I had dinner last
night at a little restaurant in New Orleans.
I had the jambalaya, which was delicious, and it got me thinking about
politics.
Specifically, I’d like our congressional representatives to
have to have a serving of this excellent dish and to reflect on its
composition. It must have started with
the paella that the Spanish brought
with them. The French came later and
added their jambon. But,
and here’s the important part for those who represent us in Washington,
neither the French nor the Spanish could acquire all of the spices and
ingredients they were used to, so they substituted native vegetables and
spices. The result was entirely different than what they started with but oh,
so delicious. Even the name, both
accurate and artful, combines Spanish, French and (I think) Creole
I’d hope that, in eating the dish, our representatives would
contemplate the fact that if the little restaurant I ate in was running like
government is today, the proprietor would offer white rice or a slab of ham
steak, certainly not both together.
Surely, he would be out of business in short order. Surely, our representatives would see that
the artful combination of diverse elements is the best choice in politics, as
in cuisine. Wouldn’t they?
OK, enough on politics. Back to the blues ....
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