I grew up in a suburb twenty miles from downtown Cleveland. Our family of eight squeezed into a small bungalow that along with its’ bungalow twins sprang up after World War II. We were a mix of Italian, Polish and Irish. Mostly Democrats. The rare outliers were outed before presidential elections by the poster planted in their front yard. That did not change how we felt about them, but we could not understand why anyone we knew would vote for a Republican.
I can’t say that people were not prejudiced. They felt free to make comments and jokes about N—-s, Japs, Wops, and Polaks amongst their like minded friends. I never heard my parents make derogatory racial comments, but there was a certain air that everyone, including my family, exuded. Everyone felt they were a little better than someone else. If that feeling of superiority existed with regard to politics, I never noticed it.
As a female, I accepted most gender norms. A woman would never be a disk jockey, fly an airplane or be a doctor. On the other hand, it enraged me that I had to wash dishes and scrub floors, while my brothers did not.
In 1966, fresh out of high school, I left home. Suddenly I lived and worked near people of color and some of my co-workers commuted from wealthy suburbs. My exposure to diversity was political as well as ethnic.
In my circle of civilization, politics would not get you ostracized, race and gender would. In the mid 70’s I was hired as the first female consultant by a firm with 30 other well paid professionals. The Union Club, a client and Cleveland institution, required myself and the lone black consultant to enter using the back door. Meanwhile, our white male coworkers, used the front door. According to Google it was not until 1983 that women could sully their front entrance. In addition to race and gender, sexual preference was ostracizing. Homosexuals were ridiculed at best and violently attacked or killed at worse. Only the bravest amongst them could be openly gay.
Over the years admirable progress has been made toward the acceptance of racial differences, female rights and sexual preference. The US election of Barak Obama, was a testament to this. Today you will be “canceled” if you openly express any racial, anti-semitic, Homophobic or misogynistic bias.
While this progress has been made, now, a sign in your front yard for a particular political preference could elicit hateful feelings toward you from some neighbors. Now, some equate opposition to the genocide in Gaza as anti-semitic, even if the person in opposition is Jewish. Now, a battle is raging over “gender-affirming care”. There are stories of parents loosing in custody battles for opposing this “care” being given to a minor child.
With the election of Obama, loyal lifelong democrats believed their FDR had arrived. Instead, almost immediately, I witnessed banks being bailed out and zero justice for the atrocities committed at Guantanamo. After eight disappointing years I pinned hopes and efforts on Bernie Sanders. There were others in the primary but for all intents and purposes it was Hillary Clinton against Bernie. The CM covered Donald Trump nonstop. He was entertaining, Hillary was not. Big rallies for Bernie were ignored. I believe Bernie would have won, had it not been for the media fix. Still I remained a loyal Democrat and thought that Hillary would be decent president. In our bubble we heard over and over how Hillary was ahead and would win. Attending a gathering of like minded friends on election night, we celebrated what was to be the coronation of the first US woman president. As the night wore on the mood darkened. I went home in a state of shock.
During the four years of the Trump presidency the left-leaning CM filled us with denigration of Trump from non-stop ridicule to terror that he would instigate a nuclear war. When the final day of Trump’s presidency came I breathed a sigh of relief. Trump was nowhere close to overtaking GWB as the worst president we have ever had.
Prior to that final day I feared that Trump would be re-elected and again I worked for Sanders hoping for some real reform, instead the dirty tricks of the Democrats prevailed and Joe Biden was anointed. Still, but resentfully now, I voted for the Democrat, Biden, not because I thought he would be a decent president, but because I feared Trump.
The Biden years started in a pandemic, and ended with the USA fully supporting two foreign wars. One involving a genocide perpetrated by a country that US ciiizens are not allowed to criticize and the other involving a border dispute between two foreign countries. In that second conflict we are supplying billions of dollars in arms to the side that could not possibly win without our weapons and we are antagonizing the side that holds the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world. Our freedom of speech and bodily autonomy has been challenged to a degree that I, as an American citizen, never believed possible.
My red-pilling is complete. In my opinion the social acceptance pendulum has swung too far. The democratic party is the main cheer leader for this insanity. The wars that have begun and are continuing with full support of the Biden Harris administration are horrific. Are the Republicans any better?
The Pope has said last week that we must vote for who is ‘the lesser evil’. I can only hope that Trump can get us out of the conflict with Russia, but I don’t trust that he can or that he is willing to take the political heat required, even if he wants to. Ending the war is not even on the Democratic Party radar. Another issue for me are mandated vaccines, I do believe that Trump would be better on this, but there are never any guarantees. With Democrats there is no doubt they will continue to cow-tow to big pharma.
If I was in a battle ground state I would come to the conclusion that I need to vote for Jill Stein, the only truly anti-war candidate, who has zero chance of winning, or to ironically vote for Donald Trump on the slim chance of that he would lower the heat in the Russia Ukraine conflict and/or put some brakes on mandating vaccines. Since I am in a solidly blue state I can comfortably vote for Robert F. Kennedy, who has said he will start a third party if he can garner five percent of the electorate in the non-contested states. He has removed himself from the ballot in battleground states.
