LeftExchange
Walking the walk
I feel thrilled beyond all measure that readers have taken the time and the effort to write responses and even rebuttals to material posted on Synergy. I hope this sets a pattern of interaction for the future.
I will be writing a few lines in my own response to Steve’s rebuttal. This certainly isn't my best writing, but i hope it does its job. I admit from the get-go that in many ways, this posed a real problem. And i think the challenge here is that the things Steve put out in his rebuttal reflect the thoughts and feelings of many Americans.
I am doomed to trial and deprivation. I might as well make it count for something. Since I face a rough time of things anyway, I will dedicate my suffering to making a better place for my kids, and your kids, and maybe even you.
I would be extremely jazzed for people to follow Steve and Mark's leads, and jump in on this one.
Well, by Americans, I mean People from the United States. I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point, everyone seems to have forgotten that the following countries are also part of America, North or South: Canada, Mexico, Cuba, The Bahamas, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Suriname, Beliz, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, Peru, Aruba, Bermuda, Anguilla, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent. All the people living in those countries are also Americans. I’m not sure why that’s relevant. It just needed to be said.
My goal (and maybe I missed the mark!) in writing “Hot-heads and Communism” was to show some of my personal struggle around being open with my political views with my own father, without making him feel that I in any way judge his life negatively. Both he and my mother have struggled mightily throughout their lives to provide strength, love, shelter, etc., to not one, but 4 children. My parents sent 4 children to college.
I do not look at my parents or my grandparents as ignorant or unwise, blind, foolish, or poor of spirit for being capitalists. Politics, philosophy, and making a living in this world are never so simple as all that.
It is in the spirit of respect, love, and in admiration for those who have gone before, for those who have struggled, for all those who have suffered that I have proposed communism. I would not wish the trials and heartaches my folks went through on them. I cannot go back in time and change things, though. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to change things for me, either. I will face a life of hardship, struggle, stress and etc. I have been fired twice. I have been on unemployment. I have been underemployed in every job I have had. I have been underused, underpaid, and unfulfilled. I have had to take jobs that have offered zero benefits: no vacation, no sick-time, no days off, no health care—nothing. My first job out of college paid $11,000 for the year. I worked in a Juvenile Detention Center. I have no savings. Right now, my food budget is $40 a week for my wife and I, and our two cats. I have faced the death of motor vehicles, and have had to find ways to replace them, because how else can you get to work or school or the grocery store without a car anymore! Especially in Tampa, FL, one of the least friendly cities to pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transportation.
This will continue to be my lot in life. There is no horizon, no light at the end of the tunnel. I will have to fight tooth and nail for every damn scrap of food, every piece of toilet paper, every ounce of gasoline.
However, one day I will have children. I ask myself what kind of world, what kind of neighborhood I would like for my kids to inherit. I know they will be strong, because my parents were strong, and I will be strong for them. But, I don’t see the reason to saddle them with any of the problems, the pain, the suffering that my parents and I had to go through. Imagine how much more my folks could have done if they had not had to worry about healthcare, for one. My dad had to take a job he wasn’t thrilled with, and had to stay at that job even though he was stressed out and unhappy because he needed the health insurance. I do not need to go into all the extra financial trouble, the emotional pain, the psychological stresses, and all that to make this point: that wasn't not right by me. No one should have to stay at any job, any time, anywhere because the sword of medical care hangs over their head.
I know a lot of people are put off communism and everything they see it representing. Lack of freedom, fear, long lines, and all that. What I would like to know is an answer to one simple question: what would I have to do or say to change your mind?