In my 80s, grew up with Bombing drills in school (get under the desks!), the Cuban Missile confrontation as I was getting married, Viet Nam, lots of international turmoil. Then it all disappeared as the USSR imploded, happy times were here! Politically we didn’t know what to do with our new world status, but just flexed our muscles, thou…
In my 80s, grew up with Bombing drills in school (get under the desks!), the Cuban Missile confrontation as I was getting married, Viet Nam, lots of international turmoil.
Then it all disappeared as the USSR imploded, happy times were here! Politically we didn’t know what to do with our new world status, but just flexed our muscles, thought we could introduce democracy and freedom to cultures barely out of the Middle Ages. Iraq 1 & 2 followed, and Afghanistan, millions of dollars, thousands of American lives wasted. The NEOCONS got it wrong, the ancient cultures weren’t ready for the Enlightenment.
So, as I look back, it seems like both parties got many international issues wrong. But the basics of Democracy and Freedom have clearly been on the Liberal Agenda, not the Conservative. My political choices evolved from a comment made to me by my Grandfather, the son of Irish Immigrants who grew up prior to WWl.
I was speaking with him about JFK’s candidacy in ‘59, commenting about some of the articles I had read in the National Review and asked him how he would vote? He looked at me quizzically, then said, “The Republicans have had their feet on the necks of immigrants and their families since I was born, the Irish, Italians, Poles, you name it. Now it’s the Negros they hold down in the South. I’ll never vote Republican, never!”. For a man who was a self-made wealthy businessman who never finished High School it was as strong a political statement as I ever heard him speak.
And it summarized for me how I’ve voted for the most part ever since, for free voting, not suppressed, for equal opportunity undefined by skin color, ethnicity,or gender, and for international peace efforts such as support for the Ukraine, but no mindless efforts to change cultures we don’t understand.
Republicans don’t seem to accept those values, they seem to have become increasingly supportive of anti-American values in my lifetime.
In my 80s, grew up with Bombing drills in school (get under the desks!), the Cuban Missile confrontation as I was getting married, Viet Nam, lots of international turmoil.
Then it all disappeared as the USSR imploded, happy times were here! Politically we didn’t know what to do with our new world status, but just flexed our muscles, thought we could introduce democracy and freedom to cultures barely out of the Middle Ages. Iraq 1 & 2 followed, and Afghanistan, millions of dollars, thousands of American lives wasted. The NEOCONS got it wrong, the ancient cultures weren’t ready for the Enlightenment.
So, as I look back, it seems like both parties got many international issues wrong. But the basics of Democracy and Freedom have clearly been on the Liberal Agenda, not the Conservative. My political choices evolved from a comment made to me by my Grandfather, the son of Irish Immigrants who grew up prior to WWl.
I was speaking with him about JFK’s candidacy in ‘59, commenting about some of the articles I had read in the National Review and asked him how he would vote? He looked at me quizzically, then said, “The Republicans have had their feet on the necks of immigrants and their families since I was born, the Irish, Italians, Poles, you name it. Now it’s the Negros they hold down in the South. I’ll never vote Republican, never!”. For a man who was a self-made wealthy businessman who never finished High School it was as strong a political statement as I ever heard him speak.
And it summarized for me how I’ve voted for the most part ever since, for free voting, not suppressed, for equal opportunity undefined by skin color, ethnicity,or gender, and for international peace efforts such as support for the Ukraine, but no mindless efforts to change cultures we don’t understand.
Republicans don’t seem to accept those values, they seem to have become increasingly supportive of anti-American values in my lifetime.
God Bless America, and keep us a free Democracy!
Love this. Thanks.