A week ago, I took my friends Alfred and Lorie out for lunch at William's Landing restaurant in Astor, Florida. Alfred and Lorie are moving to Pennsylvania and it was a sad farewell. Alfred has already voted by absentee balot, which he applied for long ago since he's frequently away from home on business. Lorie took advantage of "early voting" this past week in order to cast her vote before moving.
As the owner of his own small business, Alfred works his fingers to the bone, sacrificing personal wants and needs over paying the business's bills, and burning the midnight oil to get work done while he envies those who get to punch a time clock and put their work behind them as they go home to their families each night.
Both Lorie and Alfred are voting for Obama this election. Alfred is a registered Republican.
Alfred explained to me that he is no longer happy with his party. The very reasons why he became a Republican, the core principals of fiscal responsibility and small government, seem to have vanished. The Democrats have adopted many of his values embracing charter schools, healthcare and gun rights. The Republicans have lost their way and lost touch with the average American.
I understand what he is talking about. I too, was a Republican, having joined the party in 1978 after listening to a talk at my school by a North Carolina Democrat running for office about the virtues of government handouts for the poor and destitute. I'll never forget his closing question to the audience, "Do you think we should make sure everyone has a home, food on their table, and the comforts of life regardless of whether or not they have a job, or do you think they should have to work for it?" It seemed a simple question to me. Of course, they should have to work for it. I mean, I did. Why not make them work, too?
At that time, in 1978, the difference between the haves and the have nots was not nearly as disproportionate as what it has become today and the Federally mandated minimum wage paid a living wage. Driving through the "poor" neighborhoods in my hometown in North Carolina, you could not find the poetic ramshackle hovels from the Grapes of Wrath where the poor were living in filth and despair. No, this was tobacco and textile production country and "poor" meant that you drove a used Cadillac instead of a new one, or maybe just a good old rusty Ford truck handed down from your grandfather.
I was born into the middle class, but my parents felt that earning your own way builds character, so I had to make it on my own. My first job as a cashier, paying minimum wage of $3.35 per hour or $6,700 per year, barely paid my meager bills of rent, utilities, food and toiletries. At that time, about $6,000 per year marked the official poverty level. I could not afford a car and walked to work, a mile away. I also could not afford health insurance, even then, but did not care, since I was young and healthy. I hated paying taxes, especially since I personally knew people who sat at home watching TV all day and didn't work, but got welfare checks, food stamps, and free housing for doing absolutely nothing.
Despite my own meager existence, I had no problem proudly announcing to the world that I was a Republican. I campaigned for Jesse Helms for Senate and Beverly Lake for governor, and a few other candidates who I've forgotten since then. I campaigned for the working American. I wanted us to keep what we earned and for the government to tighten their belts and stop giving out free handouts. Instead, I wanted the Federal government to concentrate on the big jobs -- fixing highways, making and enforcing laws to protect us, and training the military to keep us safe. I wanted the local State government to build schools; maintain libraries, museums, and parks; police the streets; and keep my house from burning down.
Wow! Things have changed dramatically, haven't they? The government has fallen down on the job. Like a prima donna employee, our typical Republican governing official has let the primary task of serving the general public fall to the wayside, instead choosing to take care of personal wants and needs. Most Republican spending, whether it has been to fight a war in Iraq or build a "bridge to nowhere," has not served the general public. Instead, it has been directed at helping big corporations, such as oil companies, who have earned record profits due to wars in Middle Eastern oil producing countries, or Haliburton, who has been awarded no bid contracts for the military. Big insurance companies and big banks get bigger, all with the help of the government. Many Republicans, including our own President Bush and Vice President Cheney, have stock in these companies or receive pensions from previous high level positions, and have personally profited from the legislation.
Only two years ago, my husband and I considered ourselves to be fairly comfortable. After paying the mortgage, utilities, food, gas, healthcare, and paying off the credit card each month, we were still able to keep 25% of our pay for frivolous expenses, such as travel, eating out at restaurants, going to shows, buying electronic gizmos, giving spending money to our young relatives in college, and other splurges. Now, only one year later, we are lucky if we have anything left after paying our bills. For this reason, we have had to dip into savings intended for emergencies and retirement.
So, the farewell dinner we treated our friends to could not be at the pricey, but special, Blackwater Inn in Astor, FL. No, it had to be upstairs in the more affordable, William's Landing which serves some of the best fried fish sandwiches you'll find in central Florida.
My friend, Alfred says, "The Republicans have become split in two. On one side, they are the party of the haves. On the other, they are the party of the far Christian rights, the extreme social conservatives. I don't fit into either category."
