Mother was born a Republican. I am sure she died a Republican and I am willing to bet that every vote she cast in her life was for a Republican whether it be for county clerk of Reno County or President of the United States of America. She followed in the footsteps of every Haas that went before her. Sadly, I am not sure she could have lived with our current government. I could be wrong. In hindsight she may not have been the kind caring woman that raised me. Even as I type these words, I am ridden with guilt, so I feel I need to expound on my feelings. Let me go back in time here.
I moved to Colorado in the early part of 1970's. I used to make 3 or four trips back home every year to keep in touch. Thanksgiving was usually spent with mom. Usually the kids were dropped off in Lakin, Kansas with their dad. Now when I travel alone, I like to listen to the radio. Back then I did not have a tape player, which later morphed into a CD player. It was radio only. It was on one of these trips that I lost the music station and was introduced to Rush Limbaugh. I know there are people out there who listen to him or he would not be on constantly. Being a liberal, I found him both repulsive and ludicrous, so it was with a feeling of disbelief that I walked into my mothers house to find her glued to the radio listening to Rush Limbaugh! With trepidation I asked her what she was thinking even listening to such drivel.
It was at this point in my life that my mother explained to me that the damn liberals needed to be stopped and that Rush Limbaugh was the voice of all her beliefs. Until that moment, I had not given a lot of thought to the two party system that compromised our government. I just knew I liked Ike. I liked Truman. I liked the man who had come on the radio when I was very young to announce that the war was over. I did not understand that we operated under a two party system and that my beliefs were in direct conflict with my mother.
As time passed I supported Jane Fonda and rallied to end the Vietnam war, although it was never called a war! I did subscribe to Rush Limbaugh newsletter and had it delivered to my mother because that was what she wanted. Integration was not discussed because our opinions differed so radically. Abortion. Welfare. Watergate. There was no discussion of anything political with mother. She had Rush Limbaugh in her corner and that was that. I am sure that the day she died, she read her Rush Limbaugh newsletter and I do know that when they sent me the renewal notice, I did not pay it. My Republican mother was no longer a slave to Rush Limbaugh and his drivel. For that I was grateful.
Now here I set all these many years later, still thinking about political parties. I have assuaged my conscience with the idea that the Republican party that my mother, my grandmother and great grandmother adhered to so closely is not the same Republican party that exists today. I can not look at the man who holds sway in the greatest house of all time and hurls edicts to crush the down trodden even further is really in charge. I can not believe that my friends who identify with that party will actually vote to keep him in charge. I can not think that my mother would have put an x in front of his name had she known the devastation he would cause.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg stood between him and totally bringing the downfall of all our work. I can only pray that a miracle will transpire and someone with half a brain will stand in the breach between us and total antihalation.
I am an optimist. I love my fellow man regardless of the color of skin, religious affiliation, political party preference, status of their bank account, or any of that other drivel. I am just like Will Rogers who once said, "I never met a man I didn't like." (I think Mae West often quoted him on that one!) I will always look for the silver lining and hope springs eternal in my bosom, but today was about mother and she raised me. They say the fruit does not fall too far from the tree, and I believe that to be true! I hate to think that at this late day in my life I will trade in my Liberal Democratic walking shoes, so I have to alter my thoughts of my mother.
I am sure she would have remained a Republican after her last breathe of life, but I am thinking she may have mellowed a little and realized that there is a fox in the chicken house.
Rest in Peace my mother! There is a glimmer of hope on my horizon.
