Column by Buck Ryan

After years of weaving around Kentucky’s political byways—you know, the ones named back-to-back after former governors—I finally made a right turn and ended up at the Fancy Farm picnic. Please excuse me for having missed 128 of them, but sometimes civic life can benefit from fresh eyes.

Media coverage summarized the event as, “Democratic Senate candidates trade fire at Fancy Farm,” in keeping with journalists’ role to hype conflict, follow the money and sniff out (some would say help create) the big story: the return of a U.S. Senate seat from Kentucky to the Democrats.

A lot can change, but if the public hears only about silver spoons, SOBs, and cap and trade, then turnout in the May primary election, especially among young voters, will match the low rhetoric.

If you missed the picnic and are thinking of going next year, I can offer you another headline: “God bless tradition that puts heat on politicians, celebrates problem solvers and offers free parking.”

The first big thing a newcomer sees entering Fancy Farm, Ky., is a church steeple. When a new Catholic priest and a venerable bishop opened the political arena, I couldn’t help but think of the late Father Drinan.

U.S. Rep. Robert F. Drinan (D-Mass.), the only Jesuit priest ever to serve in Congress, called John Mitchell “the most dangerous attorney general that we have ever had” and that comment made it into an FBI file. Maybe in the ’70s, “Give ’em hell, father” sounded about right, but in ’09 St. Jerome Church’s tradition of hosting Fancy Farm spoke for itself.

As for the heat on politicians, Fancy Farm’s real value is seeing candidates grow or wilt while exposed to five minutes of limelight.

I admired the one-liner imagery (Washington pols dressed as NASCAR drivers with sponsors on their sleeves), I appreciated the occasional citizen assist (If the government ran McDonald’s, delivering a Big Mac would take two weeks), I felt for the Don Quixote Party candidates (windmills as alternative energy), but maybe it’s just me: I think I heard only one convention-quality speech and one thought-provoking yarn.

We know from our political history that words count, or as John Adams said, “Without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.” Political organization, or having your act together, is something else, and when words mesh with enthusiastic, sign-carrying young people, that’s news to me.

So here’s another headline: Watch the Trey Grayson-Rand Paul race for a civic education. Kentucky Secretary of State Grayson, with his “because Kentucky knows better” convention-style battle cry, echoed by a youthful throng, clashed with shouts from sign-carrying supporters of ophthalmologist Paul, the Diogenes with a lantern exposing hypocrisy and cynicism in search of a fiscal conservative in Washington.

Before the speechifying, a couple was honored for humane society problem-solving work, so it was only fitting that a little dog on a pink leash followed me to my car as I left, no doubt smelling my two to-go barbecue pork sandwiches.

Maybe I’ll see you at Fancy Farm next year. I hope the mild weather wasn’t just beginner’s luck. And remember, freedom isn’t free, but the parking is.