I grew up on the "wrong" side of the B & O railroad tracks in a small town in Illinois

[Atticus]

I was in second grade in 1956 when native son Adlai Stevenson ran for president. I had known that Dad was a "Democratic precinct committeeman", but I didn't really know that there were other people who were "Republicans" and some of them didn't like us Democrats. After listening to a lot of talk from older kids on the playground, I finally asked Mom to explain the difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Mom thought for a few seconds, looked away and then asked me a question. "What kind of people live in our neighborhood?" I guess I looked puzzled, because she prompted me: "Rich or poor---are folks in this neighborhood rich or poor?"

That I knew. "Poor", I answered. Our neighbors were laborers, carpenters, a laundress, a handyman and some shoe factory employees.

"Who lives on "The Hill"? Mom asked next. The Hill was on the north side of town; far from the tracks or the factories. The doctors, lawyers, bankers and factory managers lived there in big two story homes with sun porches and huge lawns.

"Well, rich people, Mom" I replied, wondering if she'd forgotten my question.

"That's the difference," she said. "Republicans pass laws to help the folks on The Hill. Democrats pass laws to help the folks who live around us."

"But, Mom," I countered,"the people on The Hill don't NEED help!"

"That's right, sonny-boy. DON'T YOU EVER FORGET THAT!" my mother said through a big smile.

That was 54 years ago.

Mom died in '98. I miss her even more than I miss the Democratic Party she and my father proudly supported.

[MadMaddie]

1. Wise advise from a very wise woman!

[Gormy Cuss]

2. That's the way my union man father explained it too.

And he also said that all politicians work for themselves but Democrats try to stay in office by promoting policies for people like us and that's why most of the time they should get our votes.

[charlie]

3. Shame that's now a "once upon a time" story

If the rich want to live travelling between gated communities in a beat-down dystopia, they deserve what they get.

The key to clean, safe streets, polite society, a country worth calling home for everyone, rich or poor, is prosperity for ALL.

[Jamastiene]

4. K&R

Your Mom was a brilliant woman.

[Mz Pip]

5. I'm from the same era

I must have been second grade also in 1956 and my parents were poor. We lived in a couple of rooms in the converted attic upstairs of a house. My dad pretty much went bankrupt trying to farm his aunt's 260 acre farm in NE. He returned us to IL where he worked in a factory. I was the poor kid on the block and there were some who never let me forget it.

But my Dad was a die-hard Republican. Never did get that, as he would complain about how the government never helped "the little guy". He was the "little guy." If anyone needed help it was him and he sure didn't get it from the Republicans. My mom came from a poor immigrant family and liked FDR. My Dad married her anyway but always referred to FDR as "your guy."

People can sure be a mass of contradictions when it comes to politics. I was the black sheep in the family. I ended up being the liberal and ironically ended up being more successful than most of my Republican relatives, as are my kids. Some of my relatives don't understand how my older son can be a district attorney who actually prosecutes criminals and be a liberal Democrat at the same time. I mean really, aren't all liberals supposed to be soft on crime pussies? How can this be?

Families are weird as are political persuasions. It seems that some of the people who could benefit from a compete tent government are the ones who are most ready to denounce all things government.

Go figure.

Mz Pip

[readmoreoften]

6. Great story. I miss the good ol' days.

Even if the Democrats didn't always deliver, they at least stood for something. Now they are hollow rhetoric and meaningless action.

[ThomCat]

7. I wish the Democratic party still gave a damn about the poor.

Now, the best they can do is occasionally talk about the "middle class." But at the same time, they pass legislation that destroys the middle class, or turns everyone into "consumers" instead of citizens which guarantees that in the long run the middle class will dwindle. We lose our rights, and our money, and our voice in government, and corporations gain everything because the people who are supposed to represent us gave it to them.

While they work their way through the creation of this Insurance Industry Customer and Profit Guarantee Act of 2009 we now suddenly hear them talking about trying to help poor people again for the first time in decades. But the party is so woefully out of practice, look at how badly it is going...

About as well as Clinton's efforts at helping the poor through Welfare Reform. Do you all remember how that was supposed to get everyone free from dependence on public assistance and back on their feet again? Instead all it did was create a whole lot more poverty, homelessness, hunger and desperation.

:grr: