Working people don't just want Barack Obama for President -- many of us NEED him to get elected ... this is something I try to lay out in this rambling diary of sorts ... let me know if you agree or not ... let me know what other items working people need to be aware of and understand before Election Day.
Over at another diary I wrote a comment -- somewhat fast and furious. In typical Richard-mode, I went on and on in the comment because I got pissed off more and more as I wrote:
I don't have time to read all the comments, so I apologize now if someone already touched on this: Rednecks, especially in Florida where I lived for a while, are intense working people. They shovel, dig, landscape, drive, mechanic/fix -- they are mostly really good people. No, the ones that I have spent the most time with are not as fiercely educated as the lot on Kos, most probably don't care about Daily Kos -- they are just hard working American people who are proud of "something," whether I agree with all that pride or not, they are proud folks.
Why the Redneck love fest? Because if you ask a Redneck (outside of a pub) what the most important thing to him/her is -- most, in my experience, will say: "My work and my family..."
Why is that any different than a Harvard grad working in Big Labor, an attorney in NYC, or a Globe Trotting suit out of Boston? It ain't.
We need to tell people, rednecks, black necks, white necks -- and blue collar necks --> vote with your wallets and vote NOT for one candidate or the other -- but for your families, your jobs and your well being.
We must get Kos folks writing more of the working class in this country -- and stop segregating us further by morons like this woman ... Lady Asshole or whatever ... who cares that she is switching teams? Let's talk about the positive and not the negative ... let's discuss the fact that without Barack Obama working Americans will not see the Employee Free Choice Act, and instead see more Mexican Trucks killing us on the highway (not to mention our jobs). Let's talk about Free Trade -- how NAFTA and CAFTA really did nothing but give working Americans the SHAFTA. Talk about the fact that there is an average of one unionist killed each week in COlombia -- and McMoron wants to open another Free Trade Agreement with them.
This he said-she said political ping pong is, potentially, getting on my nervese personally ... maybe I need to check myself and my frustration levels, but this election is the most important election my family will see for a long time to come. I, speaking for one working guy, don't want Obama elected, I NEED him elected. THere are many others just like me waiting to hear from us.
You must know that there is a difference betteen want and need ... my guess is that every redneck, every black man alive, every Puerto Rican or any other person with non white pigmentation -- and many many with white pigmentation -- will understand that.
When the Southern brothers and sisters speak of their arms -- their guns, don't shake your head and suck your teeth -- instead tell them that Obama stands strong for the 2nd Ammendment, and no one has to put down their guns. Show them the facts. Let them know that more union members and union bosses are NRA members (good or bad) than they probably realize.
This country is unbelievably divided and the bullshit of race, neck color, collar color and whatever else we throw in the melting pot is just another way to divide us some more.
If there is one thing I ask my Kos friends to remember -- it is this: United We Bargain, Divided We Beg ... think of that. The more divided we are the more we are out there for ONLY ourselves ... this is not just about me and my family when we get to this point -- it is about me and my family and every working person and his/her family alike. We don't want OBAMA - we NEED OBAMA. We need a president who understands the streets as well as Harvard. We need a black guy from a white mom to realize that racism is a scientific and learned behavior. We need a guy who won't choke at the work 'union,' and a guy who is ready to do for working people what working people have not been able to do for themselves -- like get past the color, race, collar issue ... Obama is on point, friends ... let everyone know.
With that, I am switching to decaf for my next cup. Thanks for bringing on the rage -- now lets focus the rage, strategize around the rage, and organize people over the next few weeks to do the right thing for themselves and their families ... regardless of the color of their fucking necks.
I wanted to bring this comment to another diary entry here for a few reasons -- but mostly to speak about what we are really dealing with here in this forthcoming election.
- We need to get working class people registered to vote.
- We need to get working class people to realize that they are part of a class of people who are getting the shaft from folks like George Bush and McCain.
- We need to get working people to realize that, without, Obama, we are in deep shit.
I think the Employee Free Choice Act is the most important piece of potential legislation a working person has out there. In short, the Act allows an easier and more level playing field for workers to organize a union. With majority sign up, you need 50% - plus - 1 to get recognized by the company, nothing else. There is language that talks of coercion from the bosses - and how that is to be handled. This means that if you are a black guy in Detroit, a redneck in Mississippi or a white guy in Boston ... if you need a union, you can get one much easier than ever before.
That was why I went off on the other diary with color separation stuff -- screw that, we need to join together as a band (did you start singing just now?) We do ... however, need to join together as working people and do what we do best -- fight with our hearts and minds to get fair and just representation. I can tell you that McCain has voted 90% of the times with Bush and that whole Bush clan have done zip for working people in this country. Zip= NADA=ZILCH= 0! -- Not ~O, but real honest to God, nothing!
A lot of working people, lately, are talking about Second Ammendment stuff -- the right to bear arms. I am not even sure where they decided that Obama was not for the Second Ammendment, but just last night he was on a Town Hall call with my union and said, "I am all for the Second Ammendment." I heard him say this with my own ears ...
I hear working people talk about McCain being a war hero, and so what ... so was my father. I mean, it is great that he served and endured, but shit ... that was, um, a long time ago. Does him being a POW make him anymore qualified to run this country than an ex-con who was in jail for robbing a store to feed his family? Come on with this POW shit, it means nothing in the big scheme of things. It is 2008 and working people need to organize, want to organize and get a voice at work -- we don't need to know who was a POW 40 years ago to put food on our tables.
To put food on our tables we need jobs -- it is the most critical thing that every person in this country needs. If they are willing and able to work, they need to do so to sustain. Who will protect your jobs, who will raise the minimum wage, who will work for your rights as union members -- who will fight for your rights as nonunion workers needing a union? If you said John McCain, well -- you would have gotten that one wrong on the test.
NAFTA, CAFTA = Shafta! Now McCain is pushing as hard as his mentor Bush for Colombian Free Trade -- in Colombia, under Uribe, a unionist is killed on an average of one per week. Imagine going to work in your Plumber's Local shirt and getting shot at ... imagine getting shot at in your truck because of the Teamster sticker stuck on the window -- this is not good, to say the very least. We don't need another free trade agreement that is hardly free, fair or just ... and we need a president who realizes this.
Wow, maybe this diary is a little all over the place, but ... geez, I get pissed off trying to wrap my head around this stuff. I just want folks to take into consideration that there are many many people who don't just want Obama for President -- we kinda / sorta ... need Obama to be President. So help me help them make that happen, if for no other reason, me and my family.