Alvin Greene: Inadvertent Revolutionary?

The phenomenon of the Democratic candidate for S. Carolinas Senate seat: "Alvin Greene" has fascinated me for several reasons. First off I thought it was hilarious that an unemployed man with no cell phone, computer, or even as much as a yard sign, would have the intestinal fortitude (or maybe missing screws) to seriously fork out over $10K and make a run the for the Senate seat. Most funny were the theories of his victory. There was talk that he won because black people (who are purported to be some kind of monolithic voting bloc in S.C.) voted for him simply because they saw that he spelled his last name with an E on the end and clearly only black people spell Green(e) with that E on the end; and so the black folks voted on that (nonsensical) basis. Another theory is that people thought he was the soul singer Al Green (talk about lol's). Other theories have come out as to why he won, most of which make Jon Stewart's reporting seem like a work of Joseph Pulitzer.

Next came his apparent un-qualification due to an overt lack of intellectual prowess. Also his (alleged) sex crime charges brought forth a chuckle or two.

But, after some hardcore introspection, I realized that his winning the Democratic Primary was more than just YouTube and late-night-comic-laugh fodder. He won the primary with nearly 60 % of the vote over his opponent Democrat Vic Rawl. I read somewhere that even if people voted for him purely by accident, he still should not have won by that sweeping a margin.

I think that his win reflects the mood of an entire nation. People have grown weary and apathetic towards the government, with the exception of the 2008 presidential race, most people could care less about political things. Some have adopted the "throw the bums out" mentality of getting rid of all incumbents within elected government positions. Others say "who cares? what difference does it make? Yes we can...Well we didn't!" Greene may have been in the right place at the right time or his win could be the result of a battle fatigued voting public.

At first glance Greene is nothing more than a real life Forrest Gump, a man who just happened to happen. However after even more introspection I came upon some revelations. Initially after he won, several pundits alleged that he was a plant for the Republican party and that they funded his $10k application to run for the Senate in an effort to convolute the Democratic Party's chances of winning the general election this November. In an inquiry, Greene gave full access of monetary accounts to investigators, and the conclusion they drew is that he is 100% legit! (at least in terms of funding) Several other suits have been launched at him and his hands seem to be clean.

I thought to myself: would other public servants (potential or practicing) be this open and 'transparent' to an investigation of funding. Would L.A. mayor Villaraigosa be this upfront about campaign funds of any kind? What about N.Y.'s Mayor Bloomberg? I'd say that even President Obama himself wouldn't come close to Greene's level of co-operation and transparency regarding funding. Furthermore, I'd say that the majority of public servants wouldn't be this upfront. Already this unlikely man from Manning, S.C. has surpassed the standard of honesty in elected governmental personnel, and he hasn't even been elected to the actual seat yet!

Today I read a (smug) article from The Guardian of London talking about how Greene said that an action figure of himself would be a good way to create jobs. Now of course I laughed when I first read it but then again I thought to myself: This man is an international celebrity already, people in London, England are discussing him (albeit facetiously) . If he was to produce toy figurines of himself, he would sell at least 1 million of them and at $5 bucks a piece some toy company could generate a (relatively) quick $5 million dollars! Think of the truck drivers who would deliver these toys and the other people would would be employed in the movement of these products. Not billions of trillions, but with a seemingly stupid comment Alvin Greene gave an actual job solution that actually was realistic. I think to myself: What prominent politicians can claim that they give real world solutions to joblessness or unemployment (and I'm not talking about the phony, demagogic, Marxist, 'Cloward-Piven', redistribution of wealth plans so popular these days). Can Senator Harry Reid say that? How about Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal? I'm sure few of the elected officials could say that they have produced a real plan to create jobs.

Anyways I say all this to say that Alvin Greene whether he wins this November or not has managed to set a new standard (politically) and I'm sure his cohorts would rather he just be a useful idiot, a stain of the Democratic Party or a symbol of Republican underhandedness. But, it seems like the idiot is teaching the incumbents how to "be."