"They call me the Far Left"? [View all]

[shockey80]

Last edited Mon Jun 17, 2019, 07:51 AM - Edit history (1)

I was born into a Blue Collar family in Upstate State NY. My original ancestor settled here in the year 1654.

My father was a Marine during the Korean war. After the war he worked on the loading docks for thirty years, until he was crippled by a back injury. Even after his injury my father attempted to go to work. I remember him grunting in pain as he got dressed in the morning. He did this because he felt it was his duty to support his wife and three sons. Eventually, he was no longer able to lift and he was forced to retire. He walked with a painful limp the rest of his life.

My Mother was a housewife. She was the Boss of the Marine and their three sons. What she said, went. The Marine and three sons honored her. She was the rock of the family.

Growing up my parents taught me this, if I crossed any line for a wrong reason, I would pay a heavy price. They left no doubt.
On the other hand, if I crossed any line for the right reason, they would praise me, they would call it courage and honor. They would defend, protect me with their very lives.

In High School, I was an honor roll student who hated school. I did not want to go to college. I wanted to leave the nest and learn about life. I wanted to explore life. I wanted to educate myself.

When I turned 18 I earned the right to vote. I knew nothing about politics at that age. I asked my Mom, Mom what am I, a Republican or Democrat. She said, Your Father is a working man, You will be a working man. Democrats take care of the working man better than Republicans. You are a Democrat. She told me the truth.

After High School I joined the Army. I served three years and was Honorably Discharged. While in the Army I Learned I had an old American trait. I was fiercely independent. There was not a dam thing I could do about, didn't want to, it was embedded in my DNA. That trait and military culture had a way of clashing at times, Lol.

After the my time in the service it was time to go to work. I went to work with the notion, A honest days work for an honest days pay. My father taught me that. For over 40 years I upheld my end of the bargain. For 40 years the Republican voters of America made the other end of that bargain slowly fade away.

For 40 years I proudly worked hard. I did it to have a better life . I did it to take care of my family. During those 40 years I also worked with a broken Heart. I recognized early on the Republican voters of America had decided to take an Old Far Right, self destructive path,( It started with Reagan) . I knew It would not end well. I knew it would block and harm everything I was working for. Republican voters over the past 40 years voted for people and ideas that harmed people, including themselves.

They voted to transfer their wealth, power, rights to the rich and corporations. They gave the rich control of the ship. They voted against their own rights. Pay went static, unions weakened, our benefits were taken away. Healthcare costs soared and the cost was passed onto the worker. It was like a giant tax on the working man. They voted to take away healthcare from people, including themselves. It was an act of madness. There is no other way to put it.

I cannot recall one time during the past forty years where I voted for someone or some policy with the purpose of hurting people. Even when I voted to tax the rich I was not trying to hurt them. I was voting for fairness. Republican voters, with the path they chose forty years ago, voted to hurt and tear down everything that is good. It has hurt people like myself as we tried to do the right thing.

Now I am at the edge of retirement. I sit here and wonder, will all of my years of hard work and service be enough? I sit here and wonder, How much better off would people like myself be, if the Republican voters did not take the path of self destruction? It makes me weep.

Today the Republicans voters have put in place a president who is a threat to everything I believe in, everything that is good, everything that I have worked for. He attacks and mocks veterans. He doesn't honor hard work, He honors loyalty. That is like poison to Americans like me.

The Republican voters take no responsibility for the damage they have done over forty years. They blame people like myself. They call us socialists, they call us the Far Left. Does my life like sound like the Far Left? Does my life sound like socialism?

They call me the Far Left for a reason they do not understand. For the past forty years they moved so far right you can't even see them anymore. Where they stand the center looks like the Far left. There was a time in America where people like me were called the center.

"They call me the Far Left"?