For those of
you who are familiar with my political leanings, you probably think this is a
post about our current President. Nope.
In fact,
growing up in Ohio, which pretty much leans Democrat, I, too, tended to vote
Democrat. All of my relatives voted
Democrat. It was pretty much unheard of
to NOT vote Democrat. Voting a straight
Democratic ticket is probably the only thing my mother's and father's side of the
family agreed upon. With that in mind,
my inclinations were always Democrat- leaning right up until Bill Clinton
ruined it for me. Keep in mind that I
voted for the dude the FIRST time. I
didn't vote in the election after that due to moving issues.
In 1998, I
got a job in commission sales. I sold
maintenance supplies to any place with a maintenance shop. My best customers were manufacturing
plants. However, hospitals, schools,
etc. were also good accounts. When I
started, manufacturing was still doing fairly well, but they were beginning to
feel the pain of this little thing called NAFTA. My shop guys were talking about it a
lot. They were worried. Before I started this job, I didn't think at
all about NAFTA. It sounded like a good
thing. It was a free trade agreement,
right? Turns out that the trade benefits
were really benefiting other countries.
The USA? Not so much.
It wasn't
long before we started to see plants closing all over the US. It didn't happen overnight, mind you. Turns out it had been happening even before I
started. Hence the talk and worry. There had been a lot of consolidating. Employers were really trying to make it work
in the U.S., but they simply couldn't compete against the foreign markets. Many businesses were moving their business
overseas to places like Mexico, where they could get cheaper labor. They wouldn't go out of business. What was going on here? Oh yeah... NAFTA. Sigh.
As I started
losing one good account after another, and my personal check got smaller each
month, I had to go out and solicit smaller
business (that I wouldn't have bothered with before) in a market that got
tougher and tougher. There was less cash
for the business to spend on consumables.
Businesses became less interested in quality and more interested in
price. They just wanted cheap. Heck,
they just wanted to stay in business. Of
course, cheap isn't better. Cheap isn't safer. Every time I heard this, I knew this was
another business that was about to close it's doors for good.
I look
around now and see very little manufacturing here in the U.S. (compared to how
it used to be) and can trace that line directly back to NAFTA and Bill
Clinton. That is something that I
wouldn't have been able to do if I weren't a person who wasn't feet on the
ground watching it happen.
I know most
people think of Bill Clinton and think Monica Lewinsky or Interns. ("I did
not have sex with that woman."
~Bill Clinton) I think of NAFTA
and how Bill Clinton sold this country down the river. Without manufacturing a country is a service
provider, and any country that is primarily a service provider is a THIRD WORLD
COUNTRY. The once great United States of
America is now a third world country. We
are just too stupid to know it. We are
too busy buying the Propaganda the Media Machine is selling.
And, don't
bother impeaching Barack Obama for anything (the list is too long for me if I
got started). Just like the House of
Representatives impeached Bill Clinton; the Senate would only acquit. In other words, they can impeach him, but he
wouldn't leave.
Rating: Life
Lesson............Bill Clinton and his decision about NAFTA made me understand
that the decisions that they make in Washington D.C. affect MY life and
livelihood, so I better start paying attention.
Their Big Ideas have very real consequences (like complete economic
meltdown). My vote matters more than
EVER.
Did you grow up to vote like your parents? Did something in your Real-Life Experience ever cause you to rethink it? Do you still vote like your parents? Do you consider yourself "in tune" with what is going on? Do you see how specific issues that are decided in Washington play out in your life, your paycheck, your job (or lack thereof), your wallet?
I didn't realize how specifically that affected the USA. I do see other issues. Most people don't realize the high oil prices are due to speculative stock bidding, which was once not allowed.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I still vote like my parents.
Strangely enough, both of my parents stopped voting straight Democratic tickets roughly the same time I did. I am not sure what caused my dad to change his thinking. My mom was working for a manufacturing plant (directly for the boss) and got an earful about NAFTA from him. He was very well-informed on the subject. I think that caused a dramatic shift in how she saw what was going on in D.C.
DeleteSo Good-by and AMEN... Here's hoping we'll meet once again, It was great fun... Oh sorry I was going to say AMEN but got carried away with a song. I usually do. You are so right. Nobody pays attention. Low-information people don't even know who is president. I heard something shocking on TV media news. The news gal said, now parents have to begin thinking that the children belonged to everyone. The gov't. Boy, am I glad I don't have kids these days. I didn't even allow my kids to have vaccinations back in the 50's. Now there will be forced vac.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't get the whole "impeach" thing. If a president is impeached, I thought it was like being fired. Obviously not. And I don't know if I vote like my parents . . . politics is one of those things we avoided with my father :)
ReplyDeleteUm, I'm so bad. I don't vote or get involved in anything political because that stuff hurts my brain. I know I should get involved, but I do think that the way I was raised would affect how I feel about everything. I just can't think objectively about the issues, or about the people involved, and I don't think that's fair really.
ReplyDeleteManzanita ~ The day is coming when the Government will decide what a parent can and cannot do for their own child. And we will have let it happen by our vote. Or lack thereof. We will be so regulated that anyone who still thinks that they are "free" is deluding themselves.
ReplyDeleteJudy ~ The House can impeach, but the Senate has to agree to the tune of a 67% vote. When Bill was President the Senate was a Democratic majority, much as it is today. Running an Impeachment through the Senate at 67%... not bloody likely.
Cassie Mae ~ When I was your age I didn't see how the decisions the government made affected my life. It wasn't until I was nearly 30 that I realized that everything they did impacted me directly. My job, my future, my ability to work. I could see this country going down the tubes and no one was changing it. It is far worse today than when I first woke up back in the late 1990s. I can't imagine what it will be like twelve years from now...
I've lived in Ohio for the past 35 year but the center of out world is Wright Patterson Air Force Base. (We lean Republican.) The inefficiency and ineptitude coming out of our Nation's capitol never ceases to amaze me.
ReplyDeleteI definitely vote like my parents. I'm basically a "Rush Baby," even though I was about twelve when Limbaugh hit the airwaves. I listed to him with my dad every day. We were (and still are) the lone conservatives in his family.
ReplyDeleteI remember NAFTA too, only because it was drilled into us in my government and economics classes. I always wondered why my teachers made it sound like such a great thing, yet...it didn't do us any favors. Ah, government schools.
Cassie Mae, I don't know you, but I'll say that NOW is the time to get involved. I am only 33 and have been involved in politics since I was a kid (through my parents) and have moved into working locally. I work elections, I've volunteered for campaigns and I've made sure that my children understand the importance of it all.
But, I also completely understand how overwhelming it can be. The truth is, you can only look out for yourself and your family. That is what the American Dream was built on. Individualism. These people who speak of the "collective" want you dependent on them. You will have no choices and certainly no voice once we get further down this road. You don't have to be overly informed, you just need to know how you feel about the issues and vote accordingly.
Whew. That was long! Sorry Robin (and yes, I'm extremely grumpy this week)!
I am in the process of writing a book on the ravaging of the American Dream. Ever since the election, even I noticed my own personality changing. I am an I-love-everybody kind of guy. I try to be a good friend. I try to live a decent, moral life. I feel like I am under attack.
ReplyDeleteMy father served heroically under Patton in WWII to preserve the freedom we are now giving away. When I was a child, I used to watch movies where the soldier carrying the flag would be shot, but before dropping, he would throw the flag to another soldier so it wouldn't hit the ground.
I am a student and teacher of history and philosophy. I am aware of an historical reality many do not realize exists. Every time any government attempted to impose the ideology we find ourselves subjected to, the society fell. If we continue down this road, we will also fall. It is wonderful to have ideals. I am very idealistic and pride myself on being positive. However, I know that if I drop a brick off a building, it will not fall up.
It is commendable to care for the less fortunate in any society. It is our moral duty to take care of those who cannot help themselves. But as Fletcher said in The Outlaw Josey Wales, "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."
As an independent, I am looking for leadership from a man or woman who will put my country first.
My dad -loves- Clinton and he's a die hard Republican...lol.
ReplyDeleteI didn't vote until I was in my 30s....I never even followed politics until 9/11.
I voted (and still do) as my parents did, but only after I checked out the ideologies of a few parties to see where they stood on certain issues.
Coming from the midwest, I tend to be conservative in a lot of things...and the same goes with politics.
That said, I won't even bother commenting on our current administration.
When I left the UK in 2007 just before the crash:), America would have been my 1st choice, I could have brought a fantastic farm for a similar price as my Brazil place but your red tape (even to come on holiday) and rules are as crazy as the UK, freedom is dead in both those places. Tony Blair ripped up the Magna Carta and it made page 10. I'm free 'ish' in Brazil for now but things, they are a changing, Brazil is running to be Americano with the do's and don't. People need little government interference in day to day life. People need to start taking some personal responsibility and the youth need to be reading the likes of Orwell.
ReplyDeleterobin...the day is coming when the government can decide what to do with a child...that day is already here..did you hear about the parents in florida who had the gall to go to a tea party rally..and because they were 'anti-government' the authorities raided their house...where they found pot. They stole their kids and stripped them of their parental rights and gave custody to the grandmother...these parents then 'kidnapped' their own children and fled to cuba...soon to be extradited back the the us where the government will once again steal their children. The governments in cyprus are stealing people's money from their bank accounts. It's getting ugly out there.
ReplyDeleteLD ~ They amaze me on a day to day basis, too.
ReplyDeleteGini ~ I agree with you. If you don't vote now, you might not get a vote later. What is happening is very scary. Our freedoms are being stripped at a rapid pace.
JJ ~ I couldn't agree more. I think we are under attack. What is so frustrating is how many people don't even know it. Won't know it until it's too late. That quote from THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES is priceless and totally fits the situation.
Mark ~ Can I just say that your first statement makes NO sense... lol. It's good that you look at the candidate and their stance on the issue and not what ticket they are running on. Ideology is everything. I, too, tend to vote more conservatively. Just like an individual cannot spend their way out of debt, neither can a nation. It just doesn't work like that!
Maggie ~ Free-ish. Love that word. I feel like that is precisely where we are at in this country. Maybe the whole world is hovering on the brink of Free-ish. The USA used to be the Champions of Freedom and now we are just Free-ish. If things don't change, we won't even be able to cling to that much longer.
Christine ~ Yes, I know that the Fist of the Government is picking up weight every time we turn around. I just didn't want to scare the young woman out of her mind. I was hoping to give her a nudge. I didn't want to freak her out so badly that she wet her pants. However, I always appreciate being updated on the latest atrocities that the Government is doling out. Thank you for looping me in. It is getting ugly out there.
Politics is an ugly game. I'm a news junkie, and I've been freaking out over a lot of things for a long time.
ReplyDeleteWhen an official is impeached, all that really means is that he/she has been indicted. He/she still has to be convicted, so Bill Clinton was indeed impeached.
ReplyDeleteNAFTA has been a bitch, but you do need to know that NAFTA was a bi-partisan effort... it was something that both parties agreed to in principle.
NAFTA has been greatly responsible for sending a great deal of American production capacity to other countries in Mexico, Central, and South America.
I remember thinking at the time that the US wouldn't be able to survive being a totally service industry oriented nation.
JJ... my late brother-in-law served with Patton in WWII. He loved the man.
I am still of the opinion that future history books will trace the death of the United States as we all have known it back to the re-election of Barack Obama...
... and no, I'm not a die-hard republican. I'm just a guy with enough business experience to know that if I ran a business the way our government has been ran for way too many years, I would go out of business.
It won't be long before we will be able to hang the 'closed' sign up here in the States.
~shoes~
I grew up to think for myself. However, there are a lot of small business owners and entrepreneurs in my family. Voting smart was not an option, it was a requirement. Thank you for this post!
ReplyDeleteCarol ~ I have been in a state of freak out for quite a while, too. I think about half the country lives there.
ReplyDeleteShoes ~ I guess I was just trying to say that Impeachment all by itself doesn't seem to mean anything. Impeachment does not equate to immediate vacancy of the office. The Senate has to indict. It's funny that you refer that you refer to the History Books. As you pointed out before, they are always written by whomever is in power to do the writing. I am not so sure of their accuracy in the end. I trace the Beginning of the End to NAFTA. Obama wouldn't be nearly so effective if our manufacturing was still going like Gangbusters. It is like it has all been set up like Dominoes and they are all falling so that Obama has Maximum Punch.
M.J. ~ Good for you. I wish everyone thought this way.
I love this post! How refreshing to hear some excellent American digestible factual material during this blog tour. You make excellent points, supported by the idea that you were raised to support any democrat in office. I wish more people would stop voting like their parents and educate themselves. We are NOT our parents.
ReplyDeleteI really, really liked this. Nicely done. Yet the truth is painful to read.
Dana at Waiter, drink please!
This was my journey to how I woke up and started seeing the Picture. Things that happen in Washington actually impact ME. And, yes, the truth is painful to read.
DeleteMy family was too busy being mentally ill and smoking dope (and taking other drugs) to bother with politics! I fell into politics by simply getting a 'hinky' feeling that all the crap I was being fed in school and on TV was just not right. I once leaned toward being an environmentalist whack job, but I'm proud to say that I never fell for any of the other leftist crap. Now I know that having kids won't kill the earth and that a lot of 'green' stuff is really just made to make people give up their freedom. And I came out of my liberal college more naturally conservative than ever because I could clearly see what liberal policies do.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am scared as hell of what is going on with the govt. wanting to steal our kids in heart and mind, make us stop caring about freedom by feeding us free stuff and letting us smoke dope I still have a feeling in my heart of hearts that those of us who truly care about freedom will find a way out. I won't say it will be pretty, but it will happen!