I lost two two grandparents this year. My maternal grandmother died in March after a losing a short battle with multiple myeloma. My paternal grandfather died two weeks ago after suffering from congestive heart failure for over 30 years. Both of them were Democrats. Both of them supported Barack Obama. Neither of them lived long enough to cast their vote or see him take office.
The Nazis invaded Denmark on April 9th, 1940. My grandparents' dairy farm, land that my family had lived on for a thousand years, was occupied by the German army. My grandparents immediately joined the Modstandsbevægelsen (Danish Resistance Movement) and began a multi-year campaign of non-violent, and eventually violent, resistance to the occupation. They helped Danish Jews escape to Sweden. They housed downed Allied pilots and helped them escape occupied territory. As the war progressed, they stole munitions, assembled improvised explosives, and blew up German troop and supply trains bound for the Western front. They did all this knowing that their discovery would lead to not only their deaths, but the deaths of their four small children at the hands of the SS. If discovered, the plan of escape was a simple and effective method. They would gather the family close together next to the fireplace, and pull the pin of the live grenade they kept on the mantle.
After the war, my grandparents decided to emigrate to the United States. In 1947, with four children in tow and another on the way, they made the voyage from Copenhagen to Ellis Island. From there they traveled by train to western Iowa to begin their new lives as Americans. My mother was born shortly after they arrived and two more children came in future years.
They gave up everything to come here. They gave up family ties and comfort to forge a new life in the new world. They gave up wealth that they would never again experience. They worked long hours to make ends meet and provide for their growing family. And as soon as they gained citizenship they became Democrats. My grandfather always said the Republicans reminded him too much of the German occupiers. To him, the Democrats represented the American principles of equality and freedom. My grandmother, a deeply religious woman, believed the Democratic Party followed the teachings expressed in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount: blessed are the meek, the merciful, the pure of heart, and the peacemakers. She believed that government wasn't just a necessary evil to provide the minimum needs to the people. Government isn't socialism, communism, or any other scary word the Republicans try to use. Government is the people, it is an extension of the people it serves. It is there to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves. Government, in the right hands, always has the potential to be the embodiment of the angels of our better nature. She was excited and hopeful that Obama would take the White House, even though she knew she wouldn't live to see it.
My grandmother was a tiny woman. She was born weighing about a pound as the unexpected twin to a normal sized brother. She wasn't expected to live for more than a few days, but she proved to be a strong child and a stronger woman. She outlived her twin, who unexpectedly died a few weeks after birth. She survived a war and occupation. She survived a pregnant journey halfway across the world. She survived the tragic death from fire of her seven year old daughter. She survived the death of her parents, two grandchildren, her husband, her sisters, and her adult daughter. She survived it all with dignity, grace, and humility. She's the bravest woman I ever knew, and I am happy to know she died without pain, surrounded by the people she loved the most.
My grandfather's story is much different. That side of my family has been in this country for hundreds of years. They came here as farmers from England in relative poverty and never really rose above their roots. They farmed the poor farm land of southwest Iowa for generations. He married my grandmother shortly before he shipped out to fight in World War II, where he served in the US Army Signal Corp in North Africa and Italy.
My grandfather was a blue collar guy who worked too many hours to provide for his family. My grandmother was often ill, so the burden of raising the children and bringing home the bacon more often than not rested solely on his shoulders. Eventually his body paid the price. He had emergency bypass surgery in the late 70s, had a total shoulder replacement in the 90s, and had more heart attacks than I can count. My grandmother was diagnosed with abdominal cancer and suffered for 5 long years. He cared for her with more compassion and patience than I ever thought he was capable of. She passed away in 2005, and my grandfather's will to live died with her. The last three years became a steady decline to his ultimate goal. Few tears were shed by my family last week because we all knew that he finally got what he wanted.
He was born a Republican, but he became a dedicated Democrat later in life. He used to brag that he was probably the only Democrat in Montgomery County. He was passionate about politics and consumed the news with an insatiable hunger. He often yelled at the TV when the news was on. He wrote hundreds of letters to the editors of the local and regional papers. He went to see candidates make their pitches in the months preceding every Iowa Caucus. He weighed his decisions and chose his candidates carefully. He had fire and anger and was determined to elect the right people to do the job. He really liked Barack Obama, but didn't believe the country was willing to elect a black man to the highest office. The results of the Iowa caucus changed his mind. There really was hope if mostly white Iowa was willing to vote for change. I think it was fitting that my fiance Elise and I were at a Democratic fundraiser when we got word that he had died. I think he would have liked that.
Without even trying, my grandparents provided the foundation of my political life. My grandmother instilled in me the ideals of what democracy means and what the vision of what Democratic Party could be. My grandfather gave me the fire and passion to fight to make those ideals into reality. The lives and deaths of these two pillars of my life have added new and powerful meaning to the words Lincoln offered at a ceremony honoring a loss of a much grander scale:
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
So this year I dedicate my vote to my grandparents. And I cast my vote with hope for a better world for my future children.