Life, the Universe, and All That Jazz...

In the grand scheme of things, this blog is just a drop in the bucket. There are men and women far more knowledgable than myself out there trying to get a message across, and most of them disagree with me, or seem to. I read the Capitol Hill Pundits Blog daily, and the things I see as issues are hardly ever touched on. The Congressional Blog is much the same. This leads me to believe that either I am delusional (and that IS an option), or that noone in DC is in touch with my world. So I'm going to give you guys a picture of my little bubble.

I grew up in a small town and went to a tiny public school. I graduated salutatorian in a class of six people. My father was a truck driver, and was often a guest speaker at churches across Texas. I was raised in a VERY strict environment-what we would call an ultra-conservative household these days. We were as far to the right politically as we could be.

My father died when I was 16 years old, and I went buck wild. I eventually joined a band, and even made a little money playing music. I did odd jobs, drank a lot, and expirimented with all the drugs I could get my hands on. All I knew about dope was that it was bad. I blew through relationships and friends and jobs like most people change socks. I lived in a moral vacuum for several years.

When I started having children, I had to grow up. There was no other option. I worked construction, and eventually joined the Army National Guard. I did my weekend drills, busted my back at work, and made a fair living. I was terrible with my money and my credit, so I worked all the overtime that I could to make ends meet. There was no health insurance, no vacation (just the yearly lay-off), and no retirement. I traveled to where the work was and came home when I could.

Then one day I got a factory job. It was like I had joined a whole new society. I still worked overtime (as much as the union would allow). We had health insurance. I earned vacation days. I felt like a successful man.

The deployments started for us in 1999. I did not go on the first one, so I kept working at the factory. Immediately after 911, we were sent overseas for several months. After that little adventure, I was not about to go back to factory work or construction, so I went to school. We got sent to Iraq a year later. After Iraq there was some college and then Operation Katrina Relief. After katrina, there was some college and then Recruiting. Last year I hired on full timefor the National Guard. I make about twice the median income for the county I live in, my health insurance is fairly affordable and really good, and my education benfits are still available.

My career is not exactly on the fastest track, but I have opportunities from time to time to advance myself, and I plan to. I will retire a little early and be comfortable in my old age.

None of my friends outside of the military have a plan right now. All of my former co-workers at the factory are out of a job. All of my former co-workers with the construction company are out of a job. NAFTA and CAFTA have cost the Batesville, Arkansas area somewhere around 1800 jobs in 10 years. The only people who seem to give a damn are people like me who could never run for office, never mind the affordability of it, we couldn't bear the scrutiny. I bet you could find a hundred people that would claim to have done drugs with me.

You see, I'm no worse than say, Teddy Kennedy, but I want to buck the system, so I would be crucified in that environment. So would many of my readers. So who can represent us? Who can make the changes that we need here in real America?

I do not regret too many of my choices. I am the man I am today because of my history. I cannot imagine that I would have given a rat's ass about any of you if I had gone to law school and then into politics when I was younger.

But I bet I would have been electable...