Reagan and My Mother's Big White Lincoln

So it’s 1980 and Ronald Reagan is running against Jimmy Carter for President. In Youngstown, the steel industry has collapsed, and the area has lost tens of thousands of jobs in a very short period of time. If the American economy was bad, it was catastrophic here in the Mahoning Valley.

In the midst of the campaign, Reagan decided to make a pit stop in our lovely valley. He visited St. Rose Church in Girard, and visited several of the closed down steel mills. I got a phone call from some of my Republican friends and asked if I would like to drive some of Reagan's staffers in the motorcade. I was thrilled to death. Reagan had been one of my political heroes for years.

Then came the edict. At the time I was driving an Oldsmobile 98, a pretty big car that I bought used from my parents. My Dad was driving a two seat sports car, and my mother had this big, freakin’ white Lincoln Continental. The word from the Reagan people was we were to drive them in nothing more than a Chevy, Ford, or an equivalent. I had to scramble. The two seat sports car was out. My Olds was out. And my mother’s white Lincoln….no way in hell could I drive that. I borrowed a Chevy from one of my relatives. I got to meet President Reagan personally in the St. Rose Rectory.  He asked me to get him more ice for his drink....I kid you not!!!!!

But I went home angry. I had a vague understanding about class warfare, but c’mon. Both the Lincoln and Olds used lots of steel, and were made by union labor in union automotive plants. So I made a hand painted sign and put it in the window of my car. It said “Don’t laugh. This car was union made using lots of steel.”  It made no impression at all on my Democratic friends, but I thought I made a good point.

Now we are hearing the same thing again. How many times have we heard from the President the evil inherent in private corporate jets…and how greedy those corporations are that use them. Really? Who does he think makes those jets? Maybe we should shut the private jet industry down. Never mind those who assemble the planes, and the fabricators who make the parts, or the companies that make the engines. They must be serving the devil. Just put them out of work.

At the end of the day, from the migrant worker to the highly skilled tradesman to the lawyers and accountants and to the corporate secretaries and presidents, we are all part of the American economy. Poke any part of it, and someone is going to suffer or be displaced. Does President Obama know this?  In his presidency so far he has attacked tanning salons, Las Vegas, corporate jet owners, insurance companies, the Chamber of Commerce and every health care entity that ever existed.  Why?

Class warfare is a dangerous game. People make fun of trickle-down economics, but just think about those people who would lose their jobs if corporations stopped buying private jets, or driving big cars, or holding conferences in cities like Las Vegas. If those folks were to lose their jobs, the nation would learn quickly that non-existent trickle-down economics would quickly be replaced by the very real trickle down poverty. When the plant closes, then maybe people will understand.

As the saying goes, I never worked for a poor man. Perhaps Obama think it would be better if we were all vassals of the state. That way, we could all drive the same car, live in the same house, wear the same clothes, and make the same amount of money…because that is fair. Wait a minute. The world has already seen that. It’s called communism.

I think I would rather drive the big white Lincoln…and perhaps drive a President who would have the guts to ride in it…complete with my sign.  Made with lots of steel.  Assembled by union labor.