I don't know that I can call this an appreciation, it's probably more of a confession. I come by my anti-Republicanism honestly, possibly not thoughtfully - is politics ever really thoughtful? - but honestly. My father was a Republican. He was a preacher, a missionary, and a Republican. He was almost as much a Republican as he was a Christian. He didn't particularly like Lincoln, but he was steadfast to Lincoln's party. Down in Brasil, before I had an inkling about American politics, I knew I was not a Republican, was not and never would be. Two men sucked me away from my own steadfastness. Well, two men and a woman. (Of course, right?) Eisenhower, so damned decent! How did he ever think he was a Republican? But he was. I was too young to vote but Eisenhower drew me, and I was embarrassed but I wavered. Fortunately Joe McCarthy reminded me of what Republicans really stood for, and I was cured. But later on I wavered again. I read Ayn Rand, and I thought the world changed, I thought I had found Truth, I thought.... Or rather I didn't. But while I was all caught up in that tumble, Goldwater came along and seemed like another decent man. I wavered again. I was sort of a Goldwater-Democrat, in as much as I was any kind of Democrat. But I was cured again, this time by comparing my own experience to Truth. You see, I was a working person. I had a job while I was still twelve, and had one pretty continuously thereafter. I was a paperboy. I was a boot-black - that is I worked in a shoe repair shop, and my job was to shine the shoes beyond the customer's satisfaction (to my boss's satisfaction). I was a drug store clerk and delivery person. I went to work for the civil service as an engineer-in-training, and I got to dig trenches, then lay the cables that would lie in those trenches, and even to connect the cables to the buildings they were supposed to power; I got to help maintain very high speed movie cameras that we used to film missile launches; I got to work on building a telemetry trailer to go to Kwadjalein Atoll and record some missile tests there; I got to work in teams of telemetry operators that recorded the results of different missile tests. I quit the civil service to work slightly more regular hours. (I think getting married nudged me in that direction.) so I worked in a 7-11 type of store for a while, but I also worked helping build experimental antennae and test them on an antenna range. My point is I had a lot of experience being a working person and working alongside working people. Now I have a friend who thinks that should have been great experience to make me side with corporations. It did not. I was on labor's side when I came to this country, just because my father was so anti-labor. Everything I learned working with and beside working people made me more and more pro-labor. We don't really have a pro-labor party. We have the Republicans, which I couldn't be, and the Democrats, who are sometimes sorta kinda pro-labor if you don't press them very hard. So I'm not much of a Democrat, but I am solidly anti-Republican, which makes me sorta kinda a Democrat. And here you have the source and the development of this anti-Republican.
Friday, September 9, 2016
anti-Republicanism - a personal development
anti-Republicanism
I don't know that I can call this an appreciation, it's probably more of a confession. I come by my anti-Republicanism honestly, possibly not thoughtfully - is politics ever really thoughtful? - but honestly. My father was a Republican. He was a preacher, a missionary, and a Republican. He was almost as much a Republican as he was a Christian. He didn't particularly like Lincoln, but he was steadfast to Lincoln's party. Down in Brasil, before I had an inkling about American politics, I knew I was not a Republican, was not and never would be. Two men sucked me away from my own steadfastness. Well, two men and a woman. (Of course, right?) Eisenhower, so damned decent! How did he ever think he was a Republican? But he was. I was too young to vote but Eisenhower drew me, and I was embarrassed but I wavered. Fortunately Joe McCarthy reminded me of what Republicans really stood for, and I was cured. But later on I wavered again. I read Ayn Rand, and I thought the world changed, I thought I had found Truth, I thought.... Or rather I didn't. But while I was all caught up in that tumble, Goldwater came along and seemed like another decent man. I wavered again. I was sort of a Goldwater-Democrat, in as much as I was any kind of Democrat. But I was cured again, this time by comparing my own experience to Truth. You see, I was a working person. I had a job while I was still twelve, and had one pretty continuously thereafter. I was a paperboy. I was a boot-black - that is I worked in a shoe repair shop, and my job was to shine the shoes beyond the customer's satisfaction (to my boss's satisfaction). I was a drug store clerk and delivery person. I went to work for the civil service as an engineer-in-training, and I got to dig trenches, then lay the cables that would lie in those trenches, and even to connect the cables to the buildings they were supposed to power; I got to help maintain very high speed movie cameras that we used to film missile launches; I got to work on building a telemetry trailer to go to Kwadjalein Atoll and record some missile tests there; I got to work in teams of telemetry operators that recorded the results of different missile tests. I quit the civil service to work slightly more regular hours. (I think getting married nudged me in that direction.) so I worked in a 7-11 type of store for a while, but I also worked helping build experimental antennae and test them on an antenna range. My point is I had a lot of experience being a working person and working alongside working people. Now I have a friend who thinks that should have been great experience to make me side with corporations. It did not. I was on labor's side when I came to this country, just because my father was so anti-labor. Everything I learned working with and beside working people made me more and more pro-labor. We don't really have a pro-labor party. We have the Republicans, which I couldn't be, and the Democrats, who are sometimes sorta kinda pro-labor if you don't press them very hard. So I'm not much of a Democrat, but I am solidly anti-Republican, which makes me sorta kinda a Democrat. And here you have the source and the development of this anti-Republican.
I don't know that I can call this an appreciation, it's probably more of a confession. I come by my anti-Republicanism honestly, possibly not thoughtfully - is politics ever really thoughtful? - but honestly. My father was a Republican. He was a preacher, a missionary, and a Republican. He was almost as much a Republican as he was a Christian. He didn't particularly like Lincoln, but he was steadfast to Lincoln's party. Down in Brasil, before I had an inkling about American politics, I knew I was not a Republican, was not and never would be. Two men sucked me away from my own steadfastness. Well, two men and a woman. (Of course, right?) Eisenhower, so damned decent! How did he ever think he was a Republican? But he was. I was too young to vote but Eisenhower drew me, and I was embarrassed but I wavered. Fortunately Joe McCarthy reminded me of what Republicans really stood for, and I was cured. But later on I wavered again. I read Ayn Rand, and I thought the world changed, I thought I had found Truth, I thought.... Or rather I didn't. But while I was all caught up in that tumble, Goldwater came along and seemed like another decent man. I wavered again. I was sort of a Goldwater-Democrat, in as much as I was any kind of Democrat. But I was cured again, this time by comparing my own experience to Truth. You see, I was a working person. I had a job while I was still twelve, and had one pretty continuously thereafter. I was a paperboy. I was a boot-black - that is I worked in a shoe repair shop, and my job was to shine the shoes beyond the customer's satisfaction (to my boss's satisfaction). I was a drug store clerk and delivery person. I went to work for the civil service as an engineer-in-training, and I got to dig trenches, then lay the cables that would lie in those trenches, and even to connect the cables to the buildings they were supposed to power; I got to help maintain very high speed movie cameras that we used to film missile launches; I got to work on building a telemetry trailer to go to Kwadjalein Atoll and record some missile tests there; I got to work in teams of telemetry operators that recorded the results of different missile tests. I quit the civil service to work slightly more regular hours. (I think getting married nudged me in that direction.) so I worked in a 7-11 type of store for a while, but I also worked helping build experimental antennae and test them on an antenna range. My point is I had a lot of experience being a working person and working alongside working people. Now I have a friend who thinks that should have been great experience to make me side with corporations. It did not. I was on labor's side when I came to this country, just because my father was so anti-labor. Everything I learned working with and beside working people made me more and more pro-labor. We don't really have a pro-labor party. We have the Republicans, which I couldn't be, and the Democrats, who are sometimes sorta kinda pro-labor if you don't press them very hard. So I'm not much of a Democrat, but I am solidly anti-Republican, which makes me sorta kinda a Democrat. And here you have the source and the development of this anti-Republican.
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