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Q: Who got you into politics?
Scott K Fish
Kindness from strangers 25 years ago was exactly the encouragement I needed to pursue a career in politics. Scared to death of making a mistake, of looking stupid in public, I had nevertheless written and mailed my first political letter-to-the-editor to the editor of Connecticut’s Newtown Bee newspaper. The Bee had a regular letter writer always singing praises to high profile communists, i.e., Mikhail Gorbachev, Fidel Castro.
One day I read a newspaper report of an East German soldier shooting to death a man trying to get over the Berlin Wall to freedom. The soldier was quoted as saying to his dead victim, “There! I got you, you dog.” Soon after I read another Bee letter from their “regular,” praising communism.
That was the last straw. I was enraged at this moron praising a system that locks its citizens behind walls and kills them when they try to scale the walls. Yet, I was also very frustrated. I felt too ignorant of politics to channel my anger into a sensible rebuttal. Still, I could not let another pro-communist letter go unanswered.
I took a leap of faith. Well, first I bought a six-pack of beer, drank one. Then I took a leap of faith. I spent hours drinking beer and writing my Newtown Bee letter. The next day, stone cold sober, I mailed it.
Not long after the Bee published my letter, an envelope arrived at our apartment addressed to me by name and town only. No street address. It was a handwritten note from a stranger: Mrs. Natalie Sirkin. She liked my letter. I called Mrs. Sirkin to thank her, sharing with her my letter writing ordeal, and my frustration at being a political numbskull, wishing I wasn’t, yet not sure what to do about it.
Mrs. Sirkin invited my wife, Claudia, and me for tea with her and her husband, Gerald.
Natalie and Gerald Sirkin were what I think all Americans should be if we want our republic to fire again on eight cylinders. They understood how government works. The Sirkins kept abreast of politics—local, state, federal. They were politically active, interacting with government and their community. “Natalie’s Corner” was a monthly column they cowrote for their local newspaper. Mr. Sirkin’s op-eds were published in The Wall Street Journal.
The Sirkins tracked bills in the Connecticut Legislature, testified at legislative public hearings, used letters to the editor, op-eds, and their newspaper column to persuade public opinion on bills/issues. Remember, this was pre-Internet and conservative talk radio.
I left the Sirkins’ tea with a superior list of books/magazines to read—plenty to pull myself up out of political numbskulldom. Best of all, Mrs. Sirkin shared with me two pieces of political writing advice which I have since used as my guide. “Never get over-emotional,” she said. “And make sure your facts are always correct.”
Without the kindness of Natalie and Gerald Sirkin to a letter-writing stranger, I doubt my political career would have come to pass.
Scott K Fish is owner/editor of the conservative political forum www.asmainegoes.com. He lives in Dixmont.
Sean Faircloth
Andy Rooney, a member of the Greatest Generation, expressed skepticism about that term, noting he just happened to be born then; he didn’t decide to be born then. That generation—like all others—includes war heroes, crooks, con men, hard workers, bums, gamblers, and a few saints.
My dad’s no saint. Dad, 80, is a storyteller (sometimes a repetitive storyteller). Yet some stories stick:
• My grandmother used cardboard from cereal boxes to cover holes in Dad’s shoes. To save money, she made her own soap, once burning herself with lye.
• My dad and his friends knew nothing of TV, but lots about baseball and football. His father had played minor league ball. Dad loved the game. Playing ball, my dad busted bones in his foot and elbow. No bother with a doctor.
• In Frankfurt, Germany, during the airlift, Dad saw huge planes land as Americans rushed food to help Berliners we’d just fought.
Dad saw the best of America. Dad admired FDR, Truman, the Kennedy brothers, despised Joe McCarthy, Nixon, and all they stood for. Dad’s no hippy. His first memory is a torchlight parade honoring FDR’s inauguration as president of the United States of America. He taught me to stand for the flag.
Dad, first in his family to graduate from college (GI bill), holds a master’s in Irish literature and loves Shakespeare.
As candidates, FDR and JFK were dismissed as sweet-talking lightweights. Dad loves the English language and saw their speeches much differently. Dad taught me the eloquence of FDR and JFK sprang from study, work, and clear thinking.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” Their words connected to policies, inspiring Americans to great causes: Civilian Conservation Corps, World War II, Peace Corps, civil rights, the moon landing.
Teaching English, history, and theater, I remember Dad barking at drama students like a baseball manager: “Learn your lines!” “Enunciate!” “Speak naturally. Authentically.”
Dad taught me that tremendous effort went into creating the effortless authenticity that was FDR and JFK. It takes work—striving—to be your best self.
Dad believes it the particular gift of the Irish to use the language of our oppressors to speak for those on the short end of the stick and that there’s no higher calling than public service. I’m in politics because of him.
As Dad moves into his 81st year, I still believe that someday—however long we must strive—America will rise above selfishness (Halliburton profiteers, chicken hawks, corporate cronyism) and rejuvenate the moral leadership this nation embodied under Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy, leaders who formed my father’s generation.
I’m jealous of Dad: He rose up in an America led by kind giants. I hope we see their like again. For now, I’m glad my greatest inspiration—my dad—lives on, and still believes that Nixon, like any criminal, belonged in jail. Thanks, Dad.
Rep. Sean Faircloth is a lawyer who attended the University of California Hastings College of the Law, and graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame.
Scott K Fish
Kindness from strangers 25 years ago was exactly the encouragement I needed to pursue a career in politics. Scared to death of making a mistake, of looking stupid in public, I had nevertheless written and mailed my first political letter-to-the-editor to the editor of Connecticut’s Newtown Bee newspaper. The Bee had a regular letter writer always singing praises to high profile communists, i.e., Mikhail Gorbachev, Fidel Castro.One day I read a newspaper report of an East German soldier shooting to death a man trying to get over the Berlin Wall to freedom. The soldier was quoted as saying to his dead victim, “There! I got you, you dog.” Soon after I read another Bee letter from their “regular,” praising communism.
That was the last straw. I was enraged at this moron praising a system that locks its citizens behind walls and kills them when they try to scale the walls. Yet, I was also very frustrated. I felt too ignorant of politics to channel my anger into a sensible rebuttal. Still, I could not let another pro-communist letter go unanswered.
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I took a leap of faith. Well, first I bought a six-pack of beer, drank one. Then I took a leap of faith. I spent hours drinking beer and writing my Newtown Bee letter. The next day, stone cold sober, I mailed it.
Not long after the Bee published my letter, an envelope arrived at our apartment addressed to me by name and town only. No street address. It was a handwritten note from a stranger: Mrs. Natalie Sirkin. She liked my letter. I called Mrs. Sirkin to thank her, sharing with her my letter writing ordeal, and my frustration at being a political numbskull, wishing I wasn’t, yet not sure what to do about it.
Mrs. Sirkin invited my wife, Claudia, and me for tea with her and her husband, Gerald.
Natalie and Gerald Sirkin were what I think all Americans should be if we want our republic to fire again on eight cylinders. They understood how government works. The Sirkins kept abreast of politics—local, state, federal. They were politically active, interacting with government and their community. “Natalie’s Corner” was a monthly column they cowrote for their local newspaper. Mr. Sirkin’s op-eds were published in The Wall Street Journal.
The Sirkins tracked bills in the Connecticut Legislature, testified at legislative public hearings, used letters to the editor, op-eds, and their newspaper column to persuade public opinion on bills/issues. Remember, this was pre-Internet and conservative talk radio.
I left the Sirkins’ tea with a superior list of books/magazines to read—plenty to pull myself up out of political numbskulldom. Best of all, Mrs. Sirkin shared with me two pieces of political writing advice which I have since used as my guide. “Never get over-emotional,” she said. “And make sure your facts are always correct.”
Without the kindness of Natalie and Gerald Sirkin to a letter-writing stranger, I doubt my political career would have come to pass.
Scott K Fish is owner/editor of the conservative political forum www.asmainegoes.com. He lives in Dixmont.
Sean Faircloth
Andy Rooney, a member of the Greatest Generation, expressed skepticism about that term, noting he just happened to be born then; he didn’t decide to be born then. That generation—like all others—includes war heroes, crooks, con men, hard workers, bums, gamblers, and a few saints. My dad’s no saint. Dad, 80, is a storyteller (sometimes a repetitive storyteller). Yet some stories stick:
• My grandmother used cardboard from cereal boxes to cover holes in Dad’s shoes. To save money, she made her own soap, once burning herself with lye.
• My dad and his friends knew nothing of TV, but lots about baseball and football. His father had played minor league ball. Dad loved the game. Playing ball, my dad busted bones in his foot and elbow. No bother with a doctor.
• In Frankfurt, Germany, during the airlift, Dad saw huge planes land as Americans rushed food to help Berliners we’d just fought.
Dad saw the best of America. Dad admired FDR, Truman, the Kennedy brothers, despised Joe McCarthy, Nixon, and all they stood for. Dad’s no hippy. His first memory is a torchlight parade honoring FDR’s inauguration as president of the United States of America. He taught me to stand for the flag.
Dad, first in his family to graduate from college (GI bill), holds a master’s in Irish literature and loves Shakespeare.
As candidates, FDR and JFK were dismissed as sweet-talking lightweights. Dad loves the English language and saw their speeches much differently. Dad taught me the eloquence of FDR and JFK sprang from study, work, and clear thinking.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” Their words connected to policies, inspiring Americans to great causes: Civilian Conservation Corps, World War II, Peace Corps, civil rights, the moon landing.
Teaching English, history, and theater, I remember Dad barking at drama students like a baseball manager: “Learn your lines!” “Enunciate!” “Speak naturally. Authentically.”
Dad taught me that tremendous effort went into creating the effortless authenticity that was FDR and JFK. It takes work—striving—to be your best self.
Dad believes it the particular gift of the Irish to use the language of our oppressors to speak for those on the short end of the stick and that there’s no higher calling than public service. I’m in politics because of him.
As Dad moves into his 81st year, I still believe that someday—however long we must strive—America will rise above selfishness (Halliburton profiteers, chicken hawks, corporate cronyism) and rejuvenate the moral leadership this nation embodied under Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy, leaders who formed my father’s generation.
I’m jealous of Dad: He rose up in an America led by kind giants. I hope we see their like again. For now, I’m glad my greatest inspiration—my dad—lives on, and still believes that Nixon, like any criminal, belonged in jail. Thanks, Dad.
Rep. Sean Faircloth is a lawyer who attended the University of California Hastings College of the Law, and graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame.
