COMMENTARY | Back in the old days Grandpa sat at the head of the adults’ table for Thanksgiving. You’d think there wouldn’t be much political controversy in a family of Yellow Dog Democrats. Grandpa was smart, though. He’d always come up with a pertinent political question that would put half of the family arguing for and half against.
I was still sitting at the kids’ table but could hear a discussion about Adlai Stevenson and Dwight D. Eisenhower heating up. Being a moderate Republican, Eisenhower didn’t exactly make my family foam at the mouth, but he wasn’t a Democrat either. And that was the debatable point.
Grandpa passed on and Dad moved to the head of the table. I guess it’s in the genes of the family because Dad could stir the political pot at Thanksgiving just like Grandpa. By then I sat at the adult’s table. The topic of the meal was Republican Ronald Regan and incumbent Democrat president Jimmy Carter. I made the family foam at the mouth by coming out of the closet. I announced that I was a registered Republican and was going to vote for Ronald Reagan. I came pretty close to being banned back to the kids’ table.
More time passed and Dad no longer worries much about politics. I’m sitting at the head of the table now and I guess it’s up to me to stir the pot. Things have gone topsy-turvy in the world. My Mother, the old Yellow Dog Democrat, bless her little heart, bad-mouths President Obama every chance she gets. I’m the Republican and I’m telling her Obama’s not so bad – it’s Congress we’ve got to worry about! This has got to be the worst Congress any country has ever had. And this will be the stick I use to stir the pot this year at Thanksgiving.
I won’t have to stir much. The pot is boiling, and the political soup is bitter. This may be the time we all band together, Republican and Democrat hand in hand, and kick the whole bunch of politicians out of office. I’ll carry on the tradition set by Dad and Grandpa. Thanksgiving, politics, and football. I’m going to do them proud.
Sources:
Personal experience
The Presidents of the United States
The US House of Representatives
The US Senate
The New York Times