Compromise is Not a Dirty Word

A tribute from Afton:

I have hobnobbed with scholars in two states but I've yet to meet one who understood the political system any better than Dad. I mean really understood the workings and the importance of a two-party system. From him I learned that "compromise" is not a dirty word in politics, but the way that a two-party system works. So often it's not a matter of right or wrong, but of the highest good for the most people--it's better that everybody is a little bit satisfied than that the most powerful have everything their own uncompromising way. From him I also learned that we are loyal to our leaders whether or not they are the ones for whom we voted.

Some of my favorite stores of Dad are connected with politics. The time the Republican Governor came to Duncan and was not met at the airport by the local Republicans who had mistakenly gone out to the Clifton airport. The Governor hitchhiked to town and Dad (Mr. Democrat of Greenlee County) was the one who took him around to introduce him to all the local people.

I have also been proud of the fact that Dad was appointed to the State Junior College Board by a Republican Governor and reappointed by another one--never once pretending to be anything than what he was--a dyed-in-the-wood (but honest and fair and recognized as such) Democrat.