Comments on: Earl F. Dodge Dies

By: Judith Dodge Sherpa

Judith Dodge Sherpa — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:28:22 +0000

I am a member of the Dodge family assocaition and was horrified when I read some of the things people were writing about the passing of Mr. Dodge. Unfortunately, I never got to meet him, but his tremendous committment to genelogy and historic preservation will be difficult to replace. Most people know only of his politics but know little of his tireless contribution to preserving history. I am very greatful to him for his dedication to uniting Dodges around the world as well as preserving the historic homesite in England. I hear many people in this new, free thinking, open minded society of ours say they believe in individualism and free speech. That is as long as it agrees with their point of view. When ones views are not politically correct or fashionably chic then they believe they should be silenced or ridiculed. How hypocritical!My admiration goes out to Earl F. Dodge for having the courage of his convictions even when they were not very popular. Thank you to Earl and Barbara for all they have done. They are in my thoughts and prayers.

By: Barb (Dodge) Pitman

Barb (Dodge) Pitman — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:28:17 +0000

My stomach began to hurt as I read the comments at the beginning of this blog. I was relieved to see, in some of the more recent postings, that there existed some compassion for my father and our family.

Earl F. Dodge and I agreed on very little, particularly social, political and religious ideals and beliefs. Though my convictions and beliefs were often the exact opposite of those held by my father, I do admire the integrity with which Dad lived his life. I daresay not many of those reviling his name live today with anything close to that level of integrity!

Earl and Barbara Dodge raised a family of seven children. They took in stray animals, even serving as ‘foster parents’ for dogs rescued from the streets or from cruel owners. Dad’s life was not wasted, for he was his own man, doing what he believed to be right. Mom’s life without him will be sad, very sad. A packed church of mourners last Monday spoke of their sadness as well. How can that be considered a waste of a life?

I have heard, and read, that Dad’s political work was the ‘love’ of his life. The truth is that his wife, my mother, was the love of Dad’s life. I don’t think he could have imagined there would be a time when another human being would make crude references to my mom, such as appear in this blog. My mother is still alive. She has done nothing but love her children and her husband. She certainly doesn’t deserve to be referred to in disgustingly flippant and derogatory terms.

To all of you who feel the need to curse this man and his work: Who will cry at your passing? Were he still alive, my dad would probably weep for you and your words of hatred and anger. Such hate and rage is TRULY a wasted life.

Namaste.

By: Christopher Wong

Christopher Wong — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:48:56 +0000

I have been a Prohibitionist since 2000, although I never applied for mailings from the party until 2001 and only started receiving them in 2002.

I actually founded a club at my High School (in New York) dedicated to the Prohibitionist cause, and we had members. We even sent a 70 dollar check to the Prohibition Party to pay for seven 10-dollar-subscriptions to the party newsletter. That happened in 2002/2003.

Earl (he wanted me to call him by his first name) was a really sweet man. He was always very courteous, if pithy (because he was so busy) in his emails from me since 2001. After I graduated college in 2006, I emailed him less often. But I did call him in December 2004 to wish him a happy birthday!

He wrote me for the last time just this past September 2007. I will miss him so, so much. I do not even want to ask a question about the future of the Prohibitionist Party—that would seem inappropriate—but if asked, I would love to take responsibility over the party. I would not do it for money and I do not want a cent from this. I just sincerely appreciated everything that Mr. Dodge has done for me (he even sent me some 1,000 Willard leaflets free of charge, so I could distribute them on my college campus!), and I would feel so privileged and humbled if I could help the party in any way in the months after the mourning period ends.

Perhaps the family has mailing lists. My name, email, and address would most certainly be there. If the Dodge family is looking at this, then please count me in as a contributor or helper to anything that might help the memory of your beloved father, husband, and grandfather.

By: Robert L. Dodge

Robert L. Dodge — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:57:25 +0000

Agree or disagree, who did Earl Dodge hurt? If any one, himself he hurt the most! The man believed in a cause and lived that cause. Not many people do. How many of his distractors have the intestinal fortitude to publically declare theirs, work at it, and with other than ignorant gutter language?

By: Paul Scott

Paul Scott — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:26:20 +0000

I am amazed at some of the negative and filthy comments appearing here – written by those who never had an opportunity to know my friend and associate, Earl Dodge.
Since I shared Earl’s dedication to a world free of the blight of alcohol related problems, I found his positions to be very rational and understandable on the subject. I now take this opportunity to say I honor the memory of a man who strove to make the world a better place to live.

By: Marcello

Marcello — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:03:58 +0000

Thanks for that info, Richard. It sounds like Earl Dodge is a man deserving of our respect, even if we didn’t always agree with him.

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:26:47 +0000

Earl Dodge was largely responsible for Colorado easing presidential ballot access during the 1970’s. He served on a commission to advise the legislature on improving the election laws. In 1973 the Colorado legislature had increased the presidential petition from 300 signatures to 10,000, but Earl’s work got that down to 5,000 in 1975, and then later the present law requiring only $500 instead of a petition was passed.

By: Bob Richard

Bob Richard — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 04:30:32 +0000

Earl Dodge’s life and work is relevant on this site because he led a (very) small political party. No one in this thread has mentioned whether he did or did not participate in the fight against bad ballot access laws or for proportional representation. I’ll save my comments on Prohibition and Dodge’s role in promoting it for a place and time where they’d be relevant. Here, I would like someone to comment on what role, if any, he (or the Prohibition Party) played in electoral reform.

By: E. Dodge Jr.

E. Dodge Jr. — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:20:31 +0000

to Steve from Atlanta,
So now the Taliban has joined the growing list of words that are losing all meaning, like Nazi, Holocaust, etc. There is one Taliban. There was one Holocaust. There have certainly been many horrific events in history where one group of people were slaughtered by another, but again…there was one Holocaust. There was one Hitler. The events get cheapened in importance , the evil of a Taliban gets lost in the shuffle, when you use them so indiscriminately. Pres. Bush has been called a Talibani by American extremists on the left. Talibani has no meaning outside of that which it’s used to describe the radical Islamists who’ve declared war on us. Pick your insults a little more carefully, please. Thank you.

By: E. Dodge Jr.

E. Dodge Jr. — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:09:23 +0000

Reading some of these posts gives me pause, and will encourage me to not act like such an a–wipe myself in the future when commenting on people I know little of or nothing about. My dad was just a guy who believed in a cause, and committed his life to it. He lived his life in genuine humility, gave freely of his time and concern to many over the years, including people he’d just met. The Prohibition Party can now die it’s death at the hand of others who’ve tried to “hobbitize” for their own reasons, whatever those reasons are. Dad had a sense of this country, that used to be taught in our schools, but has fallen at the feet of PC baloney. He was a political historian and would teach anyone regardless of who they were. If you met him, you’d like him, because he would like you and/or give you all the respect you were entitled to as a fellow human being. Disagree with his Prohibitionist beliefs. I did. But I respectfully submit that he was a fine addition to the human race, our country, and of course his family.