Politics

Politics make me think of the aftermath of the Civil War.

I had family on both sides of the Civil War. It is with a bit of irony that Georgia actually voted against seceding but after the big planters met in the capital which was Milledgeville at the time, the decision to secede from the Union was made.

The aftermath of the civil war in the South was like the American Depression of the thirties only magnified. Because of the inherent poverty in the South, the American Depression was most intensely felt in the Southeast.

Union Soldiers walked home heros. Confederate soldiers came home defeated to farms and homes burned and looted. Many were grievously injured which affected their ability to work.  

Like all young men, my older brother discussed with my dad about the Vietnam War. My dad was against the Vietnam War. When I was in elementary school, I was embarrassed by my dad's opinion. We went on vacation to Jekyll Island when I was around 13. Dad was in the parking lot talking about how we had no business in Vietnam. The man who dad had just met was solemnly agreeing.

My dad told my brother, you don't ever want to lose a war. That pain from a 100 years earlier lived on with my father. Or could it have been earlier. I have traced one line of my father back to a foot soldier named FitzStephen who came as a soldier for William the Conqueror in 1066. My father has humble roots but he came from generations of soldiers. 

My brother volunteered to join the army and survived the Vietnam War. My brother served in an unpopular war. My dad served in World War II which Americans felt proud. Hitler's Germany murdered 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews for his cruel ideology.

Slavery was abolished due to the Civil War.. African Americans did not really get their due until the 1960s when Civil Rights Laws were enacted. There are some good benefits to wars. There is also a lot of misery and destruction with war.

My grandfather was a Spanish American War and a World War I veteran and is buried in the original Marietta National Cemetery. The land was donated by a Henry Cole in 1866 to bury the 10,000 Union Soldiers who died during Sherman's march to the sea. There are 17,000 people buried there today. Henry Cole was an Atlanta merchant who remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War.

I plan to have the ashes of my dad, mom, developmentally delayed brother, sister who had mental illness and my Vietnam era brother interred at the cemetery. I am not eligible to be interred there but I am going to ask for my ashes to be scattered on their graves. 

I don't care how anyone votes. 

The moment you exclude anyone from being your friend because they have different politics from you; you have crossed the line..  

We all have feet of clay, 

I'm not afraid of whoever is elected. Bossing Americans around is like herding cats. We will be what we are. And I will vote and I will volunteer to take anyone to the polls who needs a ride. I'm ridin with Biden. If you are Trump's number One MAGA fan, get in the car. We all need to vote and be able to have an opinion. 

Otherwise we have already lost a much bigger war. And you never want to lose a war. .