Saturday, June 21, 2008

Do I Call Myself A Democrat Or A Liberal?

First of all this blog post is not intended to offend anyone. I know that at this time in our nation politics is a touchy subject. This is just me blowing off steam. I definitely can't claim that I know everything there is to know about politics. It seems I learn something new about it everyday. I have to be honest and admit that politics really confuses me. It probably doesn't help that my father is a Republican. At least I think he is a Republican. We never really talk politics. I'm just assuming he's a Republican because of all the Republican emails he sends me. My mom on the other hand is a hard core, and I mean hard core Democrat. I know this for sure. Sometimes I can't get her to stop talking politics. It drives me crazy. So I get opinions from both political spectrum's. Gosh, no wonder I'm always confused about politics. Darn parents!! Though I have to say I sway more towards the democratic side due to their believes and what they stand for. Hmmm do I call myself a democrat or a Liberal? My grandfather use to say "When the Republicans are in office I'm always laid off and can't find a job." " When the democrats are in office I'm always working and the economy is good." My grandfather worked for General Motors most of his adult life. So when ever the economy was bad the car companies were always laying off and in turn my grandfather was laid off. Those were hard years for my grandparents. It's very similar to what is going on in our country today. Currently Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country. Michigan's unemployment rate hasn't been this high in sixteen years. The media is saying it's due to all the lay offs from the big three car companies. Of course I have my own personal experience with this poor economy. My husband is a blue collar working and works for an underground utilities company. He always worked so much overtime that I never got to see him. The summer months he would be working 70 hours per week. Things were great for us financially. In 2004 the economy started doing a down slide and so did our finances. His hours and our income were cut dramatically. When I say dramatically I mean $30,000.00 less per year. Ouch that hurt! Some weeks he doesn't even get a 40 hour pay check. He hasn't had a raise in over four years and of course the Christmas bonus was no more. The company he works for laid off most of their workers. I was grateful that my husband didn't get the boot due to his longevity with the company and that we still have health insurance. Though they were talking about getting ride of that. It's not like my husband can look for another job. There are far and few jobs to be found in Michigan unless you want to work for McDonald's and make minimum wage. That just wouldn't cut it. How do you support three people on minimum wage. That's just crazy!! The only choice we would have would be to move out of Michigan so my husband could seek work. But there's a problem with that idea. We can't sell our home. We had are house on the market for 16 months and not bites. This bad economy is just a vicious cycle. All these events got me thinking that maybe there is some truth in my grandfathers words.

1 comment:

  1. I'm a Republican. There is another problem about moving out of state there is not work there either. This problem is not just hitting us it is hitting everyone in the US. It's easy to just think it's happening in our small little world. I know people that have moved their family for more work and it didn't happen and they have come back to Michigan.

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