Grandma does know best
To the editor:
Yes, grandma knows best.
Not in the tongue-in-cheek manner far right Republican and frequent purveyor of narratives that letter writer John Benedict likes to create.
My grandmother was widowed with eight children in 1927.
In rural Maine at that time there was little public assistance and no SSI or Medicare.
My mother was the youngest of the eight.
My grandmother managed to raise them all who became one teacher, two office managers, four RNs and a Navy shipwright.
When Franklin D Roosevelt, the best Democrat in history came to power, to counter the Republican President Hoover’s great depression, he launched the Social Security system among other programs amid Republican opposition.
My grandmother worked as a cook in a local inn in the 1930s and ’40s and, thanks to FDR, received a Social Security pension which allowed her to eventually retire with a small stipend.
She once served breakfast to Eleanor Roosevelt who complimented her baking.
My grandmother was a staunch Democrat for good reason.
Those reasons are still alive today.
To counter:
Open boarders? During my grandmother’s lifetime we Americans welcomed immigrants on Ellis Island with open arms.
Ironically, many of the grandchildren of these 20th Century immigrants are now the loudest anti-immigrant bellowers.
The Republican captains of industry quickly exploited this turn-of-the-century immigrant labor pool with sweatshops leading to the formation of labor unions to fight the abuses. Democrats are union supporters.
Immigrants today are mostly from Central and South America where our CIA has supported repressive regimes to protect American businesses exploiting their natural resources. Republicans complain of the resulting scenarios they created.
Of course, immigration was less during the disastrous Trump administration as we closed the borders because of the pandemic.
Abortion is a personal choice between a woman and her doctor.
The Republican far right has found niche voters in these conservative Christian extremists. Illegal religious lobbyists for years have been attempting to turn our republic into a Theocracy. What’s next? Prohibition? Gay rights denial?
Electric cars:
Electric cars today are NOT geared to long-distance travel, however for local driving in an urban environment, a great alternative to fume belching gasoline engine driven cars in our cities.
College:
I paid my own way through the university earning a Mechanical Engineering degree.
Half of my tuition I earned by buying savings stamps at school with money I earned delivering newspapers.
My parents matched the money I earned to buy savings stamps, stamp books became savings bonds when full.
Tuition was affordable then in the late ’60s.
My daughter is faced with high student loans after earning her NP degree.
She will be in her late 50s and still paying.
The letter is clueless as to how it is to be a person of color in America.
I volunteered for the draft after graduation and was give a 1Y classification because of a skin condition.
I joined the American Peace Corps to do my service for my country.
I was exposed to people of color, different religions, and culture.
At first it was all strange as I noticed the differences.
After a while I began to recognize how much we were alike…
Those who have walked in such footsteps as mine have a different opinion of minorities.
Richard Bowie
Cape Coral