You might walk over to it sometime and read what it says on the base. Part of it is this: He was the first to warn the people of the great danger threatened by powerful private corporations. And the first to awake to the great inequalities in taxation and to initiate steps for reform.

He stood up to the fools and exploiters who were the equivalent of the Tea Party and the Koch brothers today, and for seven years as mayor, beat them time and again.

My guess, dear reader, is that you never heard any of this.

You might ask yourself why.

Republican Party follies: There was a lot of attention last week paid to the efforts in the Democratic Party to get a sort of perestroika by ousting their longtime apparatchik, Mark Brewer, as chair. That finally happened.

But what was largely overlooked was what happened on the GOP side, where Chair Bobby Schostak had the support of the governor and every other establishment official.

Nevertheless, he barely managed to get 52 percent of the vote against a howling Tea Party lunatic, one Todd Courser, who then got up and pleaded over and over again with God to “save the country and restore the republic.”

“I beg your mercy on our country,” he bleated.

Afterward, God was not available for an interview. But if anyone wonders why it’s hard to make rational compromises with these folks on things like preventing the economy from going over the fiscal cliff, there are a few clues here.

Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Contact him at letters@metrotimes.com.

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