AGGIE POLITICS
This entry was posted on 1/25/2010 3:55 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
(I'm baaaaack. Didja miss me? I haven't posted a blog since November. Hope I haven't been forgotten altogether.)
Now, for those of you unfortunate enough not to know what an Aggie is,
let me explain. Both my husband (Class '70) and son (Class '02) are
graduates of Texas A&M University. Texas A&M, the oldest
public university in Texas, started out as an all-male, mostly-military
school, and the "A&M" once stood for "Agriculture and Mechanics."
That was a long time ago.
Now, there are more than 40,000 students in most every field of study,
only a couple thousand of which belong to the Corps of Cadets, but the
traditions that started with the Corps remain very strong to this day
and are respected by former students the world over.
My son and husband were both in the Corps, and my son, Dustin, was also
part of the prestigious Parson's Mounted Cavalry and the elite Cannon
Crew, which fires off an authentic World War I cannon after the team
scores in every home game at Kyle Field.
Texas A&M has lost students to every war since its inception in
1876, and, next to West Point, has lost more former students to the
Iraq and Afghanistan wars than any other university in the country.
The Memorial Student Center pays homage to former students lost fighting for our country, which is
why no one--NO ONE--wears a cap indoors there and no one--NO ONE--walks
on the grass of the grounds of the MSC.
Once a year, on April 21, "Aggie Muster," Aggies the world over meet to
honor those Aggies who've passed away the previous year, calling out
their names while those present say, "Here." This tradition has even
been honored in war zones from Iwo Jima to Baghdad.
Football is pretty sacred to the Aggies too, as this is a Texas team,
and many of you who have watched their games on ESPN have heard about
some of the "Twelfth Man" traditions, such as the fact that the entire
student body present always remain standing during the entire game.
This is so that--ostensibly--each and every student stands ready to heed the call of the team should they get into a bind and need an extra man (or woman, nowadays) to help them out of a jam.
(Students also kiss their dates after every score--and yes, extra
points after touchdowns do count--which is another lovely tradition.
Best thing about being an alumni is that you get to sit down during the
games; but you also get to kiss your dates.)
Now, those of you who are football fans also know that the Aggies have
had a pretty rocky past few years, and believe me, this is not the only
rough patch in Aggie football history. My husband likes to joke that
during his time in college, things got so bad for a while there that
they were kissing their dates whenever the Aggies made a first down.
But here is one of the BEST things about Aggies. No matter HOW BAD the
team is playing or HOW BAD they are losing, you WILL NOT see Aggies
fleeing for the exits early. You WILL NOT see them cussing out their
own team. You WILL NOT see them sitting in, say, a Longhorn bar in
Austin, Texas, bitching about their losing coach to a teasip. (It's
what we call those who attend or have attended t.u.)
Do they bitch to each other? Hell yes. Do they call for the coach's head on a silver platter?
Most assuredly.
But come game-time, by God, Aggies are AGGIES. It does not matter how
bad we are losing, you do not have permission to trash us unless you
are an Aggie. It's a rule. I do not know where it is written but I'm
sure it's carved in granite someplace.
We stand united in a field of Maroon. We bleed Maroon. For life.
In the movie, BLINDSIDE, when the NAACP lady was so suspicious because
Michael Oher's sort of adoptive white family had so vigorously
channeled him to Ole Miss because the daddy had been an athlete there
and the mama had been a cheerleader there--I totally understood that.
If WE had "adopted" that young man, you think we'd've wanted him to go
to t.u.????
I laugh.
Friend of ours, an Aggie buddy--he was a yell leader at A&M, and
when his oldest daughter chose to go to t.u., it was so funny, he
almost wouldn't TELL any of us. It was like, this family SHAME.
<ggg>
Fortunately, his family honor was salvaged by the youngest
daughter who not only DID go, but she married a fellow Aggie, and asked her Daddy to hold an
Aggie Yell Practice AT HER WEDDING RECEPTION!
How cool is that?
So.
Why am I telling you all this? Why oh why am I inviting the abuse I am
sure to take from the Longhorns who will be reading this? <ggg>
For this reason:
The Liberal Lion's lifelong legacy was taken over by a goddamned Tea-Bagger this past week, and I felt like shit.
I curled up in the fetal position, because I could see us losing not
just health care reform, but all of it, everything the Obama volunteers
had worked so hard for when we trudged around for two years trying to
get him elected, all we had worked for trying to get this health care
reform bill through Congress--I could see climate change legislation
and smart energy legislation and education reform and ALL OF IT
swirling down the drain and I was just beside myself with grief.
Mostly, I was mad at the Democrats.
I was mad at liberal Democrats for savaging their own president on talk
shows and blogs because he was moving too far to the center for their
taste, that he was "selling out" when all the hell he was trying to do
was work with the conservative Dems he had in Congress; I was mad at
Congress for taking such a ridiculously long time haggling over this
bill; I was mad at the Dems in the Senate Finance Committee for WASTING
half the summer trying to please ONE MAINE REPUBLICAN who then
proceeded to throw it all in their faces; I was mad at the Dems who ran
Coakley's campaign in Massachusetts for being so smug and complacent
and letting this powerful moment slip through their stupid fingers; I
was FURIOUS at EVERY PERSON IN MASSACHUSETTS WHO DID NOT WANT TO VOTE
FOR NATIONAL HEALTH CARE BECAUSE THEY WERE HAPPY WITH THE UNIVERSAL
HEALTH CARE IN THEIR OWN STATE INCLUDING SCOTT BROWN WHO VOTED FOR IT AS A STATE SENATOR BEFORE REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY SIGNED THE BILL INTO LAW.
I didn't want to vote for another Democrat as long as I lived because I
figured they'd squandered the best chance they'd ever had, and now,
based on only ONE election in ONE state, it seemed to me that most of
the Dems in the House and Senate were running away from their own
president as fast as their slimy little feet could take them, the
sniveling cowards.
Yes, I thought there were some mistakes that had been made by the White
House but not as many as he's been blamed for, not by a long shot. It
looked to me as if the Democratic Congress was breaking the promises HE
had made, after THEY had already VOTED on them!
(As if they won't have those votes shoved in their faces ANYWAY in the fall!!!)
I didn't want to support the party. Period. I didn't want to do any more politics AT ALL.
Then my Aggie husband had a little half-time pep talk with me.
See, he's a Republican.
He's also an Obama supporter.
He said, "You can't abandon him now! He needs you NOW more than ever!
It's like a sports team. You don't abandon the team you love just
because they're not playing well or just because they lost a big game.
You don't suddenly start going to t.u. games just because the Aggies
lost on Thanksgiving."
(Shudder the thought.)
He said, "If you walk away now, all you bloggers and supporters of the
party, then he really WILL be alone, and he can't DO this alone. It
would be as if the TEAM walked off the field and left the COACH to play
the game without them! He needs you now more than ever. You have to
fight for him; you have to fight for his programs and the things you
believe in. They may not be perfect--God knows the Aggies aren't--but
they're my team."
He said, "The thing about the Republicans is--and remember, I've said
this before, and I was right before--they always go too far. They will
go too far this time. They will get carried away. They've had three
victories now and they're all full of themselves, all blown up with the
Tea Baggers and whatnot. GIVE THEM TIME. Be patient. And don't give
up on your own man. He needs your support, because if you bail out on
him now, then you will be guaranteeing his defeat."
Spoken like a guy who knows how it feels to kiss his date on a first down.
What I'm saying is this. I know the liberals have been unhappy with
some of what Obama has done but for Chrissake--do you REALLY want Sarah
Palin or Scott Brown in the White House in 2012? (Don't think they're
not grooming Brown for a run in 2012.)
You HAVE to consider the alternatives.
You may not get ABSOLUTE IDEOLOGICAL PURITY. So, DEAL WITH IT. But for God's sake don't sit this game out.
Keep standing up for our team.
Because, speaking as an Aggie fan, I can say this: Win or lose,
there's nothing like being a part of that community, that family.
Pouring into Kyle Field 85,000 strong, "sawing Varsity's horn's off"
during the War Hymn, standing there till your feet get numb, getting a
big sloppy kiss even for just a field goal, watching the band's
military precision, reading the Yell Leader's signs before a yell and
all 85,000 of you hollering out the same words at the same time until
the car alarms go off--we're there for the long haul, not just for the
feel-good gamedays.
Those of us who worked like dogs to get this man elected need to stand
up for him now, not just on Inauguration Day when it feels good.
We need to keep fighting, keep blogging, keep after our congressmen and
women. We need to stop wasting energy fighting against ourselves and
against HIM, and turn our vitriol where it can do the most
good--stopping t.u.
Woops. Of course I mean, stopping the Republicans. <g>
Seriously though. They're doing all they can to stop US.
Why the hell would we let them get away with it?
