During the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary, I volunteered to stand as a poll watcher (on behalf of Senator Obama) at the Lower Merion Township polling place. Overall, the day was very uneventful but I did have a very polite and interesting conversation with a Republican poll watcher.
We introduced ourselves to each other and found that we had the military in common. I served 20 years with the U.S. Navy while the gentleman I spoke with had a son attending flight school at NAS Pensacola. Despite what people, or perhaps, more correctly, the press would like us to believe, our conversation was genial. I told him that I had recently switched my political affiliation to Democrat. He was a bit surprised by this considering my military career and he asked why I had done so.
As he suspected, the Iraq War and it’s mismanagement was one of the top reasons why I switched my affiliation but it was not the only one.
The economy also played a major factor in my decision to ’switch horses’. I explained that I had been out of the Navy for 4 months now and had very little success in finding employment. During my time on active duty, I was a meteorologist and there just is not a great call for weather forecasters in Philadelphia. I said that I was attending an online college to complete the education I started while on active duty but … the VA had yet to release the funds from my GI Bill and I was paying my way through college with the last of my savings.
He expressed his sympathies on that and understood that the VA had been broken for a long time. True, I said, but no one is fixing it and this includes President Bush.
He was also unaware that many employers are fearful of hiring veterans because they fear we may experience delayed PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) or other medical issues which they (a new employer) may be held responsible for paying.
Many jobs that are offered are just at minimum wage or lack benefits of any kind. Some companies that have offered to hire me, such as Wal-Mart, will only pay benefits “if” you work a 40 hour work week. Notice the “if” in parantheses. In other words, the only jobs available are part time jobs with zero benefits at minimum wage. My friend, who holds a graduate degree and owns his own business could offer no comfort when I explained this. He did add, sadly, that he survived on a $6,000 a year salary when he went to college (in 1976). Try doing that in 2008.
We both agreed that President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” Act is a total failure. While it looked good on paper, it failed miserably when put into action (without funding, I might add). I gave him detailed examples of my children’s experiences in our local schools where they teach the state exam and ignore the more important elements of education … like basic reading, mathematics and teaching our children to be creative. I also mentioned that I was not impressed by several of my children’s teachers who seemed much more interested in the local school gossip than they were about my child’s education. In their defense, however, I also added that teachers are facing overcrowded classrooms and a shortage of books and material needed to teach our children.
Finally, the biggest argument was healthcare. As I write, my wife sits precariously just below the cut-off limit for Medicare. The moment I get a job, no matter how low paying or despite the lack of proper benefits, my wife will see her medical benefits disappear. One of her medications for narcolepsy and cataplexy costs well over $1200 for just a single month’s supply.
He understood my dilemma but spoke passionately about the evils of socialized medicine. I think he missed my point.
I don’t want a handout; I just want an even playing field. I don’t want welfare; but I do want a chance to make my own way based upon my abilities not on my yearly salary.
I don’t think it’s right that the wealthy alone can go to UPenn or can afford decent health care while my eldest daughter struggles to find the means to attend Antonelli Techincal Institute *(try to find it. It’s very obscure!) or my wife hangs on the phone for hours to get her Medicare payment. Something just isn’t right here. Aren’t we all equals?
What I feel this nation really needs, I told him, is change in the way we are doing things. When businesses are taking their jobs overseas to pay pennies on the dime to foreign employees instead of paying decent salaries here at home; when every gallon of gas we buy not only puts money into the hands of terrorists but also destroys the very environment we live in; when my kids shrug and say, ‘what’s the use’ in trying to learn something when the only thing they have to look forward to is flipping burgers at Wendys, I feel that it is necessary for us to change course.
He thanked me for my conversation as he got up from his table to leave. He then patted me on my shoulder and said, “I wish the best for you” as he went out the door.
It was nice to have such a polite exchange. He was a nice person who I grew to respect but deep down inside, I wondered. I hoped that my words did not fall upon deaf ears.
Posted by phillyblues
