Remembering the Kingfish. by Fremdfirma

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Remembering the Kingfish.

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Thursday, March 18, 2010 09:29
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Wednesday, March 17, 2010 6:45 AM

As mentioned elsewhere, a recent school paper editorial mocked my local political maneuvers as coming from the playbook of Huey Long, a politician I knew little about, so I dug into that, and it's a fascinating tale indeed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long
http://www.hueylong.com/
http://www.ssa.gov/history/hlong1.html

Maniac ?
Messiah ?
Crook ?

What sayeth you ?

-F

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:09 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Crook, with some great ideas and intentions. I grew up hearing about Long, and some of the shit he pulled was downright awful. Yes, I liked his ideas, but NOT the implementation of them!

He was considered a dictator by most of his opponents, and rammed through his agenda with methods I'd hope wouldn't be used in our country. Admittedly our government doesn't seem able to enact some of the great stuff he managed to get done in Louisiana, but he was one scary bastard.

"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:54 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

From what little I know of him, he seems as though he was almost viewed by his people as a kind of benevolent dictator - an idea which always SOUNDS really great, until you stop to think about what happens when you give that "benevolent" guy all that power, and then he either (1) decides to not be so nice after all, or (2) dies or is removed from office.

But yeah, comparing your political maneuverings to his in an attempt to insult you is fairly fuckin' funny. It's like calling Donald Trump "Machiavellian", and meaning it as a smear. It's not an insult if sneaky, underhanded political maneuvering is what you intended to do! And hell, Frem, it's not even like you're sneaky or underhanded about it in the first place. You tell people right up front EXACTLY what you're going to do, and how, and they simply refuse to believe that you'd attempt it, or that it could be done anyway. And then they curse you when you pull it off, and cry about the way you've duped them.

It'd be funny, if it weren't so damned sad.

But hey, I sense a win here, anyway; if just one kid in that school who's already suspicious of authority picks up a book and learns about Huey, you'll likely gain one more ally - or more, if the kid has any influence among his or her peers.

You should probably send them a nice thank-you note. :)

"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero, Real World Event Discussions

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:57 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Quote:
comparing your political maneuverings to his in an attempt to insult you is fairly fuckin' funny

Who did that? Ooops, I see...and as such, I agree with Mike 100%! For one thing, Long did what he did because he had (or made it so he had) virtually uncontestable POWER. There's a huge difference right there.

Idjits. Despite that I'm sure they didn't mean it that way, it IS a compliment! Remember, Long's favorite saying was "all men are kings!" Ergo, he was talking individual empowerment...THERE is a similarity.

"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010 10:36 AM

KWICKO

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Quote:
comparing your political maneuverings to his in an attempt to insult you is fairly fuckin' funny
Who did that? Ooops, I see...and as such, I agree with Mike 100%!

Y'know, when I wrote that, I wondered how it was going to read, and thought it was a bit cludgy. I was in a bit of a rush, and didn't get a chance to clarify or communicate my point better. What I mean is that they're trying to insult Frem, and in the act of trying to do so, thinking of the WORST they can call him, they actually end up paying him a high compliment. I find that hilarious - both that THEY thought it was an insult, and that he refused to be insulted by it, and instead took the compliment with grace and gratitude. Which, of course, only pisses 'em off MORE, which is kind of an added bonus at that point, right?

"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero, Real World Event Discussions

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010 10:50 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Oh I did, sorta - told em that I appreciated the compliment, but doubted anyone in todays era could fill the shoes of the mighty Kingfish ever again cause he was one in a million.

I note that the school paper which produced said editorial (which in fact referred to me as "the ghost of huey long") is the upscale school attended by most of the kids who's parents got so badly torpedoed during the city council fiasco when I decided that weekend to blow their nefarious plan to flinders by forgoing the handoff and running the ball myself... they're still pissed off about it.

The fact that I have now met the residency requirement and turned down an advisory post which would have disqualified me from running for office is makin the officials in my current township all manner of nervous, cause in over half of it our little collective of private security folks have all but replaced the local PD, which has been the subject of multiple punitive budget cuts, and it's not like the current office holders don't have a lot of poorly concealed dirt to play with - also a factor in the accusation of dirty politics.
(and when ISN'T politics a dirty business ?)

I've no real intent to DO it, but the threat of me pulling a similar stunt around here has done wonders for the behavior of city council and DDA, most recently represented by them actually *asking* the community their opinion on whether we should cut a deal with a fast food franchise for a certain chunk of land at a nearby intersection.

I think that's a good thing - some of THEM do not.

So, if I am the Kingfish, does this make them Standard Oil ?
And raises the question of who in that conflict was the greater bastard, neh ?

-F

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Thursday, March 18, 2010 6:05 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Quote:
So, if I am the Kingfish, does this make them Standard Oil ?
And raises the question of who in that conflict was the greater bastard, neh ?

Yup, and oh, Standard Oil wins hand's down! My mom worked for them in the early part of this century...she had stories to tell...!

I got what you were saying right off, Mike, and I agree; high compliment indeed! One I would be proud to hear said of ME, fer shore. For all he did wrong, and all he did right THE WRONG WAY, Long was waaaay ahead of his time (maybe even OUR time...)

"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

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Thursday, March 18, 2010 9:29 AM

FREMDFIRMA

That was kinda how I saw it - not that I am any kinda moral paragon myself given how dirty I played the former city council, mind you...

But it was Long's concepts and programs that fascinated me, because they seem very similar to the kind of social and economic justice that Rue and Signym are usually pulling for, and I was hoping to get their input on it as well to see where their concepts might cross over and differ.

Kinda funny that I don't think he was aware many of the same reforms he was pulling for had been initially fronted by the IWW about twenty years prior, before the brutal suppression and near destruction visited upon them by the State and the AFL under Sam Gompers, under the guise of the first red scare, backed up with phony patriotism.

-F

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