Monday, July 9, 2012

Why am I a such an devoted democrat?

I'll bet many people wonder why I am such a devoted Democrat.  I'm actually an Obama Democrat.  When I was seventeen, I was to young to vote for President Ford.  He lost the election because he pardoned former President Nixon.  Twenty-five years later, historians, scholars and both the Democrat's and Republican's said that President Ford did the right thing and it was the best way to help America heal and move ahead.  I was a Republican until the end of the Reagan Administration.  After that, I was an Independent. I didn't lean toward the Democratic side until I watched the Democratic Primaries in 2004. I only tuned in because I was curious as to why Ronald Reagan, Jr. was speaking. As it turns out, he was speaking on behalf of funding for research for a cure for Alzheimer's and the use of cell stem research. That night, I heard a charismatic man who had just been elected as the Junior Senator of Illinois.  I thought it was odd that someone of such low ranking be given such a prominent speech:  the keynote address.  His name was Barack Obama.  He made a moving speech, one that reminded me of those made by Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The next day, I told my eldest brother, Kurt, that he would run for and become President in 2008.  As I'm sure most older brothers do, he blow me off until it actually happened.  In 2008, my 84 year old Mom (a long time Democrat), Scherry and I went to Orlando (a two hour drive one way) to an Obama rally.  We saw and heard U. S. Senators Bill Nelson, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama speak.  We were all so excited as none of us have ever been to a political rally.  Now, I stand beside my co-workers, my fellow UNION MEMBERS (GASP! Did he say the "U" word?) and members of the battered and almost non-existent middle class and fight for what we have worked for all of our lives.  We have been paying into Social Security and the Medicare Fund and pension plans since they began.  I'll be damned if I'm going to let some rich punks take it away and continue to line their own pockets.  It should be noted that some current and many former Republicans wonder what has became of their party.  The greed and lose of respect for the Constitution, America and for the Republican Party began with a member of the Oil Cartel, President George "W" Bush (the same cartel that had another member by the name of Osama Bin Laden).  The viciousness and greed spread like wildfire.  That's why I call Governor Mitt Romney, "good ol' line his pockets Mitt".  Look what he did with Bain Capital!  If he wins this election, he and his wealthy pals are going to get even richer, like they did when he was Governor, at the expense of the rest of us.

Tampa Bay is coming back!

Many people complain about President Obama. I can't speak about any other part of the country, but Tampa Bay is showing many signs of recovery.  I live in Pasco County (north of Tampa) and work in Pinellas County (west of Tampa).  I see so much progress being made.  Most of the McDonald's Restaurants have been torn down and totally new McDonald's buildings have taken their place (a very attractive design, I might add). Wal-Mart has remodeled most of their stores included making Super Wal-Mart stores out of regular Wal-Mart stores. They have also added three new stores in St. Petersburg (one on the 3300 block of U.S. 19 South, a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market on U.S. 19 and 68th Ave. North and Super Wal-Mart on U.S. 19 and 1st Ave. North in the revitalized Grand Central Shopping District of Central Avenue heading toward Downtown St. Pete. What use to be a blighted area now has many new small businesses lining Central Ave. Wal-Mart is also building a store on U.S. 19 in Tarpon Springs where a K-Mart store use to be. Wal-Mart is also building a Sam's Club store on U.S. 19 and 17th Ave. North in St. Pete. The Dollar Tree chain has added many new stores, among them one in South St. Pete, one in Clearwater Mall, and one in Port Richey, Florida. Within the past few years, I noticed that HH Gregg appliance & Electronics stores that I use to shop at when I lived in Indiana have come to the area. Hobby Lobby built a new store in Port Richey. A new chain of gas station/convenience stores called WaWa are being built, too. God Bless Harold Seltzer for opening two steakhouses where the old Sam Seltzer's Steakhouses use to be. (They have the best New York Strips and every once in a great while T-Bone steaks that just melt in your mouth.) These are just a few examples.

While I tend to moan and groan about all of the road construction being done these days, I had to think back that before President Obama was elected, there was great concern about where to get the money to repair or replace the Eisenhower Interstate System and other highways in the U.S.  Many people complained about the Stimulus Package and how expensive it is, but after 50 years the all of these roads and many other projects needed to be replaced or built and President Obama is going to, as Larry the Cable Guy says, "git 'er done"!