John in Cali
My grandfather raised my mother and her brother as Nixon Republicans. He supported impeachment. But definitely was no fan of Jimmy Carter. As he aged he mellowed out and as a retired Carpenter went to work improving the community by working for Habitat for Humanity in his spare time when he wasn't fixing the church he attended. It wasn't until he started carrying a transistor radio around with Rush Limbaugh constantly blaring that he changed.
To fully understand how much this affected me. I have to share some uncomfortable truth about my family. My father was broken by the Vietnam War. He was an alcoholic and verbally abusive. The only father figure I had was my grandfather. To me he was a god. He taught me in the beginning that to be a Republican was to believe that government was not the answer. That problems were not other people's to figure out or find an answer for. Problems in the community where are the responsibilities of citizens.
So all we did in our spare time was volunteer. We volunteered for FoodShare. Which is an organization that goes through fields that have been picked and do what's called gleaning the field. Basically you go through and pick the scraps and late growing produce that wasn't harvested by the harvesting Crews. That food is then sent on to food banks. He also collected old reading glasses. Then would hand them out to the homeless. The experience that bonded us the closest and gave us the greatest sense of accomplishment was the six houses we built for Habitat for Humanity. I remember being there as each family received the keys. This was how a Republican proved that government wasn't the answer.
Then came Rush Limbaugh. Suddenly anything Democrat was off limits. Bill Clinton was murdering people and disgracing the office. I was truly baffled as what was going on. As years went on he went further and further into the Fever Swamp until he was listening to every right wing disc jockey and even some that I would consider racist. My grandfather never expressed racist views and I don't believe he was racist but I do believe as he aged it was easier for him to believe that somehow he was being cheated and the truth was he was.
The problem was he wasn't being cheated by democrats he is being cheated by his own party and trickle down economics. Unfortunately he died. I was heartbroken. I spent the last five years of his life caring for him as he died of cancer and if it wasn't for the years that he spent teaching me how to be a man before he went off the deep end I could not have endured the constant rants straight off Mark Levin Sean Hannity or mr. Ditto-head himself Rush Limbaugh.
Of course this cancer spread to my mother to my brother to my uncle who all looked up to my grandfather. Without question they followed him down the hole into the Fever Swamp. Fox News right-wing media is good for one thing. Creating outrage and suppressing Peoples Natural Instinct to investigate claims that seem absurd. Now when we get together as a family I bite my lip as the family goes around the table and repeat Fox News talking points verbatim.
Any questioning the conversation turns into an attack on what a snowflake I am and that they all think I'm a closet Democrat. I am a flag-waving Democrat. But before Rush Limbaugh that was considered uncouth to discuss in family circles. So I take it upon myself to continue that tradition and allow my family members to bloviate about the days political upheaval. I will never vote Republican again and I am grateful that I was able to step back and hear the words that were being said by the Republican Party. Like the saying goes When someone tells you who they are believe them.