Posts Tagged ‘have fedora will travel’

In DeKalb country there is weekly political event that for 42 years has informed people about the issues and the candidates. That is the Tysinger breakfast.

Gene Wise Tells us of it’s origin

The years may have slowed Mr. Tysinger but it hasn’t stopped him from holding his weekly event.

How many pols today still quote Cicero? At the breakfast I attended there were several speakers candidates for State offices, house, senate and Attorney general.

People made their presentations and took questions from the audience. The biggest issue of the day was the School district indictments and Tom Bowen of the board gave an overview and took some questions.

The best line of the day belonged to Seth Harp running for Georgia State Insurance Commissioner: “Sacred Cows make great Hamburger!”.

To say this is a great idea is an incredible understatement. An event like this gives people the chance to touch on the issues and talk to candidates and pols of all levels, even more importantly said pols have an incentive to show up and be responsive to the needs of the people that send them to office.

I can not recommend this type of thing enough. It should be emulated in every state, maybe in every country in the Union. Perhaps if there were more of these breakfasts the Tea Party Movement would not be necessary.

My latest article for the Examiner Breakfast without Tea is now up at Examiner.com

The topic is the Tysinger breakfast about which I have a standard post coming up about 7 p.m. tonight.

As always my examiner articles as a group are available here and considering the inauspicious start to the Am I worth as much as Andrew Sullivan drive every penny generating hit you can give is most appreciated.

I have a little talk with Kelly Nguyen who is running for the 5th district seat currently held by John Lewis:

If Ga-4 is an uphill race Ga-5 is a mountain but you don’t climb a mountain without trying. Putting up a fight makes a huge difference, anything can happen in a campaign and if you aren’t running then you can’t take advantage of it. This is a lesson that republicans need to learn. It’s also not a bad idea to have young energetic candidates learning the ropes in a campaign.

In a year when a series of excellent black conservatives are running in state after state Cory Ruth is a man with a future.

Cory Ruth at Arizona's

Ruth is one of four Republican candidates in the very democratic 4th district in Georgia. Last Friday my friend Vinnie and I sat down with Cory, we sat and ate and talked. His favorite topic; individual liberty.

We are only as free as we allow ourselves to be.” he declared as he talked about how the government takeovers tended to make people less free. He had managed at the age of 32 to make him self successful as a consultant through initiative. He thinks that this is the message that the black community needs. Particularly this black community which is the second wealthiest in the nation. He believes that if the African American community can be weaned from the government there are no limits to how far it can excel.

For some it might not be an easy sell but he feels younger African Americans of a new generation like himself have moved beyond the old conflicts. Not that they don’t owe a debt to those who have gone before, they should be remembered but his activities within the community as a minister illustrates not so much that old debt but the debt that he feels any man should pay to the community he lives in.

In his youth he saw an African American Supreme court justice nominated by a republican. The two black secretaries of state he saw serve were appointed by George Bush who he declared had “the most diverse group of appointments in history.” Although he applauds this diversity he thinks republicans missed a chance by not running a Powell/Rice ticket saying while scanning the overwhelmingly black clientele at the restaurant that “Not a person in the room would not have voted for Powell.”

Although an African American ticket was not in the cards for republicans in 2008 blacks candidates for congress certainly are. From Col Allen West in Florida, to Les Phillip in Alabama to Vernon Parker in Arizona a slew of credible black candidates have risen up in the republican party.

Cory and a voter

As for if the community might resent a black Republican in a district where the president is so popular: “The problems will be there long after he (President Obama) is gone.” He worked in the community before the 2008 election and will still be involved when this administration is over. He knows the communities needs and problems, as he put it; he is the candidate who listens to 1380 AM and knows the voters he needs to attract.

That certainly seemed evident after we finished our meal different customers talked to him and seemed encouraged by his candidacy and at least once person at the Tysinger breakfast the next day thought he was the best chance for the district to go Republican.

One thing is certain at the age of 32 no matter what the results of the primary or the general election he will be around for a lot of years to be a force in the party. If he continues to preach the gospel of individual liberty to his community they and the country will be the better for it.