Central New York was a dairy farming region when I was growing up, and most farms were small and family owned. When I was in school many of my classmates had worked 2 or 3 hours before getting ready for school doing “chores” or milking their cows and feeding them. This was a real lesson in taking responsibility and learning a work ethic. I did not live on a farm but did so in the summers as my uncle had a dairy farm, and I worked on it from age 12 to 16 or until I could get working papers to work in the canning factory to make money for college. I also learned about work ethic and taking responsibility for yourself.
The politics of the region were simple and mostly Republican. In the small town of about 100 that I lived in, there were probably 5 Democrats. The office holders were all Republicans, and they never had any competition after the primary elections. As I look back now, it was a different time, and the Democratic Party that called itself the blue-collar party had very little membership in our blue-collar community. It may have been because of the dairy farmer and the fact that he was a private businessman. After living in that area for 40 years, I moved to West Virginia and found the opposite in politics. There were very few Republicans, and all of the office holders were Democrats. I registered as a Democrat so I could vote in the primary elections where the winning candidate was sure to be the eventual office holder. I did learn one thing about politics, though, and that was that the New York Republicans were much more liberal than the West Virginia Democrats. In fact the West Virginia Democrats were quite conservative.
Well, after another 40 years that has all changed, and the new Democrats have reversed to liberalism, leaving conservatism to the Republicans. It has become evident in the last 10 years that the Democratic Party, which bragged about being the blue-collar party, has become the party of the university, left wing, and think tank, and seems to have forgotten the blue-collar workers. We watched as many of our manufacturing jobs left the country, and many of our new technology products were made in foreign countries with China leading the way. This did not happen because of the Democrats or their administrations; when they were in power, there was no effort to help the blue-collar worker, except to offer another job training program or food stamps or outright welfare. In fact, Obama told us that the manufacturing jobs were gone forever and would not come back. He accepted total defeat in the jobs market and was willing to place many people who had lost jobs in a category that was substandard and could only exist with government help. It was much the same as Johnson’s policy of government housing and welfare after the civil rights movement and legislation instead of finding new jobs for a people who had been liberated. They became slaves to the government, and when they tried to better themselves their benefits were taken away before they could comfortably replace them. Social programs were started for everything from job training to English as a second language. Illegal aliens poured across the southern border to fill the low paying jobs that had become the only jobs available but were at minimum wage without any benefits. The lobbyists in Washington worked hard to prevent any change in immigration laws to allow the influx of cheap labor to continue. The Democratic Party still was favored by labor unions, and much of their funding was the result of union dues. The dues paid by Republicans were included, despite many tries at laws to prevent unions from using them. The unions still believe that they have some political influence because of their funding of the Democrats, but the end results prove otherwise.
During the Obama years the Democrats moved more toward the minorities and even took sides with the African American community against the police. The result has been devastating for both, and the divide continues to grow. Democrats are calling for the removal of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents and for abolishing the policing group. I’m not sure of their intent, but that would leave the policing of illegal immigration and the illegal immigrant criminal free to roam the US without any agency tasked with policing the group. The idea is insane and no different than disbanding local police units and leaving our neighborhoods without any police recourse. This divisiveness has spread into many other areas of our society and now seems to be looked for by many as a reason to scream racism and other forms of bias.
The present Democratic Party has forgotten the blue-collar worker and turned toward abortion and same-sex marriage with the newest, love of illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities. While protecting illegal criminals and refusing to cooperate with federal officials, they have forgotten to protect the US citizen from the imported criminal element. Abortion has taken on a new meaning and progressed to infanticide or the killing of babies immediately after birth. One governor said that the mother could discuss with her doctor whether or not to revive the baby who had been aborted in such a way. A new green movement is advancing the idea of reducing the use of fossil fuels to 0 in ten years, and that includes no airplanes or any other travel that uses gasoline, diesel or coal generated electricity. Socialism is the new way to run a government according to many of the newly elected Democrats. They apparently cannot read history and have forgotten what it did to Germany and the USSR. Socialism has just destroyed another country with Argentina being the latest victim.
So, after the height of the Democrats under Roosevelt, they have been degraded to a third-world country political maelstrom. The blue-collar worker has been forgotten and replaced by the non-worker and generational welfare recipient. Those who want something for nothing are the new Democratic voter who somehow believes that people who work for a living owe them part of their wages in higher taxes. Redistribution of wealth is their motto, and destruction of the things that made this country great is their quest. But, remember that the only people who reap benefits from wealth redistribution are the politicians. The poor and disabled remain the same. For the past two years, there has been a constant drum of negativity against President Trump with the mainstream media leading the way. Until now, there has been constant criticism but no new ideas including the border funding bill being discussed in Congress. The Democrats say the president’s wishes are dead on arrival but have not offered any alternative. Winning a political game is more important than taking care of a serious problem. The name calling starts at the beginning of the news or political speech, which reminds me of what my mother used to say, “Calling people names and cussing is the result of running out of vocabulary or brains or both.” We are seeing attacks on Christianity, free speech, and gun rights. Republican or conservative speakers are no longer welcome at colleges and universities, and only one side of an argument is allowed in the university setting. Open borders are the new wish of the Democrats, and complete loss of sovereignty of the US is not a problem for them. I cannot understand their motives other than elitism and wishing to grab political power greater than offered by our Constitution. I am really worried that with no ability to listen to facts or to read real history, we have been left powerless to think. Half of the country has turned their political beliefs and wishes into their religion, with facts and realities not considered. We need a lot of prayers to keep our great country going for another century or there will be another revolution as Jefferson predicted.
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