On Monday, your blogger became part of the news, when she joined those paying final respects to the late US Senator Jesse Helms.
At the door, two members of the North Carolina Highway Patrol stood guard, in their dress uniforms. Inside, on either side of the American flag-draped casket, two more Troopers stood by. They were careful not to look directly at any mourner, so each of us could be lost in our private thoughts and prayers.
KCC was lucky to have come of age during the greatest period conservatism has ever known in the United States. She was nine years old during the elections of 1976, when Helms helped Reagan stay in the race that ultimately paved the way to his election in 1980. Watching the Kansas City convention on TV that year, KCC was sure that she was a Republican!
Helms taught this blogger about the evils of communism -- evils that still lurk today behind the bamboo curtain. Those evils affect her own family that are not allowed to leave restrictive communist governments in Southeast Asian nations. And those evils nearly brought our nation to war with the Soviet Union.
It wasn't popular to say you supported Helms, especially to the downtown Raleigh set. KCC lived downtown for 13 years, and had gay friends that stopped speaking once a Helms sticker appeared on her car, during his last race in 1996. But, Helms taught us to never back away from our beliefs and to never compromise them.
Much was said about Helms supposed "hatred" of blacks and gays, yet he hired many of both on his staff.
God bless America for giving us Jesse Helms. He was truly one of a kind.
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