Why I feel a vote for a Democrat candidate is a wrong vote-Part one

A vote for a Democratic Progressive incumbent or candidate is a wrong vote.

By Ralph L Myers

PART ONE

After living on this earth for 73 years I have experienced various events like we all have as such experiences are a part of life and often times will undoubtedly shape and can be catalysts in how we arrive at our beliefs and political philosophies. In this respect I feel I am no more different than the next person but some of my experiences are unique and thankfully not experienced by a majority of the American populace. With that thought in mind I want to elaborate on why I could never vote for a Democrat candidate. And I am going to break down my thoughts, opinions and perceptions under the following circumstances, parental upbringing and guidance, political experiences and perceptions, gun control and crime victimization as well as re-victimization caused by the politically correct progressive Democrat elected officials.

 

PARENTAL UPBRINGING and GUIDANCE

I grew up in the usually conservative State of Indiana whose motto is The Cross Roads of America. However, that is not to say that I wasn’t exposed to the Democratic philosophies and the concepts of big government, power of organized labor and other ideals one would normally attribute to the beliefs and platforms of the Democratic Party.  In fact my late father was a devoted member of the UAW (United Auto Workers Union and the AFL-CIO) as well as being a life-long registered Democrat. As I grew older into adulthood my Dad and I had many discussions about the pros and cons of political party affiliations some of our talks could become (let’s just say) animated. However, I loved my Dad and will always treasure his devotion to my mother, brother and me. Also, in looking back as I am now in my senior phase of life much of the values taught to me by my dad the loyal and faithful Democrat were in a large part the same as what I now believe in as a conservative and a Republican, values such as a strong work ethic, morality, responsibility and accountability for my actions. In those days I believe these characteristics were for the most part, the Democratic Party’s values as well.  

When my father was eulogized at his funeral I specifically wanted the minister to tell all those that were in attendance as a son that watched him struggle to provide for his family he always put my mother, brother and me at the top of his pursuits and achievements in life. Many times while growing up my dad was unemployed (sometimes weeks or even months at a time) due to recessions, labor strikes, illness and other such factors. Sometimes our choices of what we had available to eat were basic and while we never were deprived of having food on our table our diet was often limited to beans, bread, fried chicken on Sunday’s and an abundance of baked items as my mom was a great cook and could turn a meager meal into a tummy-filling event. And the reason for this was my dad’s work ethic. During the times he was out of work due to job cut-backs or as was more commonly referred to in those days as layoffs my dad would take any honest job he could. He would dig ditches at construction sites, work for my grandfather at the Indianapolis Farmers Market selling produce from the back of a pick-up truck, you name it and he would do it to provide for his family. My dad never received food stamps or received welfare nor did he rely on the government to give him anything, he simply did it the old fashioned way as the commercials used to say, he earned it.  As I see it, the Democratic Party has long since lost the ideals of work ethics, self-responsibilities and accountabilities as it consistently works at blaming everything on racial and social inequalities they preach that only minorities suffer. Those claims (to me) are nothing more than a socialistic entitlement mentality devoted organization driven by elements within the party that thrive upon the act of pitting one class against the other. They want Americans to depend and look upon them as the ultimate provider and that they know what is better for all of us than we do as individuals and when we don’t agree with them or their political or social beliefs we are ridiculed, harassed by governmental agencies and dictated to by presidential executive orders if they fail to get congressional approval or rubber stamping of programs or policies they deem best for all of us. No, the Democratic Party isn’t the party that my father was devoted to way back when, instead they are the party that gives credence to the quote attributed to former Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev when he said in 1959 “Your children’s children will live under communism. “You Americans are so gullible. “No, you won’t accept Communism outright: but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of Socialism until you will finally wake up and find that you already have Communism.  “We won’t have to fight you: We’ll so weaken your economy until you fall like overripe fruit into our hands.”

 Political experiences and Perceptions

Please let me lay the ground work for this section of my essay by saying my business was in Los Angeles and like all of California it is probably one if not the most business unfriendly states where one could be in business. However, believing in the premise that in America it is possible for anyone to be successful and live the American dream at the age of 45 I left the security of a steady job and along with other co-workers started my own business. None of us were even remotely wealthy nor did we have a lot of capital to start a business. Instead we did what many entrepreneurs do we leveraged the equities in our homes and borrowed some seed money from the banks and depleted our savings accounts. We opened a moving and storage business starting it literally from scratch. In order to be affiliated with a major van line we had to lease a warehouse, buy trucks, storage vaults and other moving related equipment. The industry we chose for those of you that don’t know has an extraordinarily high overhead cost factor of equipment and warehousing costs and is of course labor intensive as well as a cut-throat competitive and highly regulated business. As such, the moving and storage business is a very low profit industry. But, since that was the industry I and my partners had been in with nearly one hundred years of combined experience we were aware of those facts but felt we could and more importantly would succeed in. Those were our perceptions.

Now let’s go from perceptions to not only political experiences but also political realities. In order to start a business anywhere in America and to run it according to government regulations as a legitimate commercially recognized and operational entity from the moment you first open your door until the time you sell it or are forced to close it you are fighting an uphill (and often times a losing) battle when dealing with the government and its various agencies. The current business and wealth adversarial mentality practiced by both State and Federal governments are in place more for the benefit of creating a welfare-based society than it is on innovative entrepreneurship, job creation and self-reliance rather than government dependency. If through hard work, financial risk and strategic business practices one may become not only successful but also wealthy they are soon looked upon with suspicion, jealousy and contempt by many in the American society that they don’t deserve the financial gains or rewards they have worked so hard and risked theirs and their families very financial survival on.

Perception

I have an idea for a business, a product to offer on the market or a service to render. I feel I will be successful in the chosen endeavor and feel the risk(s) involved are worth taking even though if it fails me, my partners and our families will ultimately be the parties that will be the most affected by the failure. So, with high hopes and expectations I embark upon that endeavor, raising the capital needed by leveraging our homes, borrowing money from dear old Aunt Matilda and maxing out credit cards. Finally, the day comes and I am just about ready to open the doors of my business when political realities set in.

Political Realities

Using the Moving and Storage business which was the industry I chose to compete in which is highly regulated and in order to fulfill governmental rules and regulations before we could even open the doors as a legally licensed business and earn the first dollar we had to comply with and obtain the following;

• A Permit to operate issued by the Public Utilities Commission allowing our moving vans to traverse and conduct a licensed transportation trucking business on the highways.
• A city business license.
• A Board of Equalization tax license.
• A Federal (IRS) tax identification number.
• Minimum levels of Insurance coverage for General Liability, Cargo Liability, Workers Compensation.
              
  While I agree with the need for insurance to cover workers if injured, in addition to the general public that could be harmed by one of our vehicles while travelling over state or federal highways and streets by following all of these rules and regulations as a legitimate business the minute you begin providing your services you are automatically placed in an uncompetitive environment as the playing field is not on a level basis.
  How could that be true one might ask?
  Given the required business regulations and in order to conduct your business to be in compliance with all mandatory regulations daily your company will have to absorb the high overhead costs attributed to being in business while at the same time you will be forced to compete with companies that don’t provide workers compensation insurance, pay employees cash under the table at rates that often times are less than minimum wages, or don’t comply with existing wage and labor laws. Also, they don’t contribute to the employee’s social security benefits thereby escaping payment of federal and state payroll taxes. Many times they operate out of their homes from the kitchen table and don’t even bother to get the necessary and required permits and they don’t carry adequate insurance or perhaps no insurance at all to protect the consumers they serve from loss or damage to their personal belongings or bodily injury and property damage.
  If what you’re saying is true the government will go after them won’t they?
  Again, that would be a normal assumption one would make but here’s a real bone of contention I have with the government and particularly the Democratic Party. If your business is a legitimately run company that has or lives up to all the rules and regulations required of them and are successful the Democrats will view it as a cash cow and fair game to pay heavy fines and penalties because your business has paid the required business costs and they are deemed to have the financial ability to pay them. A big red bull’s eye is placed on all legitimate businesses and owners by the government because you are running an enterprise that is law-abiding and it is easy for them to find, audit and fine you. Ethically run businesses fall much into the same category as law-abiding gun owners that have purchased their firearms legally and the government truly knows who they are but want to be able to restrict and punish them with the passage of more meaningless and constitutionally invasive gun control laws while at the same time ignoring those criminals that don’t abide by the already existing laws, just like businesses that don’t follow the required rules to be in business. In part two of this essay I will examine the other side of the Democrats bogus philosophies.
  Ralph L Myers
  October 22, 2014