A Liberal Dose, Dec. 19, 2024 "The Hand You Hold Is the Hand That Holds You Down"

 

A Liberal Dose

December 19, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“The Hand you Hold Is the Hand That Holds You Down”

 

By now, everyone knows about Luigi Mangione and Brian Thompson. Thompson was the CEO of a major insurance company who was assassinated by Mangione while in New York attending a conference. The killer’s identity was a mystery for a few days, although he did leave clues to his motive: he had written the words deny, defend, and depose on the bullet casings left at the scene, words associated with denied insurance claims.

Many people, myself included, were shocked by the public response. Social media was full of posts celebrating the murder, most implying that the victim deserved it and some implying the killer was a hero. Some people, in their posts, recounted their own hardships in dealing with insurance companies, ranging from denied claims to canceled coverage that led to intense pain, suffering, and in some case the death of a loved one. It was immediate, and it was intense. I overheard some people saying similar things out loud.

Many assumed that the killer, once caught, would prove to be a radical leftist (I’m surprised I didn’t hear more references to antifa). However, just like the two people who tried to assassinate Trump, he did not fit the expected stereotype. Mangione grew up in wealth and privilege, a member of a prominent and actively GOP family. His own social media presence has included praise for Joe Rogan, RFK, Jr., J.D. Vance, and Tucker Carlson. The turning point seems to have come when he had a serious surfing injury that led to a permanent back condition and a lot of pain. In other words, he was not an ideological Robin-Hood-like social bandit, as much as some on both the left and right expected him to be one.

Let’s go back to the public response, specifically the large number of people who immediately identified with the killer, demonized the victim, and celebrated the incident. Let me begin by stating categorically that I do not support political violence, nor do I believe anyone has the right -unless they are a legal judge or jury -to weigh in on whether another human being deserves to die. I believe firmly in the use of violence as a last resort to defend oneself or the lives of others, but not as a political statement.

That being said. There is a REASON this act has resonated with so many people, so strongly, and it has nothing to do with political parties. And the reason is this: just about everybody, unless they are independently wealthy, has a story about struggling with the policies laid down by the CEOs and other top executives of the healthcare industry. I’m not talking about the people who work at the hospital, they are tireless, dedicated heroes. I’m not talking about your local insurance agent -I know most of the ones in Sparta personally, and they are great people, many of whom are deeply invested in the community. I’m talking about the people at the top, who make decisions about how to make an extra dollar for themselves and their investors, and whose business decisions lead to suffering for middle-and working-class people. And it makes folks frustrated, and angry. Those feelings are something most people can identify with.

Let’s take that a step further. It’s not just healthcare billionaires that affect your life. Tick off some of the economic issues that make you angry. High gas prices? Oil companies are making record profits. High groceries? Those companies are making record profits. YOU are NOT making record profits. You are struggling to get by, more so every day. Some of you hitched your wagons to the promises of Trump, who said he would lower prices on day one. You might not have been paying attention, but in an interview last week with Time Magazine, Trump backed off on those promises, saying there is little he can do about high prices and he can’t promise to lower them. He also said he can’t promise that his tariffs won’t make prices go up. His pal Elon Musk said that their plans to cut spending will cause a lot of pain in the beginning. Other Republicans are already gearing up to come after your social security and your Medicaid, and your health insurance if you are covered by the Affordable Care Act.

The kind of people I’m talking about used to be called Robber Barons. They have been robbing you your whole life, making grandiose (but hollow) promises and telling you whatever they thought you wanted to hear, all in an effort to take more money out of your pockets and put it into their own, which are already stuffed full.

It is criminal, immoral, and just plain wrong to physically harm those people.

No, friends… you just need to stop voting for them. Watch those prices, folks, and see which way they go.

 

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

A Liberal Dose, December 12, 2024 "Perhaps Introductions Are in Order"

 

A Liberal Dose

December 12, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“Perhaps introductions are in order”

 

Before we get started this week: my Thanksgiving message didn’t make it into the paper that week. If you’re interested, you can read it here: http://bit.ly/41nC8ws. Now, on to new business.

Have you ever been on any of the Sparta-related pages on Facebook? I visit those a lot. I’ve noticed recently that there are some conversation threads on there where almost everyone talking has moved into our county from some other part of the country within the past few years. I feel that, generally, that has way more pros than cons. But it did drive something home to me- I can no longer assume that practically everyone in town knows me. Twenty years ago, I could assume that -or at least that it was more likely than not that anyone I ran into was either someone I knew or someone whose kinfolks I knew. That might’ve been because we had worked together at some point, or went to school together, or had been neighbors. Sometimes they knew me but I didn’t know them, because back then I was in the paper from time to time (and everyone read the paper then) for the western novels I wrote.

All this is to say: it’s entirely possible you, the reader, know me only from this column. And maybe you find yourself thinking “Where does this fancy, elitist college professor get off, preaching at me every week about politics from his ivory tower and his ivy halls?” Seriously, I know some people who think of me that way. For one thing, they probably don’t know just how much a humanities professor gets paid at a state university -I work more in kudzu halls than ivy ones. For another, though, they don’t know ME. So, I’m going to do something I do every couple of years on here, and introduce myself.

I am a 1986 graduate of WCHS. I was born here, at the old hospital (which is now NHC). My mother was born here as well- both sets of her grandparents had moved here from nearby Jackson County before WWI. On my dad’s side, his family had lived around the Overton County/Jackson County border for generations. My dad was born on the Overton County side, and his family moved to Sparta in the early 50s when he was eight. The families of all four of my grandparents were in this region since White and Overton Counties were formed (in 1806), and possibly before.

As for me, I lived in South Florida for a few months when I was 19 (1987-88), then spent almost a year living in Brooklyn (1988-89), in both cases doing mission work with Haitian immigrants using the French I took from the dear Mrs. Sarah Jane Thurman (and getting better at it after a couple of years!) Then I moved back home, got married, and became a father. I had been buffing and waxing floors since I was 14, and continued to do so until I was 37. I wrote my first novel manuscript when I was 19 (mostly to entertain myself, as I was being locked in department stores overnight for up to 12 hours, and the work didn’t take that long). In my mid-twenties I started getting published in magazines and books, and won some awards. At age 32 I decided to find a better way to support my nasty writing habit, so I started college as a double-major in History and English, the first person in my family to ever attend a university. I graduated from Tennessee Tech in 2004, and in 2005 started grad studies at the University of Illinois, where I earned my master’s and then PhD (in 2011). Then I was lucky enough to get a job at my alma mater, and come back home to Sparta with my Minnesota-born wife and step-daughter. Since then I have played an active role in my workplace union.

Here's my point. I come from a blue-collar, working-class family, and I was a janitor for over 20 years. My family has been in these hills for over two centuries. I am proud to be from Tennessee, and proud to be from White County. These folks are my people. And if you’ve moved here, now you’re my people too. I am not some elitist, fancy big-city guy who thinks you’re dumb and that he’s better than you. I am one of you. I am on here talking TO you… I am never talking AT you. Thanks for listening.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

A Liberal Dose December 5, 2024 "The Truth About the Economy"

 

A Liberal Dose

December 5, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“The truth about the economy”

This week I’m going to talk again about what I think the Democratic Party needs more of going forward: economic populism. I do not mean for that to replace championing the rights of oppressed groups, as some people are calling for, but rather for it to be something that is done as much, as often, and as strongly as championing oppressed groups. You cannot do one of those two things and neglect the other and still be an effective force for a strong and diverse society.

Let’s start by looking at some history. Study after study has shown that the economy improves more, and faster, under Democratic leadership than under Republican. This is because Republicans often make the economy worse, primarily by drastically cutting taxes on the wealthy. Will Rogers pointed out almost a century ago that Democrats get into office by promising to clean up Republicans’ messes, and when they are too slow in doing so they get kicked out and the Republicans are brought back in to undo what progress was made. This is exactly what just happened to the Biden/Harris administration. When Trump left office there was record unemployment and the economy was on the verge of collapse. Under Biden unemployment went down, wages went up, the stock market went up… but the average American didn’t feel it, because of inflation. Supply interruptions caused by Covid caused inflation to skyrocket, as did energy fears over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the last year or two, as various other economic indicators have been very positive, inflation has stopped going up at a precipitous rate… but that didn’t help people much, since the prices that had gone so high did not come down. So instead, voters chose to return to the guy who expedited everything crashing in the first place, and that is going to prove a very unwise idea.

Assuming that his narrow victory is a mandate, Trump is going to overreach very quickly. He has already started doing so, and he is not even in office yet. Quite a few Trump voters are going to be dismayed at some of the draconian steps he takes as soon as he gets into the White House, as their primary motivation in voting for him was inflation and not social warfare. Most of his voters, though, are going to be fine with all that. What they will not be fine with, and what is going to take them by surprise, is the fact he will once again run the economy into the ground, especially if he follows through on his promises about tariffs and mass deportations. Prices are going to go up, not down, over the next two years. Let’s mark it: this week the national average for gas is $3.01 per gallon, the average price for eggs at the time of the election was $3.37, and the average price of milk was $4.04. Average rent is $1559 per month, average home price $501,100, average vehicle price $48,397 (all those prices are going to be lower in rural Tennessee). Unemployment is at 4.1%. We do not yet know the 2024 poverty rate, as the year is not over, but as soon as we have it, let’s mark it and compare it to a year later. Let’s all check in on these markers in December of 2025.

By the midterms two years from now, there is going to be some buyers’ remorse. Democrats have a good chance to make substantial gains in Congress, and two years later to take back the White House. But only if they carry forth the right message. The message cannot be “I told you so.” The message cannot be “you’re stupid.” The message has to be “The Democratic Party cares about YOU, as much as about anybody else.” It has to be this: “The middle class and the working class have to all band together, along with empathetic wealthy people, against the fat cats who want to divide us in order to take even more money.” The Bible says the LOVE of money is the root of all evil, not money itself. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with being well-off. Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy were all raised in wealth and luxury… but they all had empathy for the working people of America, and sought to help them, not to use them.

Too many liberals have lost empathy for the working class, or the ability to identify with them, and it shows. There is a sense of condescension for what was once one of the largest parts of the Democratic base. But there are plenty of union workers out there organizing, and showing us how to get things done. The rest of the Democratic Party needs to start following their lead.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

A Liberal Dose, Nov. 28, 2024 "We Have Many Reasons to Be Thankful"

 

A Liberal Dose

November 28, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“We have many reasons to be thankful”

 

For many of my indigenous friends around the country, the whole month of November -and especially Thanksgiving -is considered a month of mourning. Mourning for things lost, people lost, opportunities lost, land lost. I know that for many of my progressive friends, devastated by the recent election, there is also a sense of mourning, and of casting about for things to feel thankful for. Many of my conservative friends are rejoicing, some claiming we are about to enter a new golden age, and they are no doubt feeling very thankful… but a few weeks ago they, too, were worried about the future and discontent about the present, especially about the high cost of living. I fear that inflation is not going to magically go away with a change in the White House, and if Trump follows through on his tariff promises things will probably get a lot worse. The momentary joy of being on the winning side will pass, and golden dreams will feel hollow and tin-plated.

But we all do have a lot to be thankful for, right here, right now. I am thankful for the life I am privileged to lead, the breath I am privileged to draw. I am thankful for family, and friends, and faith. I am thankful for hope, which always manages to shine through even if only in slivers, like sunlight through the cracks in a prison wall, offering the smell of life and freedom, even in the now. I am thankful to still live in a land based on principles and ideals, though imperfectly formed and sometimes fraught with hardship and danger. I am thankful to be part of an ongoing process of striving to form a more perfect union, to be one set of hands in the myriad seeking to mold this country into what the vision of it promises to be, rather than be content with what it is today or what it was yesterday. I do not seek to make America great again, I seek again to make America great. I do not seek to divide and conquer, I seek to conquer the divide. We do not seek to tear down the government, we seek to govern the torn down.

So, for today, let’s take a deep breath and be thankful for what we have.

Tomorrow we will start thinking about how to hold on to it.

 

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

   

 Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

A Liberal Dose, November 21, 2024 "What Democrats Need to Learn How to Do"

A Liberal Dose

November 21, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“What Democrats Need to Learn How to Do”

 

Last week I said I would talk about what the Democrats could have done differently, and why things may have turned out the way they did. The short answer, of course, is that a majority of voters preferred Trump and the vision of the future that he offered. How can we reach those voters next time?

 

A lot of pundits and talking heads are asking this question. I will tell you a couple of things that I believe were factors, and one thing a lot of pundits and Democratic leaders are saying which I think is wrong- and, at the end, what I think is the biggest change Democrats must make.

 

First, the biggest thing. Inflation. Yes, numbers show our economy is booming, but working class people are not feeling it- because, during Covid, prices skyrocketed and never came back down. Yes, they did stop going UP as fast, which is good, but they did not come DOWN. And working people feel that, hard. Fact is, whoever was in power was going to take the blame for that, deserved or not, and was probably not going to win the election because of it. It could have been addressed, better, though, and that will come into my final part in a few paragraphs.

 

Second, the White House support -physical, financial, logistical support -for Netanyahu’s actions in Palestine, which have become genocidal, lost Biden and Harris a lot of support on the left. It may not have been enough to have decided the election, but it was significant. Harris should have separated herself from Biden’s policy on the matter. They lost a lot of votes in swing states over that.

 

Now for the part pundits are saying that I don’t agree with. I’ve seen a lot of progressive-leaning commentators and even Democratic politicians saying “woke is broke.” That liberals have spent too much time preaching about things the average American doesn’t care about, or is opposed to, like trans rights and Black Lives Matter, and drove swing voters away. Well, I’ll agree that drove some people away -but I do not agree it was wrong to do, nor that it was the real problem. Our movement must never become one that is willing to throw the civil rights and safety of vulnerable or minority groups under the bus. Or to throw basic decency under the bus.

 

I am going to take a moment to say that Trump was very effective in using these issues. He was able to be openly racist against people of color and still get the votes of many of them, by appealing to their prejudices against other groups. This was especially effective in getting the support of young men of color by taking advantage of the misogyny some of them had. He was able to get the support of women by appealing to their fears and prejudices against various groups. He and his followers have done all of that, and anyone who points it out is labeled by them as the divisive one. It is by no means a new tactic, it is centuries old in this country.

 

But here is what I think Democrats are bad at, and need to get better at. Dealing with working class and working poor Americans. And, in fact, rural America and the South in general. Liberals need to stop being condescending to such folks, and painting them all with the same broad brush, and insulting them en masse. This is not something new from me -if you’ve followed this column, or followed me on social media, you’ll know I’ve been saying it for years. Some of you may have witnessed the fury that pours from me when liberal people who agree with what I’m saying talk about stupid, uneducated hillbillies. And many of those who are not outright insulting just don’t know how to talk to regular people. That needs to change, and change fast.

 

What we really need is an economic populist from the left to pull working class people together across racial and regional divides -someone disruptive like Bernie Sanders, but younger. Someone not afraid to offend the one-percenters who are benefiting from all of this chaos. Which brings me back to inflation -all those prices didn’t HAVE to go up and stay up. Whole industries took advantage of the opportunity to stick it to the working man and woman and line their own pockets even more. They need to be taxed to pay their fair share, and regulated to prevent their price-gouging. Working class people need someone to step up, to join in with unions, who will inspire them to stand up for their own rights and not be controlled by fat cats on golden (bathroom) thrones who are making a fortune off their sweat, and dividing us all to keep us compliant.

 

There needs to be Power to the People. And to get that, you have to actually engage the People, and speak to them in a language they understand, without being high-and-mighty.

 

Folks, when we get that figured out -and we will -there is going to be a real wave of change in this country.

 

Courage.

 

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

A Liberal Dose, November 14, 2024 “When in doubt, tell the truth”

 

 A Liberal Dose

November 14, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“When in Doubt, Tell the Truth”

I want to start off by thanking everyone who helped make our second trip to the Cherokee food pantry a success. I believe there are several churches that will be taking over from here. Just a word about the Living Waters Lutheran Church and food pantry -it is not the official tribal food pantry. Official tribal resources only go to enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians -but there are many non-EBCI Natives there, including quite a few Oklahoma Cherokees and members of a lot of tribes who have moved there to work. The church pantry is open for the needs of everyone living in the Quallah Boundary (or reservation).  A lot of people in need have been helped by your generous donations, and they asked me to convey their thanks. 

That said, let’s jump in- to my first column written after the election. 

A lot of my fellow liberals have been pretty disheartened, even despondent, this past week. Others are angry. I have stepped up on social media to emphasize to people that this is not the time to lie down and give up on our ideals, and give in to defeat. It is time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start getting ready for the next election -which also means time to organize, to strategize, and to analyze what we can do differently. I’ve had some conservative friends criticize me for this, saying that instead I should be calling for people to unite together and all get along -to which I reply, I love getting along, but if by getting along you mean keep quiet and stop fighting for what we believe in, the correct word there is “submit.” And that seems very Orwellian, when you consider what would have happened -and what DID happen, last time -if the election had gone the other way. You will see no insurrections from us, or efforts to illegally overturn the results of the election… because our primary loyalty is to principle, and the Constitution, not to making sure our person wins no matter what.  

But be that as it may. There are some facts that cannot be denied. This time around, the vote was not super-close. This time around, Trump won not only the electoral college   -handily -but the popular vote (which a Republican presidential candidate hasn’t managed to do in 20 years). While there were some hijinks, the Russians did not tip the election, or even come close. The fact is, the majority of American voters chose Donald Trump (and, in so doing, the vision of America he offers). I might not like that, but it happened, and -like the Democratic Party in general -I acknowledge it and have no intention of doing anything other than acquiesce to the peaceful, orderly, transfer of power, as sincere Americans have done for almost 250 years (with one notable exception). 

But, while that might be the truth, there are other truths -on which I rest my own principles -and I will not stop speaking those truths (hence the Mark Twain quote I used as the title of this column). By the way, as I predicted in my last column, in the past week I have seen various incarnations of the liberal-leaning media (on screens and in print) scrambling madly to the right, no doubt in fear of consequences that may arise from the new administration. You won’t see me doing that. 

But I will be talking, probably in my next column, about what I perceive to be the weaknesses of the left and changes I think need to be made in order to succeed. That is, or should be, the normal response of someone whose party and movement fell short in an election.  

There are still people in this county and this state who feel like I do -we may be a minority, but we remain a sizeable one. To those people I say: don’t despair. The game is not lost. The other side just scored, and they are on the sidelines celebrating (boy are they), but all this means is that the ball is back in our hands and now they are on defense, and we are on offense. It’s time to huddle up, then start marching that ball up the field a few yards at a time.  

Stiyu- have courage. 

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU. 

A Liberal Dose, November 7, 2024 "Now Is the Time for Courage"

 A Liberal Dose

November 7, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly”

 

I am writing this column more than two days before the election, yet you will be reading it two days after. I don’t know what will happen -at this point it looks like it could go either way -whereas you know what has happened already, assuming it is decided within two days (and who knows if it will be). All of which leaves me in a strange place to be writing.

So I am going to spend this time talking about things that are true no matter who wins (or won), and that will sadly remain relevant no matter the election’s outcome.

First, I love movies. When I try to narrow it down to my favorite, I always come up with a three-way tie (High Noon, Casablanca, and It’s a Wonderful Life)… closely followed by the Godfather saga.

Those top three picks had a huge influence on me as a kid, as I was trying to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. They all featured good, positive, masculine role models (as portrayed by Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, and Jimmy Stewart), and -though very different genres -they had something else in common. They each featured a hero who stood up for what he knew was right, against overwhelming odds, despite great risk and even great personal cost to himself. Marshal Will Kane in High Noon did this despite no one he trusted believing in him. Michael Corleone in the Godfather movies, of course, is NOT a good role model. But there is still a similar lesson to be learned: he tried to protect his family by giving in and controlling the family business (which, we learn early on, he believes is wrong), doing absolutely terrible things in the process… and wound up destroying his family, instead of protecting them. It’s a roundabout way of saying the same thing. Do what you know is right, because it is worth the cost, whereas doing the wrong thing is NOT worth the cost.

Last week I talked about the incivility and even violence that has become the norm in the Trump era, and gave examples of many people who -out of fear -have knuckled under. A recent opinion piece about the Washington Post scrapping its planned endorsement of Harris out of Jeff Bezos's fear that Trump might win and exact economic revenge on him carried this subtitle:

"The collapse of civil courage in the Trump era is a historical parallel to Nazi Germany"

I see this collapse of civil courage increasingly, not just in politics and public life, but in academia... which is increasingly inextricably linked to politics. In the current bullying atmosphere, some teachers are afraid to teach; some reporters are afraid to report; some librarians are afraid to encourage reading; some doctors are afraid to save lives. And some go much further, joining in on the chorus against the “other” to avoid being lumped in with them.

I am reminded of people during the Hollywood blacklist era who protected themselves and their own careers by naming names and throwing others to the wolves... and when the tide of public opinion turned, it was they themselves who were cast out as traitors and cowards, and shunned by their industry. High Noon, by the way (in case you didn’t know), was written as an allegory of that very blacklisting process, using several blacklisted actors and crew.

I am also reminded of people in occupied countries like France and the Netherlands who, to protect themselves, collaborated with the Nazis rather than struggle against them. When the Nazis were defeated, such people were left to face the fury of those whom they had left to suffer while gaining safety for themselves, as well as their own consciences… many of them contorting themselves like pretzels in an effort to avoid the judgment of their grandchildren. The same holds true for the many who, though they did not actively collaborate, stood by and did nothing and pretended not to know what was really going on.

Well, no one ever has to wonder where I stand or what I think, and they never will. I take to heart the motto of Davy Crockett (who sacrificed his political career to oppose Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal plan): "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." When reminded he would have to face his voters, he remarked that he had to face himself in the mirror and one day he would have to face God. He was the sort of politician we don’t see often, and need to see more of, at least in that regard.

It is a sad statement about our times that I often have sincere friends, on the left and the right, express concern for my safety because of the things I say on here. Since I was a teenager I have identified with Jeremiah, who -when he tried to stop speaking the truth because it kept bringing him violent reprisals -said that it burned in his bones like fire until he had to let it out. I would be miserable if I did not speak out what I see to be truth.

To quote the great historian and general Thucydides: “The secret to happiness is freedom, and the secret to freedom is courage.”

To quote Paul in his letter to Timothy: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

And, finally, to quote Thomas Paine in 1776: “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”

A couple of weeks ago I told you what Cherokees say instead of goodbye (“we will see each other again”). Here is another expression sometimes used in place of farewells:

Stiyu. Have courage.

 

 --Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party and the board of the Tennessee chapter of American Indian Movement (AIM) -Indian Territory. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

A Liberal Dose, Nov. 7, 2024 "Now Is a Time for Courage"

 

A Liberal Dose

November 7, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly”

 

I am writing this column more than two days before the election, yet you will be reading it two days after. I don’t know what will happen -at this point it looks like it could go either way -whereas you know what has happened already, assuming it is decided within two days (and who knows if it will be). All of which leaves me in a strange place to be writing.

So I am going to spend this time talking about things that are true no matter who wins (or won), and that will sadly remain relevant no matter the election’s outcome.

First, I love movies. When I try to narrow it down to my favorite, I always come up with a three-way tie (High Noon, Casablanca, and It’s a Wonderful Life)… closely followed by the Godfather saga.

Those top three picks had a huge influence on me as a kid, as I was trying to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. They all featured good, positive, masculine role models (as portrayed by Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, and Jimmy Stewart), and -though very different genres -they had something else in common. They each featured a hero who stood up for what he knew was right, against overwhelming odds, despite great risk and even great personal cost to himself. Marshal Will Kane in High Noon did this despite no one he trusted believing in him. Michael Corleone in the Godfather movies, of course, is NOT a good role model. But there is still a similar lesson to be learned: he tried to protect his family by giving in and controlling the family business (which, we learn early on, he believes is wrong), doing absolutely terrible things in the process… and wound up destroying his family, instead of protecting them. It’s a roundabout way of saying the same thing. Do what you know is right, because it is worth the cost, whereas doing the wrong thing is NOT worth the cost.

Last week I talked about the incivility and even violence that has become the norm in the Trump era, and gave examples of many people who -out of fear -have knuckled under. A recent opinion piece about the Washington Post scrapping its planned endorsement of Harris out of Jeff Bezos's fear that Trump might win and exact economic revenge on him carried this subtitle:

"The collapse of civil courage in the Trump era is a historical parallel to Nazi Germany"

I see this collapse of civil courage increasingly, not just in politics and public life, but in academia... which is increasingly inextricably linked to politics. In the current bullying atmosphere, some teachers are afraid to teach; some reporters are afraid to report; some librarians are afraid to encourage reading; some doctors are afraid to save lives. And some go much further, joining in on the chorus against the “other” to avoid being lumped in with them.

I am reminded of people during the Hollywood blacklist era who protected themselves and their own careers by naming names and throwing others to the wolves... and when the tide of public opinion turned, it was they themselves who were cast out as traitors and cowards, and shunned by their industry. High Noon, by the way (in case you didn’t know), was written as an allegory of that very blacklisting process, using several blacklisted actors and crew.

I am also reminded of people in occupied countries like France and the Netherlands who, to protect themselves, collaborated with the Nazis rather than struggle against them. When the Nazis were defeated, such people were left to face the fury of those whom they had left to suffer while gaining safety for themselves, as well as their own consciences… many of them contorting themselves like pretzels in an effort to avoid the judgment of their grandchildren. The same holds true for the many who, though they did not actively collaborate, stood by and did nothing and pretended not to know what was really going on.

Well, no one ever has to wonder where I stand or what I think, and they never will. I take to heart the motto of Davy Crockett (who sacrificed his political career to oppose Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal plan): "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." When reminded he would have to face his voters, he remarked that he had to face himself in the mirror and one day he would have to face God. He was the sort of politician we don’t see often, and need to see more of, at least in that regard.

It is a sad statement about our times that I often have sincere friends, on the left and the right, express concern for my safety because of the things I say on here. Since I was a teenager I have identified with Jeremiah, who -when he tried to stop speaking the truth because it kept bringing him violent reprisals -said that it burned in his bones like fire until he had to let it out. I would be miserable if I did not speak out what I see to be truth.

To quote the great historian and general Thucydides: “The secret to happiness is freedom, and the secret to freedom is courage.”

To quote Paul in his letter to Timothy: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

And, finally, to quote Thomas Paine in 1776: “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”

A couple of weeks ago I told you what Cherokees say instead of goodbye (“we will see each other again”). Here is another expression sometimes used in place of farewells:

Stiyu. Have courage.

 

 --Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party and the board of the Tennessee chapter of American Indian Movement (AIM) -Indian Territory. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE