Still True

The more that things change, the more they remain the same. The Republican Party still "represents the big special interests, the oil lobby, the real estate lobby, the big corporations and the banks, and all the rest of that crew". They are a little smarter now though. They include side issues like abortion, flag-burning, creationism, school prayer, religious bigotry, and a thinly-disguised racism. They know they can't really do anything about these issues (since they would have to change the Constitution to do so), and probably don't really want to do anything about them.

But these issues are effective in whipping up passion among non-thinkers, and they provide a great cover for what the Republicans really want to do -- deregulate and remove consumer protections for Wall Street and the corporations, give massive new tax cuts to the rich, protect corporations from having to spend any money to stop polluting the air, water, and earth, abolish Medicare, privatize Social Security, destroy public education, destroy unions, and drastically slash spending on social programs that help hurting Americans.

In Truman's time, the Democrats were the protectors of the working people, women, minorities, and the poor. They have somewhat strayed from this mission sadly, but they are still a much better alternative than returning the Republicans to power. We may not have a great choice in November, but we do have a choice -- and the best choice we have is to re-elect the president, give him a Democratic Congress, and then hold the Democrats feet to the fire, in the hope that they will find their way back to their progressive tradition (represented by presidents like Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson).

Margaret Truman Dies

On Tuesday, Margaret Truman Daniel died at the age of 83. The AP reports that she died at a Chicago assisted-living facility following a brief illness. She had been at the facility for a few weeks.

She was the daughter of President Harry Truman and his wife, Bess. Mrs. Daniel was the only child the couple had, and she was born in Independence (Missouri) on February 17, 1924.

She had a varied career as a concert singer, actress, radio and TV personality, and author. She is perhaps best known today as a well-respected writer in the mystery genre. She wrote Murder in the White House in 1980, and it was very well-received. She followed up with several other mystery novels, all set in government locations in Washington, D.C.

She said of her years living in the White House, "I feel that I've lived several different lives and that was one of them. Some of it was fun, but most of it was not. It was a great view of history being made. The only thing I ever missed about the White House was having a car and driver."

She is pictured above with her father.