In this situation, perhaps the only solution is to reduce the argument to Homer Simpson language, something that will fit on a T-shirt or a bumper sticker. Consider this: we’re all familiar with report cards and letter grades. In Los Angeles, restaurants and take-out establishments are required to display letter grades of their sanitary standards – “A” is excellent, “C” is iffy (I’ve never seen a “D” grade). We’re also all familiar with the GOP’s framing itself as the “business party” among other memes. When it comes to businesses in general, I’d argue our most common interaction is buying goods and services from stores and vendors, and subsequently, receiving either good or bad customer service from said business.

SO, combine and boil down these concepts and you have a meme that the against-their-interests voters can understand:

“The GOP – ‘A’ in Sales, ‘F’ in Customer Service.”

Once the meme is used to break past their knee-jerk dismissive defenses, perhaps the constructive argument / conversation involving those complex and logic (and history) based points can ensue. If not, it’s still a concise campaign battle cry.

The continuing discussions about the symbolic – and concrete – centers of economic and political concerns in this country seem to only refer to “Wall Street” – the center of corporate power and influence, and “Main Street” – where the non-corporate and small business spirit gathers in solidarity. Maybe that includes the economic dreams and desires of the many different ethnic communities, but it doesn’t feel like it. There’s also the historical legacy of”Main Street’s” resistance and hostility to black folks merely shopping there, let alone claiming space to establish their own businesses.

I believe, for example,  the collective African-American  economic / political will should be acknowledged and expressed through its own designation, which is instantly recognized when referred to as “King Drive.”

Every major and mid-sized city in America that has a recognized black population seems to have a King Drive, a civic crumb of honor given in recognition to the work and sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Some streets with the title have become locations where black-owned businesses struggle and hold forth.  At the very least, in the general discussion and debate of policy that affects small business, entrepreneurship and regular working people in the collective black community, “King Drive” would be a welcome updating and improvement over the old-school knee-jerk referencing of ‘inner cities’ and ‘ghettos’ that demean and belittle with the assumption that colored’s don’t work or run businesses there.

My own use of the label isn’t to speak for the entirety of black people (something no white commentator or pundit has to disclaim), merely to comment and theorize from my own perspective within that diverse community. And that I’m using it first.

In any case, I’d love to see this label update used by African-American and progressive pundits as a start…

This is the place for my political musings, essays, memes and commentary about the contentious (and often insane) environment that passes for political reality. Stay tuned…

Meanwhile, I checked the download stats on the current ebook edition of my novel at a number of sites where it’s available – Smashwords, E-Books Directory, ManyBooks, MemoWare, Novelmaker, Scribd,  and AuthorsDen. In June the number was 4319 and included stats from the site Writer’s Cafe, but it’s down now. Even so, the seven sources added up to 6133. Cool…

A couple weeks ago I began updating my account at the latest new author / flog your novel site Book Country.  This is mainly to post up the final, fine-toothed-comb grammar, spelling, etc., rewrite of my novel Banjo Strings.  This final product will either be self-published or shopped to agents and traditional pubs; that I haven’t decided yet. So far, more than half the novel is up for reading and the work is going well.

Meanwhile, just for fun I posted up my short story Rosedust. To my surprise, it earned a four-star rating and made it to the “Buzz Books” listing in the Horror genre. Cool. They say the listing changes every couple weeks, so I pulled a screenpic:

The poem is “Terra Cognita.”

Now, I’m shifting to the third and final phase – a printed book. As I weigh the merits of self-publishing versus chasing after an agent and going the traditional path, a formal blog looks like a good idea. So hello world. More to come…