There's little middle ground regarding reaction to Tennessee Senates' vote Tuesday rejecting a proposal to erect a privately funded statue of Al Gore---and Cordell Hull---both Nobel prize winners---on state capital grounds.
The rationale for rejecting the statue was that it must depict someone who has already gone to his reward, rather than still reaping it here on planet Earth with inconvenient truths.
Of course, Mr. Gore has not, nor has he made any noises to the effect that he's inclined to shuffle off this mortal coil any time soon. Never mind that Mr. Hull, who helped establish the, ahem, United Nations in 1945, died in 1955.
Still, some would say it was all about politics: It was pretty much a vote down party lines, though Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey voted with the Democrats to erect the statue.
Supporters said Gore's achievements as a politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner were sufficient to waive a long-standing state policy against building statues to the living.
But opponents said the verdict on Gore is still out until he passes away.
"Things change over time," said Sen. Ken Yager, R-Harriman. "Sometimes we may erect a statue and a person changes. … It's probably a better rule to wait until a person is dead."
As to my take on the matter. What can I say except to agree with conventional wisdom: He's not dead yet. He's not dead yet...and so forth and so on...
No surprise, the liberal Nashville Scene didn't take kindly to this deicision by lawmakers. How dare lawmakers deny its king his honor during his lifetime!
"...the Senate voted Tuesday not to support a proposal to erect statues depicting Gore and fellow Nobel laureate Cordell Hull, on the basis that recipients of Capitol Hill honors should be dead."
ReplyDeleteAs Don Surber would say,
Good.
...my sentiments, exactly....good.
ReplyDeletepublish it!
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