Copied this story from a friend’s blog. I do not have a political party. I am fairly centralist with slight liberal leanings. I believe that a government is there for both economic and societal needs, and that balance is the way to achieve the greatest possible of countries. I feel you should always know where a person stands politically before they start ranting about politics. I learned this from a fairly conservative Republican economist.
A Day in the Life of Joe Republican.
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because a liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because a liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because a liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because a liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because a liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because a liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because a liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune. Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because a liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because a liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because a liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because a liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.
When I read this story, I was reminded of a story of my own. Several years ago, I was on welfare. I found some loopholes in the very repressive welfare system and managed to sneak into college (this is maybe a rant for another time). It was a tiny ass private tech college, where I was promised a 2 year AAS degree in 16 months. Sounded like the place for me… get in, get out, get off of welfare.
My classmates were all younger than me but about 4-5 years, and they were almost all white boys going to a private school. I was definitely the oddball… female, single mom, poor. And I got teased and looked down on a lot for this. Especially the poor thing. There were a couple of guys that were good to me. some that had no opinion. but several vocal ones that were not pleased with my presence there.
There was one kid that really took offence at my “free ride.” Not true- I am still paying back student loans, although I did get some scholarships and my government stipened for feeding and clothing my child. The stipened was maybe $600 a month… a third of that only good for food (I may not have been able to afford rent AND electricity with my $400 cash, but we could have steak every other night. Hope you like yours done extra rare).
So this kid would basically verbally attack me. pretty much daily. It didn’t matter what I said to him- he was set in that I was taking money out of his pocket. Even though he only had a part time job and wasn’t paying his own way through college. His parents paid his way.
I asked him one day what he would do if he had to pay his own way, and he said to me “well, I’d probably sell off my second car.” you know. Cause every 18 year old has a second car. That their parents bought them.
The point is, this kid had no concept of what it was like to live without, because he had always had. and because he always had, he didn’t need to think about where it came from. He didn’t respect it, didn’t value that which he had, because he simply didn’t comprehend what it was like to not have it. To have to get it all on his own. He thought he WAS doing it all on his own, more or less. And I won’t even say he didn’t work hard to get good grades. He did. he was smart. But he just didn’t KNOW that there was more to earning your way through college beyond getting good grades so that your parents will keep paying your tuition for you.
“There’s no one more thankful to sit at the table
Than the one who best remembers hunger’s pain
And no heart loves greater than the one that is able
To recall the time when all it knew was the shame”
–Remember Your Chains by Steven Curtis Chapman
(yes, I know. It’s one of my damn Jesus songs. The lyrics make my point though. It’s simply easier to understand the value of something when it isn’t handed to you. It’s easier to appreciate what others do for you when you have a lack of others helping you to compare it to.)
We so often forget to remember that people have fought for rights from all angles of the political agenda. That we have weekends because people who didn’t have them saw the need for them and DID things to gain that right. That we have child labor laws to protect our childhoods because there was at one time 10 year olds working harder than most adult Americans today.
We have the right to vote because of the revolution, the civil war, women’s activism. We have the right to vote because people DIED for the belief that we should have the right to vote. WE have the right to vote because there are other people who did not.
I don’t care your political leaning. I don’t care if you prefer a more economic or social government. I don’t care if you are liberal or conservative. I don’t care if you cheer for an old war vet or a young go-getter. I don’t care if you are a fetus killer or an anti-choice nut job.
hell, I don’t even really care if you vote or not this coming Tuesday. in fact, if you’re not informed about the candidates, do me a favor and read up before heading out, or stay home. (if you do want to read up, here is a relatively non-partisan website that will give you a decent amount of information to make a fairly educated choice. It will also tell you where to register and/or vote. It’s a one stop shop for voting information).
But I do want you to appreciate that you have the ability to vote. Because there have been, and still are, people who can’t.
