Reply #30: Hi, hedgehog. I was so fortunate to have an aunt who was a county chair [View All]

[saltpoint]

of her local Democratic organization. She came into the local political scene around the time John Kennedy and Richard Nixon had their famous debate. I probably don't have to tell you that she thought Nixon was a thug and that Kennedy was the cat's pajamas.

A LOT of us cousins became Kennedy Democrats that year, even though we were still in grade school!

But John Kennedy the Democrat wasn't at all like George Wallace the Democrat though both were Democrats. Something happened to Democrats when you started driving south, we noticed. There was a kind of a But...but...but effect.

Your point on institutions harboring a full range of folks makes good sense to me. There's evidence of it just about everyplace, too. All of us could do better -- myself especially -- in trying to tackle the disparity between how institutions run and how we wish they would run.

As for the Church, this Pope will be 83 in a couple weeks. The College of Cardinals may be meeting sooner than anyone thinks. A reform Pope seems historically unlikely, but it would be a refreshing change. And an awful lot of good could come from a new Pope sanctioning the ordination of women.