half a chance of becoming real.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
During that meeting with Mattox,
he had something very interesting to say about his career.
It came out during his description of his immediate plans to run for Attorney General. The fundraising numbers were an order of magnitude lower than a statewide campaign in Texas costs today.
He needed to raise $40,000 per week through February, March and April and he would need to work on that full time. He went on to say that his angels were the banks --he was on the House Banking Committee and he had cultivated the connection in order to "get away with voting liberal" on other issues.
Obviously that dodge no longer works for guys like Mattox and the Congressional Black Caucus, for one example. And we have the whole damn Congress cheerleading for mass murder.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
I've got a great idea!
A brand spanking new political party that won't disappoint.
It will be called the You Can Kill Our Mothers If We Flake Out Party.
This way we can be sure that our new leaders do not just become another bunch of cowardly scum like Obama, Biden, Harris and Sanders. A truly NEW party!
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
we won't kill your mothers
if you vote for me party
sounds about right
question everything