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All politics is local, he used to say
By adamg on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 12:08pm
Boston College's Burns Library posted this photo of US Rep. Tip O'Neill voting in Cambridge in 1955.
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Comments
Wish that was still true
The country was a better place when all politics was local instead of all politics being national.
Politics replacing religion is a regression.
I do find it interesting that
I do find it interesting that for all the concern around people acting irrationally around polling places here in Newton the local elections last year around housing density and planning were VASTLY more hostile.
Nostalgia versus reality
Ever lived in an isolated small town? Or a city that thought itself a bunch of isolated small towns and shit on specific groups of residents?
There were reasons people fled the Jim Crow south and this was one of them.
Without defending Jim Crow
Having people view every local issue as litmus test of ideological purity isn't a great alternative either. You have school board meetings that turn into proxies for national policies.
I'm generalizing but it used to be more common for popular political leaders to be the ones that brought money or improvements to their district. (Hence, "All politics is local") Now the popular politicians at all levels are those who open with their support or opposition to US President or national social issues, irrespective of how irreverent they to the local problems.
How about a shot of the Dap
How about a shot of the Dap casting a ballot?
Nope
I'm old enough to remember him sucking up to Reagan to try to get appointed US marshal in Boston (the old DINO actually introduced Reagan at a rally at the IBEW hall in Dorchester, yes, the same one now beaming "TRUMP IS A SCAB" messages at Expressway drivers), and it almost worked, until the FBI did a background check on him.
Do they make Dapper targets?
If so, I can arrange for some shots - gonna be cheap industrial grade vodka, tho.
Any of the local history
Any of the local history buffs want to take a guess where in Cambridge this was?
Honest Graft?
Tip never had a "real job" outside of being a politician -- neither did he have a master legacy contributed by an earlier generation [e.g. Kennedy dynasty].
Yet somehow he was so "frugal" that not only did he have a house in North Cambridge -- but he had a nice place near to the beach in Harwich on the Cape.
North Cambridge is expensive now
It was a working class district when it was built. This was a manufacturing area.
The Cape used to have a much wider range of prices, too. Many working class families vacationed there for weeks at a time, or had a small summer cottage.
Just remember
No one wanted anything to do with the cape and the islands until the Kennedy's came on to the scene.
Prior to the 1950s, the cape and islands were nothing but poor people.
(OK I admit the it wasn't all the Kennedy's... the car helped people be mobile)