This November: Part 5
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Give me Liberty
Rodger Williamson
Again, picking up from where I left off from last week, I continue with my thoughts regarding the candidates for governor of Alabama. This week, we start in on the Democratic opposition.
Our first Democratic candidate for governor of Alabama is Arthur Kennedy, who was born in Louisville, Alabama. Kennedy states that he is a U.S. Army veteran and that he earned a bachelor’s degree from Troy University, graduating last year, in 2021.
Kennedy started his official introduction with the fact that he was a “Christian.” While that is fine and dandy, it should mean nothing with regard to the position that he is seeking, as any public official should be able to separate the duties of their position from their personal religious views, so that they may equally represent ALL of their constituents and not just those that have similar affinities.
Kennedy then, in my opinion, contradicts himself after he had announced his line in the sand by stating, “In order to serve Alabamians leaders got to understand and promote the quality of life for each individual. Meaning every law or bill that is passed has to represent all cultures.”
If Kennedy is a Christian first and foremost, what will his biases be should he have to make an official decision regarding a non-Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, or an atheist?
Kennedy has stated that he “would like to focus on education, minimum wage and equality of life,” indicating to me that he has little understanding that less government involvement in what should be a free market is what actually leads to better conditions for all.
Kennedy’s campaign slogan is “Time for Change.” Kennedy stated that “this motto represents me as a citizen of Alabama. Every time a citizen of Alabama leaves the state and enters the state, I see ‘Alabama the Beautiful’ or ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ In order to serve Alabamians leaders got to understand and promote the quality of life for each individual. Meaning every law or bill that is passed has to represent all cultures.”
To me, Kennedy’s poor grammar used in his responses does not reflect well upon either his chosen profession as an educator or his desired position to be the CEO of our state’s government.
However, of all that Kennedy had to say, the comment that struck me as most odd was his answer to “What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?”
Kennedy answered, “The first Black president of the United States, at the age of 47.” Doing some quick math, Kennedy would have been born in about 1961 or 62, making him about one year older than I am.
Shooting from the hip, I can easily recall many other “first historical events in my lifetime” such as the MLK and RFK assassinations in 1968; man on the moon in 1969; the 1973 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam; the 1970 Kent State Shooting; Watergate in 1972; the 1973-1974 Oil Embargo; Nixon resigning in 1974; the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis; John Lennon being shot in 1980; the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980; the royal wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981; the 1982 Falkland’s War; the invasion of Grenada in 1983; the 1980s Solidarity Movement in Poland; the Berlin Wall coming down in 1989, and the invasion U.S. of Panama; the 1990-1991 Desert Shield / Storm Persian Gulf War; the USSR dissolving in 1991; the Rodney King Riots in 1992; the “Blackhawk Down” battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993; the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995; the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995; the 2001 World Trade Center / Pentagon terrorist attacks; the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan; the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and finally getting up to 2008 when Barack Obama was elected.
I don’t know about you, but if someone has been alive for 47 years and has no recollection of any other historical event prior to that time, maybe he misunderstood the question as “most impactful” instead of “first remembered?” But what else might he misunderstand as the governor of Alabama?
I leave it to the people of Alabama to vote their conscience in the upcoming primaries, but as for me, Arthur Kennedy gets a “no.”
Again, because of the limitations of space available for a weekly opinion column, I must stop here, and I will begin to sort through the Democratic Party candidates for the position of governor of Alabama in next week’s “Coosa County News.”