Today I had a friend over to help with some repairs. He was the general contractor for a construction crew. He has been unemployed since the 2008 recession. He is in his mid to late 50s, I would guess. I insisted on paying him his normal, hourly rate. He laughed and said that it was funny how ordinary people always wanted to pay his fair rate and it was the people with million-dollar homes that would try to push him down another $5 per hour.
The work only took about an hour and afterward we began to chat in the kitchen. What he said has stayed with me.
I'd never realized that he was very political. I'd heard him make some jokes before about Bush, but that was about it. But without invitation, he launched into a political discussion.
"I don't understand," he said. "The Republicans always focus on some short-term thing. Never a solution, but you know, some short-term thing that they all talk about. All at once. Every politician, every TV person, all their radio guys, and Fox News. They all go out and talk about it at once and get everyone else to talk about it and suddenly it's all anyone can think about. And I keep waiting and hoping that Obama is going to walk out and explain to the American people what's really happening. We're being crushed. All our money just moves upward to the rich. But he doesn't say anything. What happened to him? And the Democrats can't say anything or do anything. It's like they can't admit to what's happening and don't know how to stop it."
"And so now the Republicans are attacking unemployment benefits. Don't they realize that if the poor have money, they're just going to spend it and it'll all go back into the pockets of the rich anyway? Don't they know that if poor people can spend money, it's good for everyone? Why aren't the Democrats saying this?"
He sighed and shook his head.
"The Democrats just aren't the Democrats any more."
It gave me a chill.
Then we will say to politicians on the supposed left, ‘Depart from us, you who are corrupted. For we were hungry for change and you gave us crumbs of bipartisanship, we were thirsty for the truth and you gave us triangulation, our young immigrants needed you but you did not invite them to the American Dream, our gay family members sought comfort but you would not comfort them, we needed jobs and you chose the profits of the banks, we were sick and you handed us over to the mercy of the insurance companies.’
The Democrats will answer, ‘Voters, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or as immigrants or jobless or sick, and did not help you?’
We will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of Americans, you did not do for me.’