"We the People" state of the union. Can a pair of new shoes change your party choice?
Mark Lowry
January 25, 2007
Many Americans tuned in to listen at President Bush’s version of the State of the Union and then the Democratic version. It makes it a little difficult to establish affiliation with either party some times but these two speeches clearly delineated different paths to be taken by the parties for the first time in several decades.
It was difficult to follow a lot of what Bush had to say because of constant interruptions for applause. That seemed to direct attention to uniform applause and standing ovations that gave appearance people in the audience were either hooked up to some invisible puppet master that made them all rise at once or there was an electrical charge in bottom of their comfortable seats that awakened them from their slumber. Seems to me only benefit of applause is to keep the audience awake during what most people consider a not so momentous event. They need to do the same as in elementary school and hold the applause until the speech is finished.
Attempts to grab camera time as the president came and left the chambers is reminiscent of silly creatures at a rock concert. It is a wonder all those big egos could fit in such a small space. What a collection of prima donnas and famous “want a bees” we have as our representatives.
Most states in these United States have some local colloquialisms used over the years to describe differences between political parties. They all include some fictional story about young kids coming from the sticks to make it big in large cities of the region. Kentucky is no different.
The story that resonates with me is about poor children of Appalachia who seek their fortunes in Louisville or Lexington. They are raised in Christian homes and taught to respect funeral processions by stopping and standing at the road side with one hand over their heart and the other holding their cap, if they have one, to assure their head is bared out of respect for the dead. If they are driving they pull off to the side of the road and remain silent until the procession passes. No police escort is needed, only respect they had drummed into them from centuries of parenting.
These kids are first to respond to America’s call to arms because after God and family they are taught their country is next most beloved. It is an honor for them to pay taxes because it is felt everyone owes their fair share for benefit of living in America.
Their diet includes fish, wild rabbit, quail, squirrel and deer. If the food is store “boughten,’” it is usually chicken. Steak is a rare treat, if it is eaten at all. Work ethic is one of strength character and fairness. A fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay is the credo. Their word is their bond.
It is said Kentucky mountain boys and girls leave poverty of shrinking coal fields to go to the big city for a better life. First thing they do after getting a good job at Wal-Mart or digging ditches “somwheres’,” is to by a good pair of new shoes. The next thing they do is start voting Republican. That shallow perception defines reality a lot of times. People fail to recognize what is best for them.
Bright hue of big city lights in the night sky has drawn like a moth to the flame, more than one “youngin'" dreaming of freedom from poverty and want out of hills of Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, and many other states. Some are able to make it. Many more create a better existence for themselves but have a struggle to improve their lot in life. All of them are willing to do work of any kind that will support their families. It is their duty to be good providers.
Taxes, high property values, medical care and many other expenses place demands often impossible to meet on even the most frugal. This is the life of most Americans. It is not the life of those smiling well dressed and manicured politicos we watched fighting each other to be around the aura of presidential power and get an autograph.
Many of those people of both parties have no concept of what it feels like to be real happy over buying a new pair of good shoes or get a "good paying job" at Wal-Mart. It is unlikely any of them would be inclined to change places with Americans who live that life.
Measure of success of the economy is as Senator Webb stated in rebuttal to President Bush’s state of the Union Address: “In the early days of our republic, President Andrew Jackson established an important principle of American-style democracy - that we should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base. Not with the numbers that come out of Wall Street, but with the living conditions that exist on Main Street. We must recapture that spirit today.” Senator Jim Webb in rebuttal to Bush state of union address 1-23-07
America is a country with a 12% child poverty rate, second only to Mexico in the developed world. American wages are declining as jobs are exported to benefit international corporations with designs on one world government. Illegal alien invasion is taking jobs from those who make the least wages and forcing others to accept lower pay. Contract labor is rule of the day so employers can avoid labor laws.
This is the picture of America the wealthy must see if they are going to have empathy for “we the people” of America. This is the America both parties continue to ignore.
Senator Webb’s comments echoed sentiment expressed by Ronald Reagan in his inaugural speech about the long neglected American: “We hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are sick—professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, "We the people," this breed called Americans.” Ronald Reagan
Indeed, "we the people" are Americans just as much as those elitists that actually run the country.
Senator Webb Democrat from Virginia expressed populist roots and former relationship with the Reagan administration as Secretary of Navy. What he said was important. However, who he is and his roots shared with many Americans made his message resonate strongly with Americans who can relate to his words. He knows what it is like to fight in war; have his dad missing for three years while he was fighting in war; and, know pain of a parent suffering risk of loss of a son in battle now. His speech seemed to recognize and respect Americans who Reagan defined as “we the people.”
If this is the path the Democratic Party is taking, then there will be a noticeable difference in political parties. Republicans will do well to listen to the voice of ‘we the people” who summarily rejected Republican elitist plans for war, immigration amnesty, economic growth, North American Union, Security Prosperity and Partnership Agreement of North America, Mexican Social Security Totalization Agreement and environmental concerns.
The only major disconnect between Democrats and the public appears to be on the “amnesty for illegal aliens” position taken by Bush. They must know this is not time to curry favor with the elite and provide them with more slave wage illegal labor with a “pathway to citizenship.” That approach will only destroy America and further depress wages making it impossible for those kids in the mountains to improve their lot in life.
Illegal immigration law enforcement and deportation by attrition is the only solution to this problem. Eisenhower: "The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government."
It looks like “times are a changing” once more. Let’s hope it is for best of our country. We need to see the words backed up with action this time. “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”-Ronald Reagan, 1981 inaugural address
It was difficult to follow a lot of what Bush had to say because of constant interruptions for applause. That seemed to direct attention to uniform applause and standing ovations that gave appearance people in the audience were either hooked up to some invisible puppet master that made them all rise at once or there was an electrical charge in bottom of their comfortable seats that awakened them from their slumber. Seems to me only benefit of applause is to keep the audience awake during what most people consider a not so momentous event. They need to do the same as in elementary school and hold the applause until the speech is finished.
Attempts to grab camera time as the president came and left the chambers is reminiscent of silly creatures at a rock concert. It is a wonder all those big egos could fit in such a small space. What a collection of prima donnas and famous “want a bees” we have as our representatives.
Most states in these United States have some local colloquialisms used over the years to describe differences between political parties. They all include some fictional story about young kids coming from the sticks to make it big in large cities of the region. Kentucky is no different.
The story that resonates with me is about poor children of Appalachia who seek their fortunes in Louisville or Lexington. They are raised in Christian homes and taught to respect funeral processions by stopping and standing at the road side with one hand over their heart and the other holding their cap, if they have one, to assure their head is bared out of respect for the dead. If they are driving they pull off to the side of the road and remain silent until the procession passes. No police escort is needed, only respect they had drummed into them from centuries of parenting.
These kids are first to respond to America’s call to arms because after God and family they are taught their country is next most beloved. It is an honor for them to pay taxes because it is felt everyone owes their fair share for benefit of living in America.
Their diet includes fish, wild rabbit, quail, squirrel and deer. If the food is store “boughten,’” it is usually chicken. Steak is a rare treat, if it is eaten at all. Work ethic is one of strength character and fairness. A fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay is the credo. Their word is their bond.
It is said Kentucky mountain boys and girls leave poverty of shrinking coal fields to go to the big city for a better life. First thing they do after getting a good job at Wal-Mart or digging ditches “somwheres’,” is to by a good pair of new shoes. The next thing they do is start voting Republican. That shallow perception defines reality a lot of times. People fail to recognize what is best for them.
Bright hue of big city lights in the night sky has drawn like a moth to the flame, more than one “youngin'" dreaming of freedom from poverty and want out of hills of Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, and many other states. Some are able to make it. Many more create a better existence for themselves but have a struggle to improve their lot in life. All of them are willing to do work of any kind that will support their families. It is their duty to be good providers.
Taxes, high property values, medical care and many other expenses place demands often impossible to meet on even the most frugal. This is the life of most Americans. It is not the life of those smiling well dressed and manicured politicos we watched fighting each other to be around the aura of presidential power and get an autograph.
Many of those people of both parties have no concept of what it feels like to be real happy over buying a new pair of good shoes or get a "good paying job" at Wal-Mart. It is unlikely any of them would be inclined to change places with Americans who live that life.
Measure of success of the economy is as Senator Webb stated in rebuttal to President Bush’s state of the Union Address: “In the early days of our republic, President Andrew Jackson established an important principle of American-style democracy - that we should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base. Not with the numbers that come out of Wall Street, but with the living conditions that exist on Main Street. We must recapture that spirit today.” Senator Jim Webb in rebuttal to Bush state of union address 1-23-07
America is a country with a 12% child poverty rate, second only to Mexico in the developed world. American wages are declining as jobs are exported to benefit international corporations with designs on one world government. Illegal alien invasion is taking jobs from those who make the least wages and forcing others to accept lower pay. Contract labor is rule of the day so employers can avoid labor laws.
This is the picture of America the wealthy must see if they are going to have empathy for “we the people” of America. This is the America both parties continue to ignore.
Senator Webb’s comments echoed sentiment expressed by Ronald Reagan in his inaugural speech about the long neglected American: “We hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are sick—professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, "We the people," this breed called Americans.” Ronald Reagan
Indeed, "we the people" are Americans just as much as those elitists that actually run the country.
Senator Webb Democrat from Virginia expressed populist roots and former relationship with the Reagan administration as Secretary of Navy. What he said was important. However, who he is and his roots shared with many Americans made his message resonate strongly with Americans who can relate to his words. He knows what it is like to fight in war; have his dad missing for three years while he was fighting in war; and, know pain of a parent suffering risk of loss of a son in battle now. His speech seemed to recognize and respect Americans who Reagan defined as “we the people.”
If this is the path the Democratic Party is taking, then there will be a noticeable difference in political parties. Republicans will do well to listen to the voice of ‘we the people” who summarily rejected Republican elitist plans for war, immigration amnesty, economic growth, North American Union, Security Prosperity and Partnership Agreement of North America, Mexican Social Security Totalization Agreement and environmental concerns.
The only major disconnect between Democrats and the public appears to be on the “amnesty for illegal aliens” position taken by Bush. They must know this is not time to curry favor with the elite and provide them with more slave wage illegal labor with a “pathway to citizenship.” That approach will only destroy America and further depress wages making it impossible for those kids in the mountains to improve their lot in life.
Illegal immigration law enforcement and deportation by attrition is the only solution to this problem. Eisenhower: "The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government."
It looks like “times are a changing” once more. Let’s hope it is for best of our country. We need to see the words backed up with action this time. “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”-Ronald Reagan, 1981 inaugural address
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