Meet My Choice

You have got to be kidding me.

That’s what I’m sitting here thinking.  I’ve been pretty well buffeted by the same psychic shock that has been infecting us all for the last week or two.  One loss after another.  This crazy spiral downward.  I don’t read a lot of hope in the voices of my fellow progressives here.  I don’t have a lot of hope to offer.  But just when I get to the point where I don’t think it could get any worse, it gets a little bit worse.

I’ve spent the last few hours hanging out at the pond.  Jumped in to talk with SusanHu et al about the Cheney shooting.  Stayed when BooMan proudly announced a live appearance with the Democratic Congressional candidate (MI-08) Jim Marcinkowski.
I live in the 8th District.  I’ve been doing my best to oppose incumbent Mike Rogers.  He is basically a smarter, more dangerous version of Bush/Cheney.  Seems like a true believer.  Seems to think that America is at risk, and that war and torture are the answers.  Is convinced that the free market is the answer to our plummet to the bottom in the global economy.  Knows that the free market is going to fix health care.  Absolutely the antithesis of almost every idea that anyone here has ever expressed.

So, naturally, I was pretty pleased to get a chance to evaluate the Democratic alternative.  I mean there is still a primary, and I’ve heard that there may be other Democratic contenders.  But Marcinkowski seems to be the party favorite, from what I can gather.  The one with a slim chance to unseat Rogers.

I’ll admit that my own diligence and dedication to the political process is pathetic.  I am not active in any campaign or party, other than issue oriented activity.  And until BooMan announced that Marcinkowski was appearing here, I hadn’t taken the initiative to research the prospective Democratic nominee.  And worse, perhaps, I haven’t even waited for the good candidate to finish answering all of the questions before coming to a pretty clear conclusion.

If you are a progressive person, living in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, you are pretty much assured to be a) casting a vote for someone who has spent a lifetime demonstrating values that do not politically align with your own, b) casting your vote for a third party candidate who has no chance of winning, or c) staying home and watching television when other people are casting their vote.

Maybe my background research is flawed.  I mean, it isn’t like I did an exhaustive search or anything.  I went to Wikipedia and typed in “James Marcinkowski” and got a biography.  So maybe it is flawed.  Maybe it has been hacked by Republican activists to make me think that Jim and I don’t really share much in common politically.  But the biography it lays out for my most likely option at the ballot box makes me want to laugh out loud.  Here is what is says:

Marcinkowski was born in Hamtramck, Michigan. After finishing high school in 1974, Marcinkowski, then 18, clerked in the Computer Systems Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1974, he enlisted in the United States Navy, where, as an Operations Specialist he became an expert in anti-submarine warfare, was an Air Controller, and collected shipboard intelligence on the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. He served aboard the USS Rathburne FF-1057 and was a member of the commissioning crew of the USS John Rodgers DD-983. Following assignments to the 3rd and 7th (Pacific) and the 2nd (Atlantic) Fleets, Marcinkowski returned to Michigan where he earned his B.A. degree in Political Science from Michigan State University in 1982 and later, a law degree from the University of Detroit School of Law.

After graduating from law school, Marcinkowski joined the CIA. He completed the Career Trainee Program and the Operations Course to become a case officer in the Agency’s Directorate of Operations. He served as an Operations Officer in Washington, D.C. and Central America. It was in the CIA that he first met Valerie Plame, a classmate whose identity as an undercover CIA officer would later be exposed by the George W. Bush White House.

After leaving the CIA in 1989, Marcinkowski joined the Prosecutor’s Office in Oakland County, Michigan where as an executive staff attorney, he established the first special prosecution unit for domestic violence. In 1993 Marcinkowski abrubtly left the office, refusing to cooperate with the criminal probe of another assistant prosecutor who was arrested in a gambling raid. He then publicly accused his former boss, Prosecutor Richard Thompson, of corruption and demanded an investigation by Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelly. After a review of the allegations, Kelly, a Democrat, declined the request citing a lack of “specific information” that Thompson, a Republican, broke any laws. That same year, Marcinkowski filed a lawsuit against Thompson claiming defamation and violation of his First Amendment rights. The case was settled for only $48,500. Source: Detroit Free Press [1].

Later, as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of Royal Oak, Marcinkowski obtained the first criminal conviction of suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian. He is a member of Teamsters Local 214.

A former resident of Oxford, Michigan, he unsuccessfully ran as a Republican candidate for state representative in 1992 and township trustee in August 2000. [2] A former member of the Young Republicans, he made a $250 campaign contribution to George W. Bush in 1999. Marcinkowski also made a total of $350 in contributions to Republican Michael Cox’ successful 2002 run for Michigan Attorney General.

Marcinkowski, a resident of Lake Orion, Michigan, is now seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Representative from Michigan’s 8th Congressional District (see map). The district is currently represented by Mike J. Rogers, a Republican from Brighton.

I’m sorry.  I don’t want to laugh.  But what the hell else can I do.  My “opposition” candidate has been a Republican for his entire adult life.  At least until 2000 (the last time he ran as a Republican).

He, according to his answers in the forum, was the Young Republican leader at my campus (Michigan State University) for the election of Ronald Reagan.  I remember the young Republicans at Michigan State.  They made me laugh then.  They still make me laugh today.  They are laughable.  I can sympathize with someone trying to disassociate themselves with that group.  I just don’t want to have to vote for that person.

Was it youthful error?  An honest lack of understanding about where one might fall on political questions?  Well.  Probably not.  Since he ran for office as a Republican in 1992 and 2000.  I’m curious if he filled out any of the “Right to Life” pledges that are sent out to all candidates.  It seems to me, that if one wants to run as a Republican in this state, one is almost sure to have filled out these pledges assuring the good religious people of Michigan about where one stands.  I didn’t wait long enough for Mr. Marcinkowski’s answer on this issue.  I’m sure if I’m wrong and Mr. Marcinkowski has always supported a woman’s right to choose, and continues to do so, my error can and will be rectified.  Or even if he didn’t used to support that right, but now recognizes that his earlier position was politically disadvan…, er I mean, wrong as a matter of principle, that will be corrected for the record.

Maybe he left the bankrupt Republican party behind in 2000.  Or maybe it was after 2002, when he donated to the campaign of Republican Attorney General Mike Cox (his personal friend, according to his responses in the forum).  I guess I should just be happy that he is on our side now.

Should I be troubled that he served in the CIA in Central America in the 1980s?  (I don’t know that I really want to learn what he was doing there, but I’m sure he didn’t mean any of it anyway.)  That he was a city prosecutor who went after Jack Kevorkian? (hey, it was just his job — I’m sure he did not really want to put good old Dr. Death in jail.)  Naw.  I should just be happy I have an alternative to vote for.

I don’t mean to be negative.  I don’t.  It just strikes me as funny.  These are apparently the options we get.  If I really cared, I would be out at the Democratic meetings trying to help the party to elect progressive candidates.

The only reason I write it down is because it is the first time I’ve ever been kicked in the face with it this hard.  There has been a growing cynicism in me.  An honest and growing belief that the system is fixed.  That it doesn’t matter.  That whatever powers that be — corporate forces, or historical forces, or something I don’t fully understand — exist independent of my thoughts and actions.  And that these forces are unstoppable.  So why bother?  Why fight?  Why care?  Like that feeling I’ve read about that falls over prey animals when they are about to get eaten by a predator.  A calming shock.  I’ve been on the brink of this feeling for so long.  But meeting my options face to face, so to speak, here on my home blog, I’m pretty sure I’m ready to lay down now.  Be quiet.  Because it doesn’t matter who wins.  The difference between Mike and Jim and Joe and Mary.  Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

Just my two cents.  I’m sure I’ll be back for another kick in the teeth in a few days.

[And thanks for the event BooMan, truly, and sorry to be the tempest in the teapot.  Probably not so good for business here — and for that I apologize.]