Karl Mundt, Taxes and Ginger Rogers

This blog is about two quotations and the dancing of Ginger Rogers. I hope you will see the connection between these two things by the end.

The first quotation occurred during my freshman year of college, several decades ago. At that time a US Senator from the State of South Dakota, Karl E. Mundt, was coming to address the Young Republicans at my college. For some reason, I was briefly a Republican in those days before switching to the Democrats. I think his visit had something to do with my change of heart. After the meeting, we were asked by the state chairman to assist at a nearby dinner meeting of Republicans, who were coming to hear the same distinguished visitor. I agreed to join the other students and had a good time at my first ever large scale political rally, but was shocked to hear Sen. Mundt claim that JFK was solely responsible as president for the country's economic problems. After his speech I was so outraged that I sought him out backstage and voiced my objection. I said it was wrong to blame the president, as if he controlled the economy by fiat, and that as a former teacher and economic specialist himself that he knew better and shouldn't mislead people this way. Mundt looked around to make sure no one was listening to us and then leaned forward and quietly said the following : When I was first running for office, a veteran politician told me that the most important thing was to get yourself elected. If you couldn't do that, nothing else you believed in or wanted to do would matter, so don't worry too much about what you say. That was the end of my conversation with Sen. Mundt, who served in the US Senate from 1948 to 1973. I never forgot his words. They guide me now whenever I hear politicians speak, particularly when they make campaign promises. Mitt Romney may or may not make a good president, but nearly everyone-- Democrat or Republican-- and maybe even himself privately, would agree that he sure takes that advice to heart.

The second quote comes from a member of my extended family, who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons but might not actually mind being quoted by name. Unlike Senator Mundt, this family member is one of the few Republicans in our family (I think) and sincerely believes what I am going to tell you. At a recent family gathering, after discussing current adverse economic conditions in the country and the millions of ordinary Americans who require help desperately, this otherwise quite nice and very religious person said the following : My question is-- How much of MY money do I get to keep? Spoken like a true Republican and TEA (taxed enough already) Party supporter. He was totally unsympathetic to the plight of his less fortunate fellow Americans. The only thing that mattered was his earnings after taxes. I wouldn't look forward to higher taxes either, but this total rejection of any thought to the concept of being in the same boat together was as shocking to me as what Sen. Mundt had said many years before. I'm sure he'd change his tune in a minute if he were the one suffering !

This brings me to Ginger Rogers, the great Fred Astaire's dance partner. I sure wish I could dance like Fred Astaire. I rarely watch "Dancing With the Stars" on TV but I am endlessly mesmerized watching Fred Astaire dance in old movies. I thought he had no equal until I heard some commentator say the following about Ginger Rogers: "She did everything he did, except she did it backwards and in high heels." This quote was as startling and revealing to me as the two discussed above.

All three comments are permanently etched in my mind, but I like the third quote best. All three provide great insight but only the third is inspirational in a way that the prior two will never be.