Winters’ Discontent

The KPFT Host Sounds Off on the Election,  Republicans ...and our Little Town

Mark Williams

A month after one of the most crazed and controversial presidential elections in our nation’s history, most all of us are still living our normal everyday lives; although we are possibly more politically divided than ever, the world didn’t come crashing down around us on November 2 -- no matter which candidate we backed.

Of course, there are some of us who are happier than others are. Righteous conservatives strut proudly these days, cocksure that the greatest country on earth is on the right path, a mandate for a new future firmly in place.
But there are some whose outlook on life has turned toward the dark and gloomy since Election Day: most of us have seen the news accounts of people around the country seeking treatment for depression because of the outcome of the election, while other citizens have gone to the most extreme of extremes by actually looking into migrating to Canada.

However, most disappointed people have simply taken the defeat in stride. Things may or may not get worse over the next four years, but the vast majority of folks plan on staying right where they are -- right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

But that doesn’t mean they won’t gripe a little…

Is it nothing but sour grapes? Probably. But that’s what makes America great: you can love this country with every fiber of your being and still disapprove of the things that happen within its borders. That seems to be the case for Larry Winters, the enduring host of “Spare Change”, a radio program heard every Saturday from 12 noon till 3PM on Houston’s public radio station KPFT (90.1 FM). “It’s mostly music, but I always talk a little about what’s going on in the world,” Winters says.
The show’s music runs the gamut: from singer-songwriters like modern Tin Pan Alley master Randy Newman to new radicals Steve Earle and Todd Snider; musical icons like Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard share the airwaves with eccentric pop genius Rufus Wainwright and a wide range of eclectic Americana talent like Terri Hendrix and Tom Russell; from George Jones to the Rolling Stones, you’ll hear it all and then some on “Spare Change”.

A resident of Montgomery County, Larry Winters speaks often about the ol’ homestead on his radio show. Is it always flattering? Not so much. Maybe that’s because in a county as rigidly Republican as ours, Winters isn’t afraid to speak his mind. “Hell, yeah, I’m a liberal! That means I think openly, I think freely. Liberals think about what’s good for everyone, not just the chosen few. I examine every side of a story. I‘m not one of the white sheep who live in this county.”

Since the election, many liberals have spent endless hours pondering “what went wrong”: despite a disastrous first term, why was George W. Bush duly elected to a second term in the White House? “People just couldn’t like John Kerry,” says Winters, “but what was there to like? He was a slick career politician from Massachusetts. He out-Bushed Bush, saying he had a better plan to win the war. Everyone knew he didn’t have a better plan. He didn’t have the same kind of interest in it as Bush. He was actively courting the antiwar vote and everybody knew it. When it comes to Kerry, there really isn’t anything there. He was a little too relaxed, a little too educated -- and we don’t like that in this country. Not really. So we stayed with Bush.”

While Winters obviously considers himself a liberal, he doesn’t really consider himself a Democrat. “I’m really an independent, but that takes you only so far [voting in an election], so I voted Democrat because that’s what I felt I had to do. But a lot of other people did what they felt they had to do, I guess. A lot of church goers were forced to vote for Bush. I don’t mean literally forced like they were pressured into it by someone -- I mean they felt like they had no choice. The ancient wisdom of religion seeped into this election. And there’s definitely a fear-based control of the masses. [America] is more divided than ever. Of course, the religious right doesn’t see it that way, but, really, we are. I mean, take a place like Montgomery County, it’s a perfect example. Sure, everybody belongs to the Republican Party and everybody votes Republican whether they really are one or not, but there’s a lot of us, man, who aren’t feeling this mandate.”

Unlike a lot of political alarmists who feel uneasy with Dubya at the wheel, Larry Winters doesn’t have any particular deep-seated burning hate for Bush. “Oh, I think he’s a nice enough guy and I think he really believes everything he says, which is a little bit scary. But he’s no better or worse than anyone else who’s ever had the job. He’s a lot like Ronald Reagan, he’s a populist president. Reagan has this legacy thing going because I guess he crippled communism, but didn’t have this great presidency that conservatives seem to remember. His administration hurt the environment by giving in to corporate interests and the economy was always a mess. Just like Bush. But Bush is getting to be like Reagan, where everyone who supports him thinks everything he does is right.

“Ronald Reagan was elected because he was an actor, because people identified him with the parts he played in films. Bush is kind of an actor. He has that John Wayne façade, which seems to work well for him. But the truth is that George W. Bush is the biggest welfare recipient there is -- meaning his salary, what he’s paid to do that job, since all he really does is look after the interest of his father’s cronies. As things are now, all the hard-earned money of the taxpayers go to corporations. Not that it matters. You can tell people this stuff, but they don’t listen -- the election tells you that. The American population is shallow in their investigation of anything. But, also, there’s not enough information out there. Despite the nightly news and the cable news and the internet, everything’s a rehash -- a retread of the same old stuff.”

While Larry Winters enjoys the rural life just east of Conroe, his very public views sometimes hurt him in business; he is a degreed counselor who has his own private firm, TFI (701 Pacific, 936-539-3444) in downtown Conroe. “TFI stands for The Fifth Inning, because where a lot of people are in life when they recognize their problems and that their life isn’t working and they need help. We specialize in anger counseling, drug treatment, psychological disorders -- just general mental health. Part of our business, how we make a living, is counseling parolees for the county, but I’ve lost contracts because of my beliefs. I’ve been told by [the head of the county parole and probation department] that ‘I’m not giving you these contracts because you’re a liberal.’ But that‘s just the way things are [in Montgomery County]…it‘s homophobic, xenophobic, and if you‘re not a Republican, you‘re dead.”

However, Winters says that Montgomery County is really no different than hundreds of other counties throughout the South and elsewhere, those places who made the razor-thin difference in last month’s elections -- populated by those who voted with their morals. “[The voters] had no real choice and they made a decision. Now, all these small towns everywhere are hunkered down, scared to death that they’re wrong [about Bush]. He says he’s gonna turn it around but people don’t really know if he can or not -- nobody knows and everyone’s afraid. America is a prison, locking ourselves away from the rest of the world. Bush says he’s a uniter? Well, he sure united the Muslims, man. We’re worried about terrorist attacks? America is the world’s greatest terrorist by invading a sovereign nation with our Imperialistic attitude. Was Saddam Hussein a great guy? No, but what’s wrong is wrong -- no matter if we do it or someone else does it. I think we forget that a lot of the time.

“[Bush] says he can stabilize the situation in Iraq, but I don’t see how that can ever happen. Nothing’s stable over there -- ever; never has been. And we’re not going to make that happen. This war isn’t about liberating Iraq and bringing them democracy, this war is about oil -- and the sooner we all figure that out, the better off we’ll all be. And it’s not just the war: 85 percent of American families are just two months away from destitution.”

Of course, only time will tell how Bush, his mandate, and his conservative voter base will fare over the next four years. As Van Halen so aptly put it all those years ago: “Only time will tell if we stand the test of time” -- but Larry Winters says it ought to be an interesting ride. “Bush has got a lot of things coming up. He’ll probably be nominating a couple of Supreme Court justices, someone who will overturn Roe Vs. Wade for the rightwing Christian conservatives. That’s what they’re looking for and Bush will give it to ‘em because they’re not about to let him forget it was them who elected him. I think Bush believes in all that stuff, I believe he thinks he really has true conversations with God, but what the right wing wants isn’t really that big a concern for him. He’s more about making money -- lots and lots of money; and he’s doing that: for himself, for his cronies, for his dad’s people. They’re all happy and that can’t see why the rest of us aren’t.”

While the Democrats have their obvious problems at the moment, Winters thinks the party can turn it around eventually. “Somebody’s going to have to eventually address health care -- and it won’t be the Republicans. Nobody wants to admits that we need a national health care system, but something will happen and the national discussion will start. I think that’s how Hilary Rodham Clinton will make a run, with the health care issue. And, in four years, depending on how things are in this country then -- she might just win.”

While Winters has run afoul in matters of business in Montgomery County, he seems to have gone untouched by the foul stench of corporate radio, even though KPFT is owned by Pacifica, a much smaller broadcasting company than Clear Channel, the communications giant that stunned loyal listeners last much by pulling rock station KLOL off the air last months after 34 years; Pacifica has a chain of stations much like KPFT: a spot on the dial for music that corporate radio won’t touch on a bet and free exchange of ideas. “All of Pacifica’s stations are in blue states except for KPFT in Houston. But they’ve given up on Texas ever changing,” Winters says with a chuckle; he’s also not surprised that Clear Channel replaced KLOL with Spanish hip-hopping “Mega 101”. “Hispanics are the fastest growing consumer base -- and people have to accept that. Clear Channel saw a place to get a bigger piece of the market and they took it. It was a business decision. But that also shows how little regard they have for the station’s longtime listeners. It happens to the best of ‘em.”

Take a listen to Larry Winters and “Spare Change” this Saturday starting at noon on KPFT. “We touch on all kind of things -- and we play a lot of music. Hopefully, there are some who think the show’s a breath of fresh air.”

Breathe deep…

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