Your great-grandmother sometimes sent Papa to a grocery store for a gallon of milk or a few needed items. There were four grocery stores within two blocks of our house. Off I’d go. I can’t recall whether I ever noted the cost of what I purchased. It was simple. I had a list, money in hand, items to carry home and change to return after accomplishing my mission. Later in life I started to pay attention to costs. Penny candy was about the limit of my understanding of the value of money in my early days.
All of this changes when you are on your own. When employed there is an in and out flow of money that very quickly becomes noticeable. Flush on payday devolves into watching declining balances until the next payday. The old paycheck to paycheck life. It takes a variety of experiences for folks to adjust to handling money. If ever. Some people never get money under control. Beware that excessive debt can rear its head. Papa was lucky to the extent that I did not have a credit card until near age forty. It only took a month or so to figure out the trap of living beyond one’s means. Pay your credit card balance in full each month is my best advice.
The price of chicken is on my mind because it is an item I remember from the start. Twenty-nine cents a pound ranged up to thirty-nine cents per pound when I first started to pay attention to prices. Unless you are born with a slver spoon, win the lottery or invent a super gizmo early in life your first working years may have a slug it out feeling. Keep trucking. However, there came a day for me when an uphill climb became discouraging. Chicken was sixty-nine cents a pound at one store. I found it cheaper elsewhere. I don’t recall the exact year but I had the distinct thought that if chicken ever went higher per pound we were doomed. Like a dollar a pound. Sixty-nine cents a pound became my barometer for the economy. Or, more accurately, what I felt was my personal sink or swim financial level.
Papa also developed a barometer for the democrat party. My hometown was blue collar through and through. Union membership was the norm. Wisconsin did not have voter registration by party but I assume most locals voted for democrats. I think the state representatives in the nearby area were democrats with one exception. A large Catholic population seemed democrat to my young eyes. JFK created excitement when he stopped by a few local factories in 1960. I equated republicans as richer, more advantaged folks. Not bad but certainly not in tune with the paycheck to paycheck existence of many families in my hometown. I think only 20 % of my high school class had the opportunity to go to college. After completing military service the boys were back to work in the city of homes and industry.
Party voting was galvanized in my mind one night in a local tavern. (City of homes, industry and taverns more appropriate?) At any rate, over the years I discovered a lot of wisdom near 72nd and National. I recall one discussion of politics and the state of the country. Three working men were talking issues. As I listened I remember thinking that they sounded more conservative than my concept of democrats. So, I asked the question. I don’t recall the republican candidate at the time but these men seemed more in tune with his views. They looked at me as if I was crazy. Of course not they protested. They’d never vote for a republican. Their families had been democrats since the 1930’s. Yet, they were certainly not supportive of the hippie/anti war crowd associated with the democrat party at the time.
Fast forward to 2024 and before the vote I calculated that whichever party lost should welcome the chance to make corrections. Change if the republicans had lost seems as if it’d be easier. With Trump and his personality gone the party could duke it out internally for a successor. However, it turns out that the democrats lost. Their comeback now may be a heavier lift. Papa is not a supporter/member/registered voter of either party. But, I love all things political/historical. 2024 has been very interesting.
In June of 2023 I wrote on this blog that all the criminal charges beimg levied against Trump by democrats might turn out to be a bad idea. There’d already been a steady negative media stream against him since 2016. The big Mueller investigation and then two impeachents. Finally, the old nail in the coffin of nearly 100 charges. It has always amazed me that Clinton, Biden, Harris, democrat party and most of the media is obsessed by Trump. The negative of his persona seems too apparent to remain so focused. I get it. He’s got issues. Now, move on. However, none seem able to move on from making Trump the center of attention. After his 2024 election the party might want/need to do serious soul searching.
Which brings me back to chicken. Papa is now comfortable in a financial sense. I routinely pay more than 69 cents a pound. Boneless, skinless has been seen at 7 to 8 dollars a pound in certain stores these past few years. At a high price point I pay some attention at the nusiance. I buy certain things with the mentality of a splurge. However, it is important to never lose sight that there are a ton of people who may not be able to put some items on the table at various price points. All through my life, especially on the bench, I tried not to lose sight of the working men and women from my hometown experience. They are good, hard working people. Somehow the democrat political party has to regain its recognition that these folks harbor their own version of Papa’s 69 cent chickedn stardard. They are the folks dreading tomorrow because they see an economic sinking. They can sense that things are not right. Nearly 100 criminal charges and a steady stream of shouts that votes are needed to save them from an evil person. How high can a pile be of more and more and repeated stacks of reasons proving someone is a bad person?
Everyday for years it was a “look how bad he is, ;look how bad he is.” The next day “look how bad he is.” And, the next and the next days awful proof of how bad he is. Exhausting. Getting folks riled up. Always working the fear angle. A monster. No, he’s not a monster. He’s worse. No, he’s Hitler. Are you riled up enough? Have to make sure no one votes for Hitler. Or, a crook as witnessed by charges in New Youk, Georgia and US courts. Almost 100 charges he’s so bad. Did the press mention he’s really, really bad? They can pile on more in order to support the democrat candidate. Is it possible that some around 72nd and National felt too much piling on made a mockery of our justice system and rubbed Americans sense of fair play the wrong way?
Well, I suspect that those folks in my hometown also had their own cost of living pain level. Chicken prices in Papa’s mind but gasoline, milk, eggs and butter for others. Those forever democrats in my memory changed and many voted for Trump. Mostly, I suspect they voted against hyper-inflation, 300,000 missing migrant kids toiling away as child labor or worse, millions of illegals driving down wages, easy peasy drug flow into the US with its attendant cime and a world on fire with wars. Nearly three years of war in Europe and it feels normal.
Knee jerk reaction from the press and most democrat party leaders to the 2024 election result again is “Resist!” Wow, that’s a lesson learned. However, there is some hope when a few democrats and a few in the media suggest that perhaps it’s time to do some soul searching. Perhaps getting back to basics of the party. I remember those common sense, lean a bit right men who’d never consider voting republican. Many probably claim it was the party that abandoned them. It will be interesting to see if voters can be recaptured or are lost.
It well may be time for democrats to get away fom the looney left. That was a cliff they took the party over. Thud!