Cops 'n Robbers

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                 There are eight million stories in The Naked City...this is one of them.

      Bad guys come in all shapes and colors, as well as every social, educational and economic background from top to bottom; they can be either gender and sometimes even that is difficult to distinguish!
   
     They often show up in imaginitive disguises and some might not be wearing anything at all while others appear in everything from rags and costumes to fancy suits; their crimes can be cleverly thought out or reckless to the point of being described as just plain stupid. But there is evil in all of them!

     When I was growing up one of my favorite past-times was playing  Cops 'n Robbers with other neighborhood kids. It was okay then for young boys to play with toy guns and any one of us could walk down any street, stand on any porch or even walk into any carry-out or drug store carrying a rifle that looked real or with make-believe pistols tucked into exposed plastic holsters around our waist and no one but us imagined they were real or in any way dangerous. It was before lunatics with bad intentions took over our peaceful surroundings and changed the rules for how many perceive firearms and who should be allowed to carry one for protection against those that carry them to harm others or take something by force or deception.

     When I was 10 I relied on my cap-pistols and a replica of Lucas McCain's rifle to protect me from my closest friend and confidant Shane, and another kid we called DJ, because I knew that wherever they went they too were probably carrying, and letting them get the drop on me was just not an option that I wanted either of them to have. I didn't know it then but years later I would be playing the game for keeps when I became a Franklin County Deputy Sheriff and then the Marshal for the Village of Obetz. It was during these later years that I came to know so much about real bad guys and discovered that sometimes the worst of them were the very people we elect and pay salaries to and count on to do what is best for everyone, including making sure that the cops that protect us have the needed funding and support to be there for everyone when things go wrong.

      It was during my tenure as Marshal that I learned first-hand about white-collar crime and how easily it can invade local governments. My greatest accomplishments as a lawman came when I stood up to the politics that protected hidden agendas that weren't in the best interest of trusting law abiding people. It walked past me every day right there in the halls of our legal system. People wearing fancy suits and dresses that had been having it their way for way too long, holding powerful positions that benefitted only them and at the expense of everyone they were hiding something from. I wasn't popular with them when I looked into matters they wished I hadn't but either you honor the service you have chosen or you waste away the trust that was placed in you. Regardless of what you do there is always someone hoping you fail and it is the reasons they hope you do that makes finishing this so importatnt to me and hopefully to the reader as well!

     That is what this post is about; it is about supporting your local sheriff and a message to our elected officials in Franklin County; to plead with them to knock off their suspiciously childish games and get behind the badges that have kept them and their families safe instead of doing all they can to retaliate against the sheriff and a few others for not supporting candidates for other offices that they didn't believe had the community's best interest at heart. This is about derailing good intentions and hiring someone else to oversee bad behavior and find ways to endorse it.

      It is a secret to no one why this party is on a mission to change the landscape of law enforcement and governing; the transparency is absolutely blinding if everyone would just open their eyes and pay attention. In fact, there is a movement underfoot to throw out several members of the local Democratic Party's Central Committee and replace them with people that put integrity and fairness above politics and hefty campaign contributions. It is those people that select and endorse the candidates they hope voters will approve of and since the last election season much has been uncovered regarding their true agendas. By the way, in this scenario Central Committee is just another term for something else to me; Al Capone had one too.

     Our Franklin County Sheriff, Zach Scott is currently in a race for re-election and deserves to be re-elected. He has gone beyond what he was asked to do and expected to do as the county's chief law enforcer and under his leadership the sheriff's office has been more effective than ever before in keeping the peace and everyone safe; he is a Democrat but the Franklin County Democratic Party has chosen to turn its back on him because he questioned and challenged the scruples and ethics of other Democratic candidates that they did support.They turned their backs on the sheriff because he encouraged them to be more careful in who they selected to represent their constituents, and to question those seeking positions of public trust when there was a heavy aroma of unfair or foul play surrounding them.

    In fact, the party bosses down at Democratic Headquarters have turned their backs on other elected Democrats that saw the same things the sheriff did and who supported his efforts to take a stand against shadiness within the halls of justice and governing. Those Democrats that were looking out for the best interest of we the people instead of the career politicians that have a steady record of looking the other way even when there may be an air criminal, or at the very least least suspicious behavior within the smoke-filled back rooms of Central Committee gatherings. I have worked for the good of Democrats for many years and thus I still have a few spies within the party corridors that tell me many others within the organization agree that a foul stench hovers over a lot of the documents down there but they fear retaliation if they choose the wrong side. They know I am right but don't expect them to weigh in here because they cannot afford to if they want to remain in the party's good graces.

    When the sheriff and a few other office-holders and seekers failed to ignore what was probably numerous cases of misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance by some in the tightly organized Democratic Party they chose to teach them a lesson by withdrawing their previous support for them and sought out unknown candidates whether they are qualified or not to challenge their offices.

      Candidates that would do only what they were told in exchange for support and endorsements. It is how organized crime operates; it is what criminals do. Meet behind locked doors, pool their money and spend whatever is necessary to keep cloaked their shady shenanigans so they can continue to operate business as usual.

      Why else would a major political party turn its back on one of their own when he has done only what has been right for everyone, and in this case 2 more of its most respected office holders that have done nothing but perform well and keep their promises to those that trusted them by electing them? These fine people are seeking re-election to the offices they have served admirably and honestly; 3 Democrats that kept their promises to do what is in the best interest of everyone, even when they needed to place the feet of other Democrats to the fire for suspected naughty behavior. I hope that every eligible voter in Franklin County, Ohio reads this post and looks deeper into the reasons the local Democratic Party is doing all it can to trip them up because like I said, bad guys come in all sorts of disguises! 

     Sometimes we don't catch them all but what we can do is keep trying because if we don't then it is just a matter of time before the inmates take control of our jails. Remember; if it looks and quacks like a duck it is probably just a duck, but some ducks can be very deceiving! When one has blown as many whistles and studied these things for as long as I have one comes to know the importance of taking precautions. So think of this as just another whistle being blown and know that I have some experience with deception, regardless of how it is disguised. Don't be fooled by more Malevolent Mallards dressed in fancy suits, and please support only the faithful servants that have demonstrated trust can not be tampered with.      

                                                                                                                         

Rising Prices

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    This 1970 newspaper ad for a Ford dealership is only barely indicative of where this post is headed. It is probably hard for anyone that isn't a car guy guy to imagine 1969 Shelby Mustangs selling for under 3k but I remember when you could walk into any Ford dealership in Columbus and drive a new one away for not much more than $4,000.00.  The original prices shown for all three look a little steep to me but that's ad-men. Showing huge mark-ups to make buyers believe they are really receiving a great deal. In actuality the Galaxie 500 could have been bought anywhere in America for around $2500.00 back then and a savvy customer could have left the dealer with the keys to that T-Bird for less than $4500.00 if he held his ground and worked him long enough, especially if he went shopping for a new car late on a Saturday afternoon before closing time.

     But this piece isn't about how Americans have grown to accept having their wallets and bank accounts gouged for nearly everything they want or must have; I mean, we all know that we pay more for everything than it is actually worth but like the old saying, "whatever you want or need is only worth what you are willing to pay for it"  even if it is through the nose and it leaves you feeling as if you took something unpleasant or painful up your lowest sphincter! When it comes to being screwed when buying something none of us can claim to be virgins; we all get it, not eventually, but time after time when we count what we have left after spending what we have to. But it isn't just needing more and more money to keep going, we have entered a time in our history where the price of holding on to whoever you think you are has gone through the roof!

     That person you were 15 or 20 years ago has either left, or changed drastically, or still lives within you lonelier or more disappointed in things and your fellow man than probably ever before because circumstances and other people's attitudes changed and became less forgiving and more expectant that you change to meet their needs and what they want from you! In short; the rules of living and survival have changed so drastically that you must either adapt or hunker down within yourself and do what you believe is best for you. Doing that is easier for me than it would be for someone much younger or anyone that feels forced to embrace change regardless of how it affects their lives because I have no long range plans that would include even being around in 15 or 20 more years! And because I have grown very comfortable with myself and how I reject changes that I want no part of.

     The world might go to Hell by then; if those who are still around like it that way or only accept it, then it will be them, not me that will be expected to get on board with whatever changes or adjustments that must be made to make everyone else happy. Inflation is all around us now and it isn't just about money or the price of goods and services; it includes the rising costs we are expected to pay for who we want to be or are expected to become.

     Things we always stood against might be things we no longer are allowed to and the way we behaved that always worked for us in the past might not be accepted by anyone anymore. Other people's ideals or beliefs that we might have thought unacceptable to us have become issues we either join in with or at least tolerate if we expect to be left alone or not vilified ourselves, and those prices for being true to ourselves and to those that raised us are rising every day.

      When I was growing up and being educated I bought into all of it. I trusted my parents and my mentors and I believed in the things they wanted me to learn, I did my very best to support and nurture attitudes and behavior that always worked best in the world they wanted to live in but it didn't take long for everything to become strikingly different shortly after we said goodbye to the 20th Century.

      It won't be long before the final changes will be in place and that won't happen until me and everyone like me has died off, and when I say people like me I am talking about anyone that spent at least 50 years on this planet being taught one way but now finding themselves in a world where a lot of what we learned no longer works and is no longer appreciated. The good people we thought we were have become an outdated epoch not unlike the period of Neanderthals. What was once widely regarded as taboo behavior has become the new norm and the old normal is now more than just a question of common decency, but totally unacceptable in certain politically correct circles.

      But the rising price of being able to stay grounded and faithful to our own personal beliefs is being compounded by the politicians and their once barely populated sects that continue to grow in alarming numbers while the rest of us stand by and allow it to happen.

      Everything we are allowed to think, do or hope for is engineered and controlled by politicians and they are all controlled by an oligarchy mindset. We really have no choice in the matter; get on board with the rising costs or get left behind and seek ways to remain where we want to be; not just geographically but within ourselves. I have chosen to be Rick Minerd and at times it can be a struggle, but the cost of it is worth it to me because acceptance into any place I don't want to go doesn't require a price-tag when I don't want to go there. I pay for only what I want.

 

Boycotting The Oscars

                                               
        Like a lot of people I have decided to boycott the Academy Awards this year but not because no blacks were nominated for an Oscar; I couldn't care less about that. My reason for staying away is because my feelings have been hurt that no old white men from the south end of Columbus are receiving any worldwide attention for anything! What's up with that? I am 63 years old and proud of my race and all of the struggles many white men (and white women) my age have endured to get where we are now! (Living, celebrating and contributing something daily to all we can to make our world a little better and to receive our long overdue praise for the amazing people we are.)

        So whether it is some silly tiny gold statue or a ton of accolades to celebrate old white folks that live where I do when can we expect to be adored and revered by millions of people around the world for our skills and talents? Furthermore; it isn't just the motion picture industry's annual TV awards program that I am boycotting, it is every organization or group of people that doesn't include old white men from the south end of Columbus in every public display of glitz and dazzle that showcases how awesome we really are! And by the way, if they are going to mold the trophy in the likeness of me when I step naked out of the shower on cold mornings shouldn't they at least offer me one?

       But back to the Academy Awads and the central reason I am staying as far away from that nonsense as I possibly can. Why isn't there a category for best old white man in the south end of Columbus, Ohio? I too am as much of an actor as anyone else on any other stage whether cameras are  rolling or not! In fact, I believe Hollywood is cheating the world out of some very facinating entertainment, not to mention a lot of raw emotion by not tracking me and presenting what I do up on the silver screens. This should concern anyone reading this because you too are being denied something here.

        I star in my own reality show that is based on true stories; it is focused on life itself and things that really happened and do happen every day. Hell, I even write my own scripts, produce, it, direct it and build my own sets! This year alone I built a small ramp on my back deck to make it easier and safer for my dogs to go up and down when they need to be outside for their scenes. But I won't go into a lot of the painstaking efforts it took to make it all look interesting or appealing or exciting, although I will add that I even produced the soundtrack that I believe was better than anyone else's. I programmed and starred in my own radio program called "Heartlites" and was able to include songs by such giants in the industry as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra and hundreds more from an amazing galaxy of recording stars. I think many would agree that those musical scores were as good or far better than anyone elses.

       This year, as in every other year when I dressed for and played those scenes of emotion, such as being sick with a crashing headache, or when my joints were aching I thought the realism was nothing short of incredible! But still, no word from the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences... and now that I think about it, even the Scientologists and Bio-Science people have again ignored me! How dare they do that?

       So I am left offended and with hurt feelings (in addition to a slight cold that has nagged me for a few days) and I don't mind raising a ruckous over all of this because someone needs to. Otherwise what can we expect? To be brushed aside and ignored again next year and left to feel like I don't matter, even though I play my role as well as anyone younger than me or someone that isn't an old white man that might live in a better neighborhood than I do?

        I am hoping this modest post will wake the masses and that millions more will join me in saying that enough is enough! There are just too many of us old white men that live on the south side of Columbus that do amazing things every day to simply be shunned like this.

       The outrage should be universal whether it affects you or not; even if it has nothing at all to do with your own life or the overall importance to the world.
   

What Do I Know, I'm Just Some Old Guy

                                                             

    The world changed right before my very eyes and I did nothing to help it get where it is but I harbour no guilt whatsoever, I am just an old man that took advantage of what was here while it lasted! I worked when I needed to and I played as hard as I worked when I wanted to and now I am just some old guy whose taking up space and living on handouts. Call it a pension, retirement pay or whatever term works best to describe it but the truth is I am not contributing much to my fellow man and still I am without shame or much of a conscience about that.

     Even if I wanted a job the pickings for a man my age are pretty slim; I mean they are out there and if I would only get up off of my butt and do something to sell my qualifications to someone in a position to put me back to work, who knows, maybe I could be the person knocking on your door and bringing that pizza you ordered, or I could be the friendly face that greets you when you need to make a trip to Wal Mart. I might be able to pull it off because I can still walk and drive and I can still be courteous to others if the pay is right. Hell, I don't need to be paid to be nice, but since I have to pay for everything I want why shouldn't I receive a generous allowance for any effort I put forth to others? Being compensated for effort, regardless of what it is shouldn't be too much to expect.

     I'm not sure when it happens, I mean when we become just some old person in a fast changing world that no longer needs anything we are willing to offer but it happens to all of us eventually. It wasn't that long ago that everything in my head could have made a positive difference for someone and in fact I would like to believe that it did from time-to-time, but we are only as viable to someone else as our most recent endeavors and contributions to those that are running the world now. It is a reality we have no choice but to accept but we shouldn't complain because we were warned years ago that it would be this way; it has been for centuries!

     An old axiom; "What have you done for me lately" is the way of the world and I guess it always has been but I am on a mission to laugh at anyone that expects me do anything for them because like another old axiom; I gave at the office! Now I am home, for good, and I am making the most of it and part of that is watching other people spin their wheels trying to stay ahead of me and everyone else around them. I say to them: you are winning, keep going forward as fast as you can, don't worry about us old folks because we had our time in the warmth of the sun, now it is your turn to be bigger, better and have more than everyone that helped you get into the lead. They seem to like it that way so who am I to wonder if there is anything left for me than to just admire them and hope that my eventual complete withdrawal from their world is peaceful and free of pain or chaos. So far so good!

     I'm not dead yet, so as long as I can still dress myself and navigate my own fork when I eat what more could I want? From all indications my mind is as sharp as it ever was, I mean, as far as I can tell. In mid-summer I will find out the answers to a few questions I have wondered about for fifty years or so. They were asked by Paul McCartney in a song by the Beatles called "When I'm 64" and although I was never in a hurry to know one way or the other I am curious.

   (Listen)
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs2aMiyT6es

Lower, Middle, Upper...It's Really All The Same In one Locale.

    When the discussion is about where we fit in with certain elements of society I think we all belong to one of three classes and it can be generally assumed what they are. Those with very little or nothing at all are categorized as lower class and that can speak to their economic standing or their character! It is true for anyone of average means, average or above intelligence and in their behavior and certainly true for those who have more than most in all of the above.

    However there is a relatively new class of people that has engulfed more members than those three combined and it has consumed most of them regardless of their individuality, how they describe themselves or whom they think they are. The chances of anyone reading this post belonging to it are astronomically good, and in fact I would wager high stakes that you are in it but probably never gave it much thought. That is, until I finish here.

    I have given this much thought so don't think for a moment that it is just another rant or even an episode of passing observation. There now exist something I have chosen to name the Facebook Class and if you are a regular or even only a semi-regular participant to the largest social networking site in the world you are in it. If you ever posted anything about your life, including something about your family, your occupation, achievements, desires or peeves, congratulations! You have become a part of the largest class of people on the planet and you will be welcomed there every day that you choose to mingle with billions of others like yourself that may have reinvented who you really are or thought they were. But be mindful that the truth is on display because reading between the lines really isn't that difficult for most people. Words and images don't disguise everything as cleverly as one might think. We can appear smarter, doctor-up the photos or simply take our chances when even if all of our self-accolades are true that someone somewhere will be impressed and give us what we want.

     People from all walks of life are joining you every day to share with you sometimes the most personal thoughts and circumstances that make up who they are and how they live. Perhaps you do that also; like everyone else in this class that finds it important to pull back the veil of anything previously unseen so everyone can see what you looked like when you were young and if the years have been kind to you or not. New Job? Post it so everyone knows what you will be doing in the foreseeable future; expecting a child or the birth of one? Let's see some pictures! Did someone wrong you in some way? Details! And then there is my personal favorites; what are your religious leanings and where do you stand politically? We all want to know because it's you and how you think might affect everyone else even though you see yourself as different than the rest. You must think that, otherwise why was it so important to educate the rest of us about you?

     Today is January 22, 2016 and I have vowed to do my best to bow out of this class of people because other than being identified with a very large group of people I have learned over five or more years that I really don't want to know that much about you or anyone else. I have already revealed more about myself on Facebook than I probably should have and this isn't the first time I have talked about leaving it in my rear view mirror, because like I said, this is not just another passing thought.

      I believe there is an air of arrogance in everyone and it is never more on display than it is every day on Facebook. It doesn't matter if you are completely misinformed or clueless about any subject you can still weigh in and think to yourself that someone really cares what you think. It is just as true for the most educated and most successful people you will see today on Facebook. Some need to prove that by writing elegantly worded posts about current events or to show off a vocabulary that leaves no doubt that they have done good and great things. They shelter a need to be admired for something because even if professional mass media isn't talking about them this day everyone should know who they are and if they are attractive or believe they are everyone should be able to see it.

     We shelter a need to be discovered because we know who we are and we get tired of waiting for the press to ask us what we think so we pick the time and the place to interview ourselves and explain what we think about everything. We envy those on television that get to be seen and heard and we envy their popularity and here is a way to get in on all of that by doing our own show about us in forums such as Facebook. Maybe it is a comedian that has always been the life of someone's party or a current or former beauty that never tires of being told how we look. Perhaps we have better than average skills at something and since no one else is asking what they are we need to step to the virtual podium and showcase all that we are and all that we can do.

     The man with the pretty wife, regardless of what her personality might be needs to show everyone that he has her and she must have been attracted to him also! So they stand together for a photo op; the rest of Facebook needs to see them together because it is yet another success in life and there should be no doubt that man has much going for him.  It is a class of people, an entire society that hungers to be noticed for something, anything, and they are just as curious about others. Maybe someone they are in competition with over something or maybe simply to reassure themselves that they have more going for them than most.

     Facebook validates who we are. We can appear to be sensitive and socially correct in all matters even if we aren't and we can act out the fantasies of what we want the world to believe about us no matter where we come from, what our economic status really is or who we really know. If we really don't care about something we can pretend that we do and no one is the wiser and if we are against something that is popular we can easily act as if we are for it and anyone who really is will welcome us into their fold just because they think we agree with them.

     People that I know well and have known for a very long time do their very best to cast images of the person they hope you believe them to be and too often all they really accomplish is showing everyone that they really aren't that person at all. In all honesty I don't know what people in the Facebook class think of me and I don't care. I might have in the beginning because I too bragged about what I thought was the best of my own circumstances. I thought it was important that everyone who looked in on me saw only the best of me, but I have reached an age or at least an attitude where it no longer matters. I think I got here by realizing that it doesn't matter to anyone else either.

     The undeniable truth is that we know way too much about one another in this instant info age where it has become so easy to discover more about one another than any of us really need to know.

      Sadly, everyone in the Facebook class has become politicians of one sort or another; I did this, I will do that, I believe this way or that way and this is how I look when I am carefully posing for a picture, whether someone else is holding the camera or if it is a selfie. 

       So it comes to this; I am no longer eager or even comfortable with revealing too much more about me than I already have so my best chance of being noticed less or spilling too many more beans about me is to make the best effort I am able to fall off of the grid. I have a lot in my head regarding how I hope the rest of my life will play out and I am not seeking approval from anyone, nor am I asking anyone for help to get there. I look older this year than I did last year but no one needs to see that and my politics are changing rapidly by what I see and learn from the Facebook class.

      In short, I don't want to be in that class, I don't want anyone to think that I communicate the things that are important to me that way. My feelings and my beliefs only matter to me and suddenly none of that is anyone's business. The politician that seeks your support is doing something I needn't do and the lonely people that rely on the Facebook class are also up to tricks and schemes I can't help them with. The smart people don't need to convince me of their intelligence and worldliness because I am someone that isn't easily impressed by other people's things or experiences.

      I am returning to the days of land-line telephones and modest communications because I believe I was a better person then; I looked at the world and at people with a more innocent perspective than I have since everything went on display in the Facebook class. To say that I now see myself more ahead of the curve than I ever was is an understatement. The Facebook class of people has taught me a lot, but nothing more important than that I want something none of them are capable of having regardless of their station in life; lower, middle or upper class.  Because in everyone's zeal to stand out in some way, all they are accomplishing is showing everyone that they need something I no longer do. In that regard they are all the same whether they know it or not. I don't want to be the same and I don't remember a time when I did.

      You joined that class of people when you started believing that your success or your failures was something you needed to expose to total strangers and believed that any of them could add anything good to your life. You were taken in when you posted that second picture of yourself and when you updated your status. You may even be stuck in this large class of people because arrogance by any other name is a hard habit to break. This essay is arrogant but you read it and somewhere in it you probably saw some truth. It doesn't resolve anything or offer much good but what it does accomplish is identifying some of what is wrong with who we have become; reliant on a need to show as many people as we possibly can, by whatever method we can find who we hope they think we are.

     The question I am posing to myself here is, why? At the end of the day and when life comes to an end we are only who we are and what anyone else thinks or believes about us eventually stops being important. I know, because on this day, January 22, 2016 only I can figure out the rest of my life and at age 63 time is of the essence! If I live another 30 years or only one week or just a day I don't need to validate anything else. I needn't leave a legacy and how I finish what began in my mother's womb isn't anything that could possibly matter to anyone but me. So to me that must mean there is at least a 5th class of people; I think I am in that one!  

 

Where Did All Of The Honest Democrats Go?

    It is going to take a lot of good Republicans to fix the Democratic Party.

    It is why I have distanced myself from my father's party and the one I have supported with eager enthusiasm for all of the years I have been paying attention to politics. It is the reason so many like-minded friends and colleagues of mine from journalism, broadcasting and law enforcement have also abandoned it.
 
    Trust in the Democratic Party has been replaced by suspicion; and that has brought about a need to hang on every word they say in what becomes a tangled and confusing effort to discover where the lies and deceit begin, or if there is even a hint of truth in what these new party bosses want their constituents to believe.

    When I was more involved in the process of how we choose candidates for public office than I have been in recent years I kept a closed mind  even when the air around me was so repugnant with corruption that I felt like shucking everything and shouting to anyone who might care that all of us are being duped by the very people we elect and pay salaries to.  I did that because I believed I needed to in order to remain gainfully employed and in positions to change what needed to be changed.

    The top of the Democratic Party has described what it refers to as "a good Democrat" as someone that follows their plans to the letter and endorses everything they want; that translates to being completely loyal with no room for questions or dissension even when there is an obvious air of outright shady dealings and probable corruption. It is in dire need of a shepherd that truly cares about what is best for its entire flock, not one that is paid inflated salaries to feed and shelter only its healthiest sheep.

    Sadly, that is my best effort to describe Democrat supporters now; a herd of sheep too scared to think for themselves or to rise above the stench of dirty politics and challenge what they surely must know they should. It is all around us now; in the news and on display for anyone that is paying attention; kickbacks and favors for "good Democrats" that only need to do what they are told and in the time-table that is engineered by fund raisers and contributors. Our office holders in the Democratic party have all been good soldiers that waited their turn to be appointed to public positions or allowed in the game at all.

    So where can the rest of us turn to break up their political monopolies and see that everyone gets a fair shake in an unfair climate of greed and deceit?  The answer became painfully obvious to me a few years ago when I saw what was happening within our local Democratic Party. I had the audacity to study the process of gaining favor with them by asking what it would take to get on the ballot for a seat on Columbus City Council. The rebuke came swiftly when I was told that it would be in my best interest to let the small committee that decides who is allowed in to make that decision for me. It was explained that I would need to introduce myself to it and prove that I had the goods (money) to contribute to other candidates that have already been chosen.

    Walking the streets of Columbus with petitions for signatures was a real eye-opener for me! 1000 valid signatures from registered voters is a hefty sum when one tries to go it alone and I was warned of the futility in such an effort even if I managed to gather what was needed. In a few words it was explained to me that only endorsed candidates have any hope of actually winning an election in Columbus because the Democratic Party's bank account is too fat to defeat. Still I tried and in the end I fell a few hundred signatures short but I didn't feel defeated nor rejected. It was a halfhearted effort to begin with;  no more than a personal study in the problems and the principles of grassroots democracy.

     I gained more than I lost by trying because it was a learning curve that I should have taken years ago when I first suspected that Democrats really didn't care as much about what is right for everyone as they professed. When I supported and cast my first votes for African American Democratic candidates I never gave much thought to the color of their skin because I never looked at people or tried to judge them by that. I voted for Columbus' first black mayor and America's first black President only seeing Democrats that I believed really wanted to do good things for everyone. But as the years ticked by I saw that their skin could have been aqua and that their agenda really was was more self serving than it ever was about doing what was best for any community outside of their own well-to-do circles and closed societies.

     I suspect, no, make that hope that any African American voter that also supported either one of these guys has seen that skin-color can be a disguise when it comes to doing what is best for them also. If we can all be honest about this I think we can find common ground and know that neither man has done much for people in need even though both have kept promises to endorse and appoint other African Americans to key positions. But who? Not African Americans that know the struggles of poverty and hard times; they have all been people of color that were already living very well and ones that weren't rising above much more than their own law degree; fellow country club members that have already secured their spot in the best neighborhoods, surrounded by the finer things we all eventually hope to have. Not even true advocates for the hungry or homeless that they only give political lip service to.

    The black appointees they have hand-picked do what they are told and they are allowed to support only what they are told to endorse. The argument can be easily made that no one in City Hall has any interest in the failed neighborhoods they are paid to fix, nor in any of the people that cannot receive a decent education to lift themselves from their struggles. The public school system was broken before the promises were made to fix it and now it is in shambles. But still, the the poor or the barely making it continue to be duped into supporting Democrats just as they have for more than a century, but they are still poor while the wealthy Democrats continue to get more powerful and gain riches at their expense.

    Poverty knows no color and all of it has something in common; most of it is cyclical and often hopeless. Poverty begets poverty and those less fortunate and less privileged are always told that Democrats have the best plans to change it for the better but the list of changes almost always goes unfinished, only more talk and what proves to be empty promises. This cycle continues because those we support and place our faith in must be "good Democrats" before they are allowed to stand at the podiums and make those promises they know they cannot keep. With each new appointment of office and with every election they win it is only a different face but wearing a similar pin-striped suit sold to them or given to them by their puppeteers.

    "Good Democrats" that claim they are for the working man or woman cannot afford to be. Think about it; they need the strength of others with huge bank rolls to get elected and stay in office so they are willing to serve them, not you or me! The choice belongs to whoever pays the freight when it comes to building something or creating anything. We have been brainwashed to believe that it is the Republicans who control all of the money but if that is true how can anyone explain liberal media bias that keeps getting Democrats elected? Where does all of that money really come from? All I can hope for is that there is enough resources in Republican coffers to at least compete with the Democratic money machines. That may be our only chance to get anything back from our investment of hard work and trust.

    There is a stark difference between "good Democrats" and those that still believe in Democratic values. I am in the latter fold and I have stopped having a closed mind about politics and what the party bosses say is really best for us all. I have crossed the line in the sand to listen to the other side and redistribute my trust to the ones that have been trying to tell us all along that all we need to do is pay attention and be willing to admit the obvious. This 21st Century Democratic Party is fortified with stacks of money placed there by those that intend to not only keep it but distribute it to only those so-called "good Democrats" who are willing to keep a good thing going for them.

    Pay attention to their endorsements and their appointments because trusting what they say and waiting to see where their loyalty is will probably leave you very disappointed. The sad truth is that it is going to take a lot of good Republicans to help the best Democrats fix what is broken. Keep an open mind and remember, it is one or the other because history has shown if you are unsatisfied in the  leaders you helped get elected (on either side) nothing changes until you give up on them, listen to the other side and give them a shot. It has become inherently clear to many of us that true Democratic values are now residing within the Republican Party so maybe it is time to accept what good Republicans are offering if we have any hope of moving forward and away from the stench of rampant political corruption.