I'm a Kinky Girl

Erm, that is, I support Kinky Friedman for Governor.

Hunh? Wha?

Kinky Friedman, a man whose personality is as big as Texas itself, is running for Governor of that fine state. Kinky is a long-time musician--perhaps you've heard of Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys? (One of their songs is "They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore.")

He's also a bestselling author, with at least a dozen novels featuring detective Kinky Friedman. Some of the best titles are "The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover" (Nice tip o' the hat to T.S. there, Kinky) and "Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned". He's also written a number of nonfiction titles and has been a contributor to Texas Monthly for years. He's the new Jesse "The Body" Ventura, if you will--and then some. He's a Friend of Willie, he's brash and funny, he likes Jameson whiskey--what else could you need to know?

In 2003 and 2004 I spent a fair amount of time in Austin on business. Kinky was all the buzz, as he'd announced his candidacy for Governor. Was he serious? Was it a joke? What was it? I think it did start as a joke--his early website and the early materials didn't seem to take any of it too terribly seriously and one of the quotes being tossed around at the time was Kinky himself saying that the first thing he'd do, should he be elected, is resign.

But something changed. Not being a Texan and not following Texas politics that closely, I don't know what it was, but there was a shift. In the last year, his campaign has taken on a more serious (yet always still irreverent) tone. Kinky's been featured on 60 Minutes and in other media. His website lists the issues and his stands on them.

I don't support all of his positions (I rarely do with candidates), primarily his support of the 2nd Amendment and his death penalty stance. His key issues are: teacher pay (they should be getting more), renewable energy (yes, and he's a big supporter of Willie Nelson's biodiesel initiative), and border control (more is needed; let's get more security on the border and enforce the laws already on the books.) There is some good reading on his website.

Why does this matter? And why does it matter if you don't live in Texas?

Well, first off it's a really fun race to watch. The Austin Business Journal recently reported that in a survey of Texas voters, of the four candidates running, Kinky's currently got 47% of the vote. I don't know the margin of error and all of that, but I do know that polling at 47% when you're the "joke" candidate is saying something. It's saying that the voters of Texas have had enough of Rick Perry and his ilk and that they're ready for change--big change--much like the voters of Minnesota were several years ago.

And how can you not love a campaign whose t-shirts and bumper stickers say "No Teacher Left Behind", "He's Not Kinky, He's My Governor", and "My Governor is a Jewish Cowboy"?

Secondly, this country is about people-powered politics. We are a democracy and one of the key tenets of a democracy is the participation of the people. Kinky Friedman is a citizen. He's not a career politician, he's not a bureaucrat, he's one of us. A rich one of us, but one of us none-the-less. He makes people think and he encourages us to challenge the status-quo. That's never wrong (unless you're in the Bush administration....)

To those who might charge that a Friedman campaign makes a mockery of politics and the political process, I reply that campaigns such as Joe Lieberman's and Tom Tancredo's are the bigger mockeries. Lieberman has demonstrated time and again that he is out of step with the Democratic party, yet he's doing remarkably well in the polls against Ned Lamont and Alan Schlesinger, becoming, as the Christian Science Monitor recently stated, "...in effect...the Republican in the race." (For all practical purposes, it appears the true Republicans in Connecticut have disappeared, opting to save their energy and money to let the two Dems duke it out this time.)

And then there is Tom Tancredo. Tancredo is from my home state of Colorado and he makes us cringe on a regular basis. He is a right-wing fearmonger who truly is (I believe) out of step with the majority of Americans. He is a zealot when it comes to any number of issues, most recently border reform. His latest little "oopsie" was when just this month he spoke before a neo-Confederate group called "League of the South". The highlight of the event was a rousing version of "Dixie" to close out the evening.

Okay, I take that back. That wasn't his latest "oopsie". His latest is his outrage over the arrest in Mexico of Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman. He's encouraging his supporters to write to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the matter (even though Chapman did violate Mexican law....) You can read all the fun stuff here.

I found that tidbit while looking for poll numbers. My point here is that we've got a politician like Tom Tancredo, someone who makes a whole lot of Coloradans and Americans shake their head in disbelief, and he's likely to win re-election. Again. And keep an eye on this one; in some circles he's being put forward as a Republican candidate for President in 2008.

So this is why we need Kinky. He's a breath of fresh air. He's not beholden to anyone but the voters of Texas. He's not so entrenched in partisan politics that he can't see that it's time to leave. He can still discern a good idea from a bad one.

Politics matter. Yours, mine, ours. I'm as interested about what happens in the Texas Governor's race as my own state's. Well, more so actually because in Colorado, my guy is about 17 points ahead in the polling.... Still, this matters. What happens in New York, in Texas, in California matters to the rest of us because as go New York, Texas, and California, so goes Colorado (and the rest of the states) eventually. Key states and key races are always worth watching because they can be, and often are, a sign of what's to come for the rest of us. California's smoking ban is a great example. The state-wide ban was passed in 1994 and enacted in 1998--years before other states did it.

So, give 'em hell, Kinky, and here's to more people-powered and citizen-centered politics in the future!