Travel only with thy equals or thy betters;
if there are none, travel alone.
The Dhammapada
Political Potpourri
- McConnell To Be Primaried? The Democrats would love to ally themselves with a Tea Party candidate to replace more formidable mainstream GOP candidates. We have seen sure-GOP seat pickups or retention in Delaware, Colorado, Nevada, Indiana, and Missouri lost by candidates out of step with purplish states. First of all, the chances for any one ideologically pure candidate of getting anything out of a Senate where Democrats can filibuster and Obama can veto are near-zero. Second, McConnell has done a great job blocking Democrats from steamrolling the GOP--that's why the Democrats have sought to weaken minority rights in the Senate. They wouldn't do that if they thought they would lose the Senate in 2014. It's one thing to take out a pragmatic candidate in a solid red state like Utah or Kansas, but for a while Rand Paul was in trouble in Kentucky; that should be enough to scare off ideological opponents to McConnell. I think McConnell is not afraid to play hardball against his potential opponents, including an overrated Hollywood actress. But why would Kentucky vote out one of the most influential US senators? How does that help Kentucky?
- Scott Brown Won't Run For the Senate. Brown's gripe against the partisan nature of the Senate is pure BS. This is the same Senate he sought to return to against "Cherokee Lizzie" Warren. This has everything to do with Brown having to defend the Kerry seat again in 2014. That would make 4 statewide runs in 4 years where in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans; for example, in my parents' birth city Fall River (below), in 2008, the registration edge was 58%-7%. But the real story here is the open governor's race next year. The GOP has enjoyed great success in the post-Dukakis era running for governor (except for the 2-term incumbent, Deval Patrick). Drudge is carrying a story suggesting Mrs. Romney or eldest son Tagg could run. I don't think so; Mitt probably remembers his mom's unsuccessful Michigan bid in 1970. I think it does open up the door for a more unconventional candidate, say, a businessman or economist, to run an anti-insider campaign against Markey. Maybe the GOP could get a Dem to jump parties, but my best guess is Markey gets a pass.The only good note is that Barney Frank did not get the interim gig he sought; Gov. Patrick named a Kerry staffer.
- Former NYC Mayor Koch Dead. You have to forgive confused liberals: was Ed one of the infamous libertarian Koch brothers? No. Koch, a NY fixture, did however become more right of center during the last few years. Mark Perry of Carpe Diem notes Koch maintained his rent controlled apartment while he lived in the mayor's mansion--a textbook example of what is wrong with government intervention in the market. The apartment owner had a vacant apartment he couldn't rent out. The reason why is obvious--Koch knew future savings from market rents outweighed any interim cost of paying for an unused apartment.
- Hillary doesn't think Benghazi will an issue in 2016. This is pure state of denial. Even former Clinton adviser Dick Morris characterizes Hillary's record as Secretary of State as dismal. Of course, I hold more non-interventionist positions than Morris, Obama bears ultimate responsibility, not Clinton, but all these defensive protests of doing all she could do, etc., is nonsense. I don't see many success stories out there. We have drones bombings run amok, vacillating policies on Egypt and other places, no progress on Mideast peace, more instability in South America, lawlessness on the other side of the Mexican border, etc. It's not just that concerns about safety in Benghazi were given short shrift and not given priority under her management; it's the fact she's only paying lip service to taking responsibility and the Administration continued to scapegoat a video long after it was clear that military like attacks hit the ambassador, not random acts of violence. Clinton's character and judgment will come under scrutiny.
One of my nieces will soon be confirmed in our Catholic faith, and I was asked to participate in an exercise reflecting on my own faith experience. I was born in Texas, but for most of my early life, my Dad was stationed on Cape Cod only a short weekend drive to my relatives just to the east of Providence. (I'm sure New Englanders don't think it's short, but when you drive 5 miles to grocery shop and commute up to 90 miles one way to work...) I could always tell when were nearing our maternal grandfather's house on the east side of Fall River, where the city's Franco-American population mostly lived, when I saw Notre Dame de Lourdes' twin steeples from the highway. . I love old magnificent churches: stained glass windows, holy water fonts, votive candles, whiffs of incense, organ music , the whole gestalt: it just seems to suggest the awesomeness of God. I attended many masses there and briefly attended school at the parish for parts of 2 school years while my Dad attempted to secure family housing for new assignments.
Around the time of the fire, I had been accepted to the UH MIS doctoral program (before I completed my MBA) and was transitioning from part-time MBA student to full-time. I turned on the national nightly news, and to my horror saw the fire consuming the familiar church.
I think the videos below are well done although they really only briefly deal with the Franco-American experience; I found the following intriguing, telling excerpt from the webpage of another Franco-American:
Fall River, MA, known as the Spindle City, once held the largest number of French Canadians in New England, with nearly 33,000 of them by 1900. Although they left Canada, they brought much of it with them. With their French parishes, bilingual parochial schools, French newspapers, and fraternal organizations they were able, for a while, to keep their culture intact. French-Canadians did not need or want to assimilate as other immigrants did. It took the third generation of a family to break away. For example my Canadian-born paternal grandmother lived in New England for well over 60 years and I never heard her speak English, or make any attempt to, although she read English quite well. My maternal grandmother admonished her young children regularly with, nous parlons français à la maison (we speak French in the house) whenever she heard them communicating in English, even though she was born in Maine and could speak English as well as anyone.
For what it's worth, many foreign born try to pass their language and customs on to their children, but for French-Canadians of that time, it went another step further. They were taught to believe that: Ceux qui perde sa langue, perde sa foi. (They who lose their language, lose their faith.) That is, language and religious faith were closely allied.Here are more excerpts:
The large number who crossed the border in the nineteenth century, particularly to the New England states, made their choice to seek a better life. These were predominantly young adults, some with families and others who were single. Traditionally, French-Canadian Americans had large families, and these numbers, coupled with dismal economic conditions, drove them south. Some estimates put the extent of the migration at 600,000, which had the effect of draining Canada of a generation.Work in textile mills and the logging industry—anything besides the backbreaking farm work in Québec—was what drew them.
French Canadian life, in Canada and in the United States, centered around the community—first that of the family (which tended to be large), and then that of the larger French-speaking community. One thing French-Canadian Americans had in common with their French Canadian ancestors was resistance to other ethnic influences. In Canada, French-speakers long opposed all things British, and in the United States, Irish or English Americans often viewed the newest immigrants as interlopers. This lack of acceptance helped to draw Franco-Americans closer together and resulted in maintaining traditions, customs, and language through the generations. Many of the traditions and beliefs are also tied to a strong sense of religion. To be a Franco-American immigrant was to be a strict Catholic, especially for the early settlers.
Maintaining French identity became more of a challenge after World War II. Immigration to the United States dropped off after the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the United States [the French] were just one of many ethnic groups to arrive in America after much of the country had been settled. After World War II, the original incentives to remain a tight community faded away. More French-Canadian Americans had the opportunity to get an education, for example, and their economic situations improved so that they no longer had to huddle in tenement houses while working long, hard hours in the textile and shoe mills.Of course, some Franco-Americans turned to farming. My paternal grandfather died by the time my Dad, the youngest of 6, was a teenager. He spent some of his time (e.g., summers) working on a relative's farm.
My late maternal grandmother and godmother was much the same way as the first author's grandmothers; she passed of colon cancer complications when I was 2. I do have a card from her in my trunk signed "GrandMA and GrandPA". (Ironically my folks go by traditional mémère / pépère with my nephews and nieces. I think there was a revival in our heritage, noted by the last author, in the post-"Roots" era, just like African Americans sought to assert their cultural heritage. My little brothers have been very interested in researching our ancestry.)
My bilingual folks started raising the family the same way: French was my dominant language when I started kindergarten, which initially proved to be problematic. My folks overreacted and went English-only in the home: I had already memorized the Latin Mass by the age of 8. To this day, my siblings blame me for the fact they don't speak French.
But in fact my mother and my maternal uncle, who became a priest, were rather ideological assimilationists, i.e., "We are Americans, part of the melting pot. We speak English in America." My uncle early in his pastoral career as a diocesan priest became a curate (assistant pastor) in his home parish of Notre Dame de Lourdes (see excerpt below), but he kept his bilingual fluency low-key; he definitely did not want to be stereotyped as a Franco-American resource assigned to a string of dying French parishes. I remember I once asked my uncle about the separatist movement in Canada--it's ironic: I've been to Mexico, Brazil, France and a few other European countries, but not Canada. My normally unflappable uncle, who earned his licentiate (like a Master's degree in theology) at a famous Montreal seminary, snapped back, "If you think Quebec is such a great place, move there. I'm an American." Both my uncle and Mom are strict Catholics in the Franco-American tradition and politically conservative; Mom thinks the best part about cable TV is EWTN.
Fall River's Franco-American base has withered away as the once robust textile mills lost business to Southern and foreign competitors with lower transportation and other costs and newer technology (Fall River's Quequechan River (with its seven falls) allowed for tidal power and its deep water harbor were ideal resources for industrialization after the Civil War.) According to Wikipedia, only about 6% of Fall River's current 88K population is French-Canadian; a large plurality is Portuguese descent; in fact, one of my favorite relatives, my mom and uncle's closest cousin (I also loved my feisty late grand-aunt, one of my late maternal grandfather's little sisters), used to work at a Portuguese bakery.
Fall River stands to lose an important piece of its history next spring [2012] with the merger of two Roman Catholic parishes in the Flint — Immaculate Conception and Notre Dame de Lourdes. There are two main factors for the merger, both beyond the control of the parishioners: a shortage of priests and a smaller number of worshippers. French Canadians represent a small fraction of the city’s population. One by one, the mills where they once toiled have shut down. So have the parish schools. The French language is hardly spoken anywhere in Fall River these days. The church is the foremost part of that once-prominent culture that has survived.The first video (Part 2) has more to do with the fire and doesn't dwell on sensational aspects. The second video (part 1) provides more of a historical background. I want to close this discussion by drawing attention to some passing references by the narrator to Franco-American support for Republicans (at least prior to Catholic Al Smith's 1928 run against Hoover) and somewhat skeptical attitude towards unions. (So that's it--it's in the blood...) I don't presume to speak on behalf of all Franco-Americans: some of that probably reflected ethnic conflicts especially with Irish Americans and limited political opportunities. Unions generally have been hostile to immigrants whom undermine their negotiating positions (an artificial shortage of workers leading to higher compensation). It could be Franco-Americans have felt shut out of employment opportunities by unions viewing them as interlopers. I think Franco-Americans are more independent-minded and less ideological. They have a strong work ethic, admire entrepreneurship, and are socially conservative. The GOP has missed opportunities to market itself to Franco-Americans.
But I think the Church confuses morally hazardous means with ends with many Catholics thinking Democratic government-dominated bureaucratic solutions address social justice ideals. There's also growing assimilation: Madonna's late mother was French but her father Italian. Of my six in-laws, 4 were non-Catholic and non-French (3 have converted to Catholicism over the course of the marriages). One of the two others is Irish, and the other shares ancestral roots with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Political Humor
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Association, "Never My Love". According to BMI, the second most airplayed single of the twentieth century (I know what you're wondering--"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"). George Harrison asks the same question as the Addrisi brothers with a less definitive response in my personal favorite, his classic "Something". What was it about Pattie Boyd that inspired the two of the greatest love songs ever (Clapton's "Layla", the original, not the lame unplugged version)? Or the Clapton song one of my brothers-in-law hates with a passion, "Wonderful Tonight"?
