1948 To 2008: I Have Been There

In 1948, I was really to young to understand that Truman had upset Dewey to win the Presidency as I was only six years old. We did not have a television, now known as a TV, in our home until 1950. By the time 1952 rolled around, I was a little more aware of what was going on as the TV gave me a view of the nation and the world that the photographs in my weekly LIFE magazine could only hint at. There was the newsreels at the picture show that I would see every Saturday when I walked to the Forest Theatre for a double feature of cowboys and war films. But that little 12 inch screen on our Trans View television in its wood cabinet, brought the political world right into our home. Everyone liked IKE, he was the hero of the Second World War. But Richard Nixon was something else for me at least on television. As a 10 year old, I thought Dick Nixon's smile was forced and not real the way Ike's was. Even Stevenson, who was my man, had a natural smile that said he was a good man. Bottom line, I did not like Nixon's looks at age ten, and by the time he ran against JFK in 1960, that's John F. Kennedy for those that don't know what JFK means, I still did not like Nixon's looks and thought he was a sick guy with some serious problems. Back in 1960, America looked quite different. Television, except for sports, was nearly all white. The '60s had just begun. The election of the first Catholic as president in November, 1960 was a major event in America's political, social and intellectual history. Today, 48 years latter, it is perhaps difficult for someone born in the '60s,'70s,'80s or early '90s to fully appreciate what that time meant to so many of us that were not White Anglo Saxon Protestant, also known as WASPs. Here we are in 2008 and another challenge awaits us. Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent, the United States as the dynamic society it is, continues to move towards its ideals. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness gives each one of us something to strife for. It may not always be there, but like the Level Playing Field, it is the challenge to get there and the opportunity to make it a better country that gives us hope.

The Federal government is a big organization made up of people just like you. Some do a good job, I know this because I have talked to them on the phone when I needed help. Some should be fired. But, regardless who gets elected, the Federal government is not going away. The idea that one party is going to change all that is a myth. As a country, many problems must be addressed at the Federal level, there is no way around it. Nebraska does not need its own Navy. Health care for our people is something we should all have regardless of our pay grade or if we even have one. A national energy policy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil is long over due. And, my favorite issue, better enforcement of the investment and brokerage and investment banking industry is also long over due. Level the playing field for the trillions of dollars invested in public and private pension funds for millions of American workers. Fraud and near fraud must be stopped if people are to have confidence in the market. Shooting fish in a barrel has got to stop. People saving for their retirnement are not fish.

So, here we are 2008, like 1960, has a new hope in the air. JFK was not the first Catholic to run for the presidency. Al Smith tried in 1928 and lost to Herbert Hoover. Obama-Biden, a black man and another Catholic, are making a run at the presidency today. If they lose, I hope it is because people voted for McCain and not out of fear of a black man sitting in the Oval Office. I am a Democrat. I am hard wired that way. I will vote for Obama-Biden in November and I urge everyone that reads my blog to look at the issues and vote. Vote FOR something, I am.

Check this out: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_09/014563.php

Stay tuned.