I grew up in a family of Roosevelt Democrats, who believed in the New Deal. They grew up in the Dust Bowl days, and their families knew how to stretch a penny. I became a Republican in my rebellious college days, then a political independent when Reagan was President, and finally a Democrat again during the Clinton years. Today I’m a proud liberal deep in the heart of Texas, where I’ve been living for more than 30 years, although my original roots are in cowboy country, out west of the Pecos and north of the Red River.
In the world in which I grew up, the wealthiest folks were often the ones who dressed simply, lived modestly, drove old vehicles, and made things last until they wore out. The richest man in town lived a few blocks away from the poorest folks. Everyone went to the same school and all the kids went to Sunday School, in a variety of churches that mostly seemed focused on a message of “love thy neighbor.” We saw the government as a help, not a hindrance, and the U.S. did great things in those days—a man on the moon, the Peace Corps, civil rights and the war on poverty, Medicare, education for all at a reasonable cost, women’s rights.
These things are seen as negative today. NASA is trimmed to the bone, we are rolling back the efforts to bring the underclass into mainstream America, and the current crop of legislators want to ignore the health needs and pay disparities of women. I’m worried about my daughter and my granddaughter and all the other women who have fought so hard and contribute so much.
When did we become a nation of haters? When did we become so angry? When did cheating the “little people” become an honorable business model? When did the media become so polarizing? Back in the 70’s there was an honest fair balance and truthful reporting in the news. (That was before Rush Limbaugh and Rupert Murdock arrived on the scene.)
It seems that many current political activists operate on the principle of contempt for, not cooperation with, the opposite viewpoint. It seems that many of these political activists, like the financial wizards who game the system, are interested only in narrow short-term goals for their own benefit. These geniuses seem to think that shared sacrifice is for dummies, that long-term planning to maintain the clean air and water on which we all depend is for sissies (unless it happens to be near their estate or playground). Their mantra is, “Who cares?” Who cares about anyone but himself or herself, right here and right now? Who cares about those who don’t have the godlike power of millions of dollars? Who cares about what historians will think of us in a century or so? We’ll all be dead by then, as a certain recent President famously remarked.
I care. And I’ve been around long enough to have a few opinions, and I’d like to sound off occasionally.