This is the second part of a two-part interview with Kinky Friedman. The first part ran last week.
I want to begin with an excerpt so you can get a taste for his flavor:
There once was a zoo that some folks liked to call Texas politics. In this zoo were hawks and doves, bulls and bears, crocodiles and two-legged snakes, and lots and lots and lots of sheep. But the ones who ran the zoo were not really animals. They were people dressed up in elephant and donkey suits who’d lined their pockets long ago and now went around lying to everybody and making all the rules. Even as a child, I knew I never wanted to be one of them, a constipated, humorless, perfunctory, political party hack. This did not stop me, of course, from growing up to be a party animal.
I think you are right when you write that you are the only high profile candidate who has come out in support of both gay marriage and prayer in the schools. As you say, “A candidate who thinks for himself is always good, even if he’s a little ahead of his time.” Why do you think most candidates don’t think for themselves?
Why don’t most candidates think for themselves? It’s simple. They never have so why should they start now? That’s exactly what keeps inspirational people like (cyclist) Lance Armstrong from getting into politics. He’s always thought for himself and that’s why he says that politics is such a rat-race. It’s very easy for people who don’t think for themselves to kiss babies and cut ribbons. It’s ironic that a person can be such a good politician and yet such a bad leader. Unfortunately, that seems to be the trend these days. The only way to change things is to get the politicians out of politics. How do we do that? Everybody’s got to vote and we’ve all got to remember: never re-elect anybody.
I knew from reviewing some of your novels that you had a colorful past, from Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys to your books to your columns. I didn't realize that you also founded Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch and, of course, entered politics. Is there any profession you have not entered that you want to?
Funeral home director.
Your comments and actions regarding your no-kill shelter show your human side. I love this comment: “I have always felt that what we do when a stray spirit crosses our path – how we react to the hungry, homeless stranger – is indubitably a measure of our own humanity.” Why do you think so many people don’t help strays and feel different about this issue than you and I?
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