Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Time to Put the the Right Kind of Blue into Blue Collar

Yes, I'm a Baby Boomer. Yes, I was part of that post-War generation who was, I suppose, brought up in what some now call the Age of Prosperity. I can just about remember Kennedy's Inaugural speech, the one where he chided us to "ask not what our country could do for us, ask what we could do for our country."

My part of the Baby Boom generation came of age in time to benefit from the legacy of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the legislative gains which enabled thousands of working class kids to receive a university education.

I can also remember when the working class, my heritage, was staunchly and solidly Democratic. I was raised to believe the Democratic Party was the party of the working man and woman. "If you have to work to live," my daddy used to say, "You're working class. Own it."

I do. I'm proud of my heritage, but I'm not so proud that much of today's working class has abandoned the Democratic Party or that much of today's Democratic Party has abandoned the working class. I think it's time contact was re-established, and maybe the scions of the Democratic Party need to re-examine their own backgrounds and make the first move.

Here are two proud sons of working class families, good Democrats, and - no matter how much wealth they've accrued - still wear the blue collar aura with pride.

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