We need to get back on track
To the editor:
At the ripe age of 62 years old, I’ve been around the block a few times. I am an ex-paratrooper Vietnam combat vet, who was born when Harry Truman was our president. As far as I’m concerned, he was our last great president. He was a no nonsense kind of guy who spoke his mind, took on the military brass as needed and was not swayed by super packs or the like.
I hear so much today, as we are drawing in recent elections about what a great President Ronald Reagan was, etc. Reagan was an illusion, both as a B-grade actor, in and out of the military, and also as president of the Screen Actor’s Guild in Hollywood. He stated other people’s ideas, put a spin on them, then called them his own.
I was working at Packard Electric in Warren, Ohio, and saw, as we all did, Chrysler Corp go belly up, into bankruptcy as Packard was a division of General Motors during this time in Reagan’s first term, all hell was breaking loose.
As Chrysler was going belly up, so was Packard, and our union, local 717 of the I.U.E. When I was hired in 1972, we had 15,500 employees. Today, there is a sum total of 650 people.
Having said this, after Reagan’s election, our union and company became one of the same, you couldn’t tell them apart. Many new programs were shoved down our throats, “plan to excel, plan to compete, spirit of cooperation, promises of profit sharing and many concessions.” The concessions were in lieu of lowering the price of new cars, which of course never happened! Then outsourcing came into being that is jobs to Mexico, Ireland, Vietnam, etc.
Ronald Reagan had as his commerce secretary a joke by the name of Malcom Balbridge. Being on Reagan’s cabinet, he announced, nation wide, in all the newspapers that he was setting up “clinics” in and around Washington, D.C., to teach companies how to maximize their profits by moving jobs over seas! This was 1981 and I was totally stunned by this! Was this still the United States that I (we) fought for in Vietnam? As jobs were still plentiful and all, this hardly caused a raised eyebrow or a ripple! Looking back, this was the start of “cancer” that has virtually infected our whole beloved country, from there to the present!
An interesting side note is that Dick Chaney, the draft dodger who brought us Iraq and Halliburton, was on Reagan’s staff also. As was another draft dodger named Donald Rumsfield. Names sound familiar? They should as they and the ultimate draft dodger, George W. Bush, single handily led us into one of our worst wars, bankrupted this country and are responsible for many innocent lives lost, both Iraqis and our military!
Where is all this leading? Fast forward to 2012, where as we again find ourselves immersed in another most sickening, gut-wrenching lie fest.
President Obama screwed up by going directly into a no-win so-called health care! Instead of creating good paying jobs etc. Romney, on the hand, is saying he’s the true savior, and can create 2,000,000 new jobs if elected.
Fact is, even Mother Teresa herself couldn’t create any good jobs, as the seeds were sown in 1981, and are, I’m sorry to say, gone forever!
We’ve been led by both parties like lambs to the slaughter! Japan, Saudi Arabia and India, for instance, are laughing at us – we send them bombs, drones and jets and they send us back computers, Toyotas and contaminated drywall. Let us not forget China and South Korea, also. Where as the Chinese were not too long ago happy to ride their Huffy bikes (made in USA), they’ve now infected every neighborhood with their Wal-Mart BS.
In closing, as I see it, we in this country need to give Washington, D.C., a huge enema and get back to the days when congressmen and senators served one term, no pensions, perks and golden stolen parachutes. Back in Truman’s day they were proud to serve – to improve our citizens’ lifestyles and thus our country. Madison Avenue, Wall Street, Halliburton and all the Dick Chaneys are running our elections, not common folks like you and I. I don’t have all the answers, but thanks for letting me vent!
As a 62-year-old Vietnam combat airborne vet, one thing’s for sure, if we let these bottom feeders continue on, it’s our kids and grandkids who will pay the ultimate price. Dick Chaney, George W. Bush and all the rest will be on a Caribbean island somewhere, with their off-shore accounts enjoying themselves.
Let us not forget those who ran away and never served who brought us Agent Orange and uranium sickness for instance!
Tom Pollack
Bokeelia