By STEVE BREEN has been an occupational “Foole” for the Reagan Revolution since 1978 and is still the “best looking mailman in the U.S. Postal Service.” He
I HAD TO HIDE MY COPY OF GEORGE Carlin’s “Class Clown” from my uber- Catholic mom when it came out in 1972. Having been raised in a conservative Democrat household behind the “Orange Curtain” in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the mere possession of such contraband would have reasonably garnered more chores in the scullery, and probably a novena of Masses thrown in as well.
Carlin has and always will remain one of my heroes. I’ll miss seeing him at Starbucks on Main Street where he’d pick up his coffee as I was delivering the mail to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s office. What you got from a conversation with him was like one of his routines. He was funny, sometimes irascible, a little goofy yet deliciously incisive and “game on.”
The planet became a poorer place upon the news of his passing.
As, arguably, the greatest social commentator from the counter-culture movement, Carlin trafficked heavily in illuminating the hypocrisy of all Pharisees. Carlin’s greatest gift, however, was his unabashed soliloquies on the First Amendment.
His books and interviews yet, above all, his stand-up routines were the tour de force of informing you, that in no uncertain terms, should any person or institution censor your speech or your ideas in subservience to their own snotty self importance. He usually had seven or more very choice dirty words to re-enforce his voluminous vitriol on the subject.
In late May 2008, a young man, Jim Picco, wrote me a very nice letter. While many of my detractors get their diapers in a yank when I’m making hagiographic hamburger out of one of their sacred socio-political cows, at least one smart Democrat got the joke.
Dear Mr. Breen: I get the feeling I don’t agree with you on most political issues, but I do like your writing style. I don’t mind seeing my fellow Democrats getting skewered. Does that mean I’ve moved past partisanship?
What about you? Do you ever get tired of the partisanship in our national discourse? I’m so sick of it.
“[People] want to control your language … [to] control your mind and control your thoughts. And they’re not alone … political groups, special interest, anti-bias groups will always suggest the correct political vocabulary that you ought to be saying” — — George Carlin, in concert circa 1993 Wassa matter? Can’t take a joke? IN THIS COUNTRY, JIM, PARTISAN BLASPHEMY IS NOT A CRIME … EXCEPT IN SANTA MONICA. IT’S A KINDLER, GENTLER FORM OF POLITICAL APARTHEID, I GUESS
Very truly yours, Jim [last name withheld by request] Jim, I gotta tell ya, I’m sick of it too! I’m sick of bumper stickers that mince, “Spay and Neuter All Republicans”. Jim Crow era Democrats also recommended the same “procedure” for colored men; I qualify in both categories.
Democrats have weird notion of jocularity. It’s a relief, though, that the high gas prices keep the cross burnings to a minimum. And it’s telling that even you too, Jim, have to remain in the shadows for your apostasy, real or imagined by the Party of Tolerance, out of real concerns for reprisals.
A less steely conservative than myself might feel a bit like a monstrous Franken-conservative being chased down by the angry villagers in their Prius hoping that he won’t be caught and have his “bolts” cut off.
Jim, I’m sick of listening to horror stories of a conservative’s property being destroyed or their personal safety being threatened by the “Party of Tolerance” due to the simple association of identity with the GOP.
When was the last time you heard of a conservative “north of Montana” patrician beating the chicken soup out of some unwashed hippie from Green Peace?
I’m sick of hearing my friend’s fear for his Hollywood writing job because, if his Femi-Nazi “Heil Hillary” studio boss gets wind of his politically elephantine affection, he knows he’ll be on the next train out to the labor camps of the unemployment line.
In this country, Jim, partisan blasphemy is not a crime … except in Santa Monica. It’s a kindler, gentler form of political apartheid, I guess.
What is so curiously satisfying to me is observing that most of the venom spat from the local liberal fasces in my general environs has been about my writing style yet these self-appointed Lictors of liberalism have yet to challenge any of the facts presented.
And as politically unconcerned as Carlin frequently professed, I’m sure that it is not beyond reason that he would consider the term “liberal thinking” an oxymoron. He’s probably laughing with me right now, and calling me a jerk. It’s a term of affection amongst class clowns.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 2, 2008. Read the original PDF.