Confessions of a Bitter American

I'm bitter. I am not from a small town; I am a suburbanite. Instead of guns, I cling to my words. Still, I am bitter.

And Barack Obama's right. I know I'm not the only one who's bitter. I'm bitter about a whole lot of things, and with the latest nonsense criticisms of Obama for speaking the truth, I feel it's time I got this off my chest.

I want to share a little bit of my background so you can have an idea of why it is I am bitter.

My dad worked for ten years at an auto-glass company, becoming warehouse manager for a few years before losing that job almost five years ago. On weekends he would tend bar at the local Knights of Columbus hall. My mom had a part-time job at a paint store.

We weren't wealthy back then, but we got by. We could afford the occasional luxury, including a few memorable vacations. In 1998 we went to Arizona for my brother's college orientation. We stopped by the Grand Canyon. (Side note: A little while after we left the Canyon, I threw up in the car!) After Grandma died in 2001, we went to West Virginia and DC to visit a good friend of hers. Five years ago next month we went to Mackinac Island for the Knights of Columbus state convention.

Ten summers ago Mom got so sick they had to put her in the hospital for a week and a half. Doctors said her heartbeat was nearly 300 beats per minute and that they'd never seen anyone survive anything like that. I have often wondered since then what life would be like without her. We were fortunate to have had insurance to cover it. God help us if that happens again.

Insurance was also there to cover my two surgeries to lengthen my Achilles tendons the following fall and winter (actually, they decided to pay for one operation the day before it actually took place).

But since then, my dad lost his jobs, and my mom lost hers. Dad got another job thanks to a friend, but this job pays quite a bit less and our health insurance covers very little.

I don't even have my own computer in my dorm room anymore; I have to use the library or computer lab to write my papers. About the most high-tech gadgets I have are my cell phone and my digital camera (neither of which have more than the basic features). I don't even have my own car at school; thank God my dad is willing to take the four-hour round trip to drive me to and from school every few weeks.)

Why? Because we can't afford any of that. And if not for grants, loans, and scholarships, even college - an experience to which I owe most of my happier memories, friendships, and interests, including blogging (thanks Pete for showing me Michigan Liberal!) - would a figment of my imagination.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm bitter that the Republicans have slashed student financial aid? Instead they seem to believe that the money would be better spent in Iraq. And as we all know, paying for every student's education is one of countless things that could happen with the half a trillion dollars that's been wasted in Iraq.

I am bitter because, while fat cat cronies act like pigs at the trough, my family and I are living paycheck-to-paycheck.

I am bitter because while so many other countries' governments have found it necessary to see to it that everyone has adequate healthcare, ours hasn't. (I got news for advocates of the status quo: Our private-sector health system hasn't worked!)

I am bitter because here I am, 20 years old, yet in all my life I have only been able to obtain ONE job - working in the dining commons at school. (And even that isn't great because, unlike some people, I get fatigued rather easily after several hours of standing.) No summer jobs, no any of that. Nothing.

I am bitter because George W. Bush, John McCain, and other conservatives have made it Job One to ensure that government doesn't do what it's supposed to do - protect the people of the United States of America. Instead, because of these conservative ideologues, our tax dollars are being used to destroy life, not protect it.

So to all who criticize Obama for saying people are bitter, I say:

Yeah, you better believe we're bitter.

•  Tips.

  by ScottyUrb on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:02:19 PM PDT

  •  I've been to Mackinac Island

    They are really into ice cream and fudge there ... not a whole lot else to do.

    Hang in there ...

    by Gator1980 on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:05:49 PM PDT

    •  And horse crap

      But actually it's beautiful. It's a good place to go if you just want to get away from things. Excellent atmosphere.

      by ScottyUrb on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:09:24 PM PDT

    •  sometimes "not a whole lot else to do" is the

      perfect antidote.

      by lineatus on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:19:59 PM PDT

      •  looking out across aqua water at the Mighty Mac

        seeing yellow lady slippers...

        seeing the straits framed through the Arched Rock...

        lilacs everywhere...

        the fort and lunch on a balcony in the sunshine...

        mist and buying sweatshirts...

        riding bikes all the way around...

        buying fudge...

        many good memories!

        by cfk on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:23:26 PM PDT

•  America: We're bitter & We want better. n/t

  by drbloodaxe on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:03:50 PM PDT

•  I think they're really going to regret playing

  this story up.  Millions of people across the country will start telling their own stories of being falling behind in this economy - it will only serve to reinforce Obama's message and why we can't afford McSame.

  by lineatus on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:04:14 PM PDT

  •  And won't that be beautiful?

    Millions of bitter folks telling why they are bitter, but now have hope?  Make for some wonderful LTE's, or even a website.

    by drbloodaxe on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:06:59 PM PDT

    •  It looks like someone just grabbed

      bitteramericans.com today.  

      by lineatus on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:18:25 PM PDT

      •  I hope it was a Dem

        and not some Repub trying to cybersquat to take it off the market.

        I was thinking of bitterbuthopeful.com or somesuch.

        by drbloodaxe on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 03:58:57 PM PDT

        •  that's still available (hint, hint)

          by lineatus on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 07:51:39 PM PDT

•  As long as we're making confessions...

  I'm an elitist when it comes to whiskey... not that I have an expansive collection. I just save up for a nice bottle of Bulleit of Basil Hayden's every month or so.

  by droogie6655321 on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:11:54 PM PDT

  •  Elitist alcohol confessions...

    I am an elitist when it comes to tequila.  And, like you I save up for a good anejo every once in a while. Anyone who shoots a good Anejo with salt and lemon gets smacked upside the head.  That stuffs for sippin' not shootin'.

    by Donner on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:22:21 PM PDT

    •  Yep

      That's why I buy bourbon that I want to taste every drop of instead of gulp down my throat like cough syrup.

      by droogie6655321 on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:23:48 PM PDT

    •  I am an elitist on New Year's Eve

      when we have Asti Spumanti at $9.98 a bottle...very fruity and bubbly...a once a year elitest treat...

      not snark...honest compared to Mountain Dew at $1.89 a two liter...

      by cfk on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:26:41 PM PDT

•  If you think about it

  "Yes We Can" is the flip side of "No We Have Not", the promise that we can do better in the future than we have in the past. I too am bitter, bitter that my kids had to sleep in their clothes all winter because we cannot afford to adequately heat our house, bitter that food has become so expensive that things like fresh fruit are out of reach, bitter that the Pell grant my husband is currently receiving is virtually the same as the ones available when I went to college twenty years ago (meaning we did not invest in education during the economic boom of the nineties). I am also afraid that my kids won't be able to go to college at all, or that they will be sent off to fight in one of our endless wars, or that my property tax will go so high that I have to sell my house.

  Sadly, it's not only conservatives who are to blame. I also blame those corporate Democrats who accepted the basic premise of conservatism and went along for the ride (ie Bill Clinton). There's lots of bitterness to go around it seems.

  by beltane on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:15:13 PM PDT

  •  you know, I could never figure out

    went along for the ride (ie Bill Clinton).

    when he got NAFTA passed why the Repubs hated him so much...he fulfilled their program wishes like minutes after being elected...sigh.

    by cfk on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:19:23 PM PDT

•  hang in there!

  and thanks for sharing.

  My grandbaby who is four and  a half goes into the hospital tomorrow for surgery on both ankles.  Surgery on one ankle is for stretching the Achilles tendon.  I am hopeful it will work.

  It is very, very tough.  I think with your attitude and intelligence you are going to do well after graduation...I hope in a job in Michigan.  

  Best wishes!!! and {{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}

  by cfk on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:16:58 PM PDT

•  I'm a bitter, small town resident

  I cling to my religion. It seems divine justice is all I've got left to appeal to see justice meted out to fascist, war criminal racketeers who steal elections.

  I'm the worst nightmare a fascist can have: a truly republican, pro-second-amendment liberal.

  I'm voting for Barack Obama. He tells the truth. Some people might not like the truth, but Obama shows great courage in telling it anyway.

  The Republicans think they going to have some fun painting Obama as an "elitist" in November? Oh, really now? These fascists are asking for it, friends. Let these arrogant idiots think what they like. You know that saying, how does it go? Something about glass houses....

  by taraka das on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:18:18 PM PDT

•  Bush & his supporters wasted $3 trillion in Iraq

  Think of all the health care, education, infrastructure repair, and alternative energy R&D that money could have paid for.

  by Dump Terry McAuliffe on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:21:44 PM PDT

  •  McCain:

    Plenty of money for wars and tax cuts for the rich.  Not so much for children's health care, veteran's benefits, or just about anything else on God's green earth.

    Oh wait, I forgot!  He's a fiscal conservative!

    GMAFB.

    by oscarsmom on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 03:35:18 PM PDT

•  College has just gotten too damned expensive.

  I started college in 1980 and it did not cost nearly as much back then.  Most of my peers managed to squeak by without loans, working summer jobs and living cheap.  

  Almost thirty years since then and when I see the debt students get saddled with these days it makes me wonder if it is worthwhile.

  /add complaints about young whippersnappers and get the hell off my lawn

  by Gator1980 on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:24:37 PM PDT

  •  I know it was tough for me '62-66

    I lived at home and commuted for the first 3 1/2 years.  I spent five hours a day in a car the first year...long story...

    The second year, I worked in the coat check and paid half my tuition at a Junior College and then I got a scholarship for the last two years' tuition...

    and it was still tough...

    by cfk on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:29:51 PM PDT

    •  I remember my first semester

      finishing up the term with $3 to my name, back then we didn't have ATMs or credit cards, I needed to eat for the rest of the week so I bought eggs and bologna and bread and had fried bologna sandwiches and bologna omelets until it was time to go home.

      Good times ...

      by Gator1980 on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:33:13 PM PDT

    •  I Was 62-66 Also

      Had an easy time of it.

      Good experience all around. Not too expensive for the family to pay for, good jobs for summers and part-time during the school year. I even got to commute downtown with my father in the summer, spending time with him.

      That's why it breaks my heart to see college being ruined for students by expenses, worries about their families, illnesses. It's supposed to be a good experience, dammit.

      by JG in MD on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:45:40 PM PDT

      •  well, I did enjoy it so I agree with you

        and I didn't end up in debt to my ears, either, which was very fortunate.

        I learned a lot...had great teachers back then.

        Fed my hunger for learning... :)

        My oldest son was a commuter, also, and worked...

        My daughter got some scholarships...lived in a dorm and then an apartment her senior year

        she ended up with about $10,000 to pay off

        it is a shame to limit minds...and what about those who just can't go?

        that could have happened to me.

        by cfk on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:51:37 PM PDT

•  ScottyUrb - Hang in there

  I'm a bitter elitist - but Obama has given me hope that we can work together to turn things around starting next January.  I swear (and I live in Michigan) that if McCain or Hillary win - I may have to move to Canada and feel badly about the late great USA.

  by moose67 on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 02:56:07 PM PDT

•  I hear you

  And I don't understand what makes Obama or me "elitist" if we haven't had these problems (I've been blessed enough in my life that the issues you mention are annoying but have never yet been central to my life) and want to talk about them and do something about them anyway. So what if he gets a detail wrong (not that he did) because he didn't actually live in that situation. The fact that he wants to make it mean something to vote to fix these issues again is far more important than that he (rightly in my opinion) says other issues are less important but have become the motivation for votes in the absence of the ability to vote for things that actually matter.

  I hope things will get better for your family, and that nothing serious causes trouble for the delicate balance you've described in the meantime. I hope things will change enough that I can stop worrying about being in the same situation by the time my (as yet theoretical) kids are in college.

  Best!

  by saodl on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 03:12:56 PM PDT

•  Keep the Faith, Scotty . . .

  I would not have been able to go to college in the 70s if it hadn't been for grants and low-cost loans.  I got one piddly scholarship which was given to low-income students.  I participated in work-study programs while in college and worked full time in the summers.  I pounded the pavement a lot looking for jobs.  While in graduate school I was a graduate assistant and worked full time in the summers as well.  

  I couldn't do these things now, the debt would be prohibitive.  I suspect that fewer and fewer of our young people will opt for college because of the cost.  I predict huge growth for trade schools that offer programs that are shorter in duration, cheaper, and geared for specific jobs.  I honestly don't know if I could preach "go to college" to all young people anymore.

  Having said all of this, hang in there Scotty.  Pursue your dream.  Get the absolute best grades you can so that if you want to continue in school you may have a better chance at assitance.  I truly believe that if the Democrats get into office, the student aid situation will be better.  

  I hope things work out for your parents.  Keep the faith that it will.  You might check out freecycle or someplace like that for a computer.  If I had an extra one I'd give it to you . . .  When I was in college we used typewriters.  (Yeah, I'm old.)  I made extra money typing papers for folks.  Be creative and keep all avenues open for improving your situation.  You never know when something good will happen.    

  by warriorpoet on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 03:44:28 PM PDT