Park Overall for Tennessee!

Most of you know my friend Park Overall for her many TV roles, most memorably as Laverne on Empty Nest from 1988-1995.



For the last couple of years, I've known her in a different context: as a fiery advocate for progressive causes, from health care to women's rights. She is witty, wise, and never afraid to speak her mind or show her passion for justice. She is a person of great integrity and I have an enormous amount of respect for her (plus she's a fellow Tennessean!)

And today (April 4) she made a very important announcement:

" I went to Nashville, I spoke, I met, I saw. Today, I announce here, first to the The Tennessean, 2nd to the Greeneville Sun, and now to you, my most fun people: I am filed to run against Bob Corker for the US Senate. The Blunt amendment put me over the top. I am sick of rhetoric, and as all of you who know me, know, I have an East TN fire in the belly. I am tired of liars, cons and theives, a filthy environment and the subjugation of the poor, let alone the middle class. I am not buyable, and I don't have 7.5 million for my campaign. But I have you, or some of you, and I believe, I believe, I believe! Hang on, 'it's gonna be a bumpy ride.' weeeeeeeeeee!"


I aim to blog, speak, knock on doors...whatever it takes. Because Park Overall is the kind of person Tennessee needs -the kind of person we deserve -representing us in Washington. As a historian I have been concerned for some time now that certain political elements are trying (successfully) to steer us back into the Gilded Age -a time of social darwinism, when the working man and woman had almost no rights (nor the working child, for that matter, and there were a lot of them!) Our country's only hope is if history continues to rhyme, and this type of social engineering energizes new voices on the left who are unafraid to speak  up and help stir a new Progressive Age. My friend Park is stepping up to take that challenge. If you live in Tennessee, or know folks who do, help me spread the word.

Park Overall for U.S. Senate. Park Overall for Tennessee.