Trego's Mountain Ear

I noticed that Jesse Jackson joined the majority this week, passing at 84. I remember 1988, when he finished the Democratic primary as the next candidate behind Dukakis – and ahead of Al Gore and Joe Biden. I was surveying down in Noxon, and pointed out that the folks down there didn’t seem to be bigots – “See – that pickup has a ‘Run, Jesse, Run’ bumper sticker.” My observation was shot down by Ken’s comment: “Mike, it’s on the front bumper.” I’d still like to believe that Jesse had a supporter in Sanders County – but Ken had reasoning in his observation.

Not a perfect man – despite his ordination. Still, a man who overcame personal disadvantages beyond race – and I recall how, during the early eighties he traveled outside the US to negotiate the release of Americans held hostage in some of the world’s nastier places – a pilot in Syria, over twenty Americans in Cuba, and a meeting with Saddam Hussein that resulted in the release of a group of Brits and Americans.

Can’t say that I agreed with him on every topic, or even most topics when it came to economics – unfortunately, liberalism in our lifetime moved from the freedoms noted by America’s founders to the government ownership and control demanded by the Marxist’s philosophy. Still and all, he did more than his share of good.