My turn to introduce myself. This is going to be a little long, but then I've been around longer than most of the other authors.
I'm Linda Bauer, currently Vice Chairman of the Champaign County Republican Party. I've been active in local politics since 1991, when Tim Johnson recruited me to run for Champaign County Board in District 9 (Southeast Urbana). I served on the County Board from 1992 ”“ 2000.
In the past 15 years, I've volunteered my time to the Republican Party as election judge, precinct committeeman, district chairman, candidate, party secretary and vice-chairman, campaign coordinator, and campaign volunteer. I've knocked on doors, made phone calls, sent mailings, planned events, recruited committeemen and volunteers, conducted and attended hundreds and hundreds of meetings, contributed money and spent hours in front of my computer maintaining data about volunteers, voters, precincts, contributors, campaign strategy, etc. I'm the epitome of the "grass roots."
Despite all that, I really don't like "politics." I do believe in public service and good government. I've been committed to public service most of my life as a volunteer or board member for many community organizations. While politics can be one of the best ways to make a difference the community, it can also be mired down in partisanship and power-seeking, which do not contribute to the public good.
A little about my background: My parents are Polish, and they are Holocaust survivors. They were living in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany when I was born in 1948. We immigrated to the U.S when I was two. My parents were granted citizenship in the early 1950's, which automatically made me a citizen. At 16, I applied for my own citizenship papers and took an oath of allegiance to the United States of America. I'm proud to be an American.
My Republican values came from my parents, who are -- Democrats. They came to this country with nothing. There was no help from government programs and very little help from what was left of our family. They had demanding jobs. My father was steelworker (a union man); my mother was a homemaker raising three kids. My parents taught me about hard work, self-reliance, fiscal constraint and personal responsibility, which are the foundation for my own Republican values. My Dad calls me the "black sheep" of the family since I'm the lone Republican, but he was proud of me when I ran for office and has said he'll put up a yard sign if I ever run again. Too bad he lives in another state.
Another value my parents instilled was the importance of education. My two brothers and I all went to college. I have a Master's degree in English and worked in media and public relations for the first twenty-seven years of my career. I've been employed in both the public and private sectors. For the past eleven years, my second career has been in computer technology and software. I am now a geek.
And I'm a grandmother. I have great husband to whom I've been married for thirty-six years. We have two grown daughters and a granddaughter.
Now, back to politics: I first got involved in 1968, during my college years in Colorado. I was a Monfort Girl, part of the entourage for Ken Monfort, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Monfort Girls wore cowboy hats, boots, and short skirts, kind of like Dallas Cheerleaders without the cleavage. (I was pretty cute back then.) I wasn't too caught up in the issues at the time, but I did like the outfits.
When my husband and I moved to Illinois in 1979, I got serious about my politics and realized I related more to the Republicans than to the Democrats in Champaign County. I still do.
I'm stepping down as a party officer after the primary this year. After many years of doing so much of the "hands-on" work in politics, I'm looking forward to having more time to discuss issues, ideas, and "why we do what we do." Stay tuned.
Compared to the rest of the world where about 4 billion people live on less than $2/day, anyone making $25,000 is likely living an upper class lifestyle (depending on cost of living).
Unions in the US are weak because there are billions of people willing to work for a lot less...simply to rise above subsistence into the lower class.
Free trade is slowly creating a world middle class, admittedly at our own expense, but it is reducing world disparity.
[the comment below was posted at 11:54, but held up for moderation becuase it contained 5 links like this one: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2002/08/02/china4187.htm and this one: http://www.usleap.org/Recent%20Headlines/October%202005/Colombian%20Union%20Leaders%20Killed.htm
Moderator please delete this link-less reposting when the original comment is approved]
# Interloper Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 24th, 2006 at 11:54 am
If you're wanting me to write you a book on labor history, I'm sorry to disappoint. Try picking up anything written from a labor perspective in the last 50 years, or so. Or using a thing called Google. Go read Jeremy Brecher's _Strike!_ if you need to brush up on the history of the difficult early days of American Labor.
The fact that you know nothing about the continuing murdering of union leaders is a sad testament to the consequences of watching an American news media that exists to only to sell cars and soft drinks. The names of murdered union leaders aren't hard to google up however. Whether they're murdering organizers in South America or Southeast Asia or rounding just rounding them up and quietly shipping them off to prisons or breaking into their houses and severely beating them in China, any moderately informed person should be well aware that union leaders end up jailed, beaten, and killed much more often then their affluent employers.
It's funny how innocent you take someone like Sam Walton to be. His big innovation was just to sell stuff that's made in China, where there's a whole state apparatus dedicated to beating, imprisoning, and killing those who object to the 105 hour work week and breathing poisonous chemical at work.
Only true devotee of capitalist dogma could fail to see the “thuggish” violence that results in those always low prices that Wal Mart likes to post in its stores beneath smiling yellow faces.
I'm not a far left-socialist, as I don't believe in state ownership of the means of production, or a full-fledged command economy; but I think there are many adjustments that could be made so that more people”“working people especially”â€Âcould experience the benefits of our increasing productivity.
"More healthcare than steel goes into every GM vehicle." LOL! Now that's funny line. :)
"My Republican values came from my parents, who are ӠDemocrats. They came to this country with nothing. There was no help from government programs and very little help from what was left of our family. They had demanding jobs. My father was steelworker (a union man); my mother was a homemaker raising three kids. My parents taught me about hard work, self-reliance, fiscal constraint and personal responsibility."
Hmm. These are Republican values? Have you noticed the Republicans are the more anti-union and anti-immiagration party? Or that their policies tend to favor investors to those who actually work for a living?
Talk about biting the hand that fed you.
Perhaps as you leave your obligations as party officer you will have more time to reconsider some of your postions.
Great. Another republican. Just what we need.
Sigh.
Anon, you must have accidentally wandered onto this web site. It's a REPUBLICAN blog.
Linda, thanks for your insight, wisdom, and hard work over the years.
This is a Republican blog? I am sorry, I must have missed the membership rules. Are they posted somewhere?
Let's not clutter up discussion with any thoughts not already like ours.
Fair and Balanced, would be a term that comes to mind. Where have I heard that before?
My grandparents also came from eastern Europe. Their timing was great...it was just before the Depression. Like your family, they didn't seek handouts, and they worked very hard in the steel mills and oil refineries that hired them. That, plus the help of government, gave them the boost they needed to "make it" in America. They were never rich, but they gave their children and granchildren the opportunity for a better life. My grandparents never forgot the help that the government gave them. While the Republican Party opposed unions (and still does), it was the unions that stood up for the working man of that day. While the Republican Party opposed Social Security (and still does), it was Social Security that gave my grandparents and their children the financial foundation they needed to live in some comfort in their elderly years. As one who benefited from what my grandparents did, I am eternally grateful to them. But I must also recognize that they might not have made it if the policies pushed by the Democratic Party had not been enacted.
Congratulations to you for all you've done...you and your family have every right to be proud. But don't forget everyone and everything that played a role in your success...including the government programs enacted by Democrats. Remember that as today's radical right-wing Republican Party continues to look for ways to dismantle every program to help those who are most in need.
"I have a Master's degree in English, worked in media and public relations for the first twenty-seven years of my career."
I am of Polish decent, flunked out of college twice, am a Democrat and I recognize irony.
Thanks. I never was any good at proofreading my own stuff. And by the way, you probably are a decent guy, but you are of Polish descent. LOL!
"Have you noticed the Republicans are the more anti-union and anti-immiagration party?"
Unions have their role. My dad made an adequate living for many years. However, in the 80's, steel making was no longer a profitable business and he took early retirement.
The woes of the steel industry were more a matter of dumping from foreign countries rather than unreasonable demands from the unions. But I do remember that the steelworker's union was looking for more and more benefits to offer workers. For instance, if you had enough seniority, you got 13 weeks paid leave every five years. Another time, Dad told me that his union was running out of holidays , so the negotiators were going to bargain for Yom Kippur as a paid holiday!
"Or that their policies tend to favor investors to those who actually work for a living?"
Dad worked hard for a living and invested part of his earnings. I hope he got a tax break. He deserved it.
"anti-immiagration party"
- The Republicans are anti-illegal immiagration. If the Democrats weren't dependent on their illegal votes, they would be too.
"This is a Republican blog? I am sorry, I must have missed the membership rules."
- The blog is run by Republicans (duh) and has never claimed to be fair and balanced. Their positions and ideas will be the focus, though opposing viewpoints have been frequently expressed and debated. Its a private enterpise, if you don't like the way its run, then stop whining and start your own, or try the UCIMC site. That void of excitment could use some new writers.
Welcome, Linda! Glad to see you'll be contributing to IP.
My grandparents came from Illinois. Their parents came from Texas. Their parents came from Kansas. Their parents came from Tennessee. Their parents came from Virginia. Their parents came from England.
They were loyal to the King, then loyal to America. They were Democrats, and Whigs, and Democrats, and Republicans. So what. Who are you, and where do you stand?
Old Spanish proverb: Families are like potatoes. The best part is usually underground.
John,
Yawn...too bad today's Democrats don't stand for anything, besides higher taxes, unlimited government handouts, racial quotas, and open unsecure borders. Democrats from 60 years ago would be horrified over what their party has become.
"Unions have their role..." Yeah, unions played a big role in my great-grandfather and grandfather's business. Threats, vandalism... it's an important role for sure.
P.S. As a long time reader and occasional commenter, I'm a bit disappointed at the partisan direction this blog is taking. It truly has become a blog about Illinois Republicans. Don't get me wrong, I am an Illinois Republican, it's just that the material doesn't seem as interesting to me as before.
Oh, and John... your grandparents shouldn't thank the Democratic party... they should thank the younger workers who sacrificed to provide for their retirement, at the expense of their own family's well-being.
So you are repeating the same Marxist nonsense, but fail to provide any actual support for your outrageous claims. If you are really interested in workers "rising up" why don't you read about the Chinese revolution or the Soviet Union? The uprisings didn't exactly lead to a growing middle-class.
I would recommend Sam Walton's autobiography. Reading that book will explain how Wal-Mart began. As far as I know, Sam Walton never killed any union leaders. I would love to know the names of just a few of the union leaders who have been murdered by business owners in the last year. I'm not a Marxist, so I need more than just Marxist dogma to be convinced.
Middle class America, made possible by thuggery. Now that is a thesis that requires some supporting evidence. Seriously, do you think that if it weren't for unions, every company would pay 1 cent an hour? Look at what the wonderful unions have done to American automakers. Now there is a clear connection between the excessive pay and benefits won by unions that make American automakers unable to compete with foreign companies who have no such burden. More healthcare than steel goes into every GM vehicle.
If all you can do is stock shelves, then you should thank God for Sam Walton, 'cause stock boy skills don't do you any good unless a rich guy who needs things stocked hires you.
Wanting to get paid more than you are worth is nothing but ignorance, and forcing someone to pay you more than you are worth is nothing more than thuggery.
Capitalists murdered plenty of labor leaders, and continue to do so now. Don't kid yourself that your present lifestyle isn't the result of thuggery by both capitalists and workers. The fight for wages and benefits was (and is) brutal on both sides, but working people have suffered most.
In the end working people and shelf-stockers will wise up and demand a decent living wage from capitalists with your attitude--using the ballot if they can, and using other means if the game gets rigged against them. That's how it's always been, and most of those who today enjoy a middle class lifestyle do so as a result of the efforts of their forbearers to secure a decent living from those who proclaim themselves "rich guys" by appropriating the efforts of other people work. The "rich guy" you mention is only rich because of the generosity of the stock boys from whom he derives "his" income. (Republican stockboys are the slower ones that haven't figured out that being underpaid by their employers is the same as being taxed by their government).
Also, Ford and GM make suck cars, in case you didn't notice.
"the negotiators were going to bargain for Yom Kippur as a paid holiday!"
In the course of victimizing Adam's grand-daddy labor unions helped make possible a middle class America where a single wage earner could achieve a very high standard of living. That's all changing now and more and more of us are looking forward to jobs at Wal-Mart and Taco Bell, thanks to what the Republicans call the "free market" (i.e. government by and for a collusion of the rich).
Though Repubs often use the "lazy worker" sterotype, in point of fact the average Ameican Worker is in no danger of falling into a life style of excessive holiday lazyness. Working people need to start organizing and fighting again for some time to enjoy their lives and families during the short time that we human beings are given to live on this earth.