Stephen Fincher is a farmer in Frog Jump, Tenn. He raises cotton and soy beans on a 10,000-acre spread that has been in his family for seven generations. His daddy and momma are proud of their little boy and I suspect his dog wags its tail whenever Stephen comes home to Frog Jump.
By all accounts, Stephen Fincher is a god-fearing family man. He's coached Dixie League baseball, sings gospel music and heads the men's group at his little church.
The problem with Stephen Fincher is that he thinks he should be elected to represent the people of the 8th Congressional District in Washinton. Fincher has never held elective office, unless you count the Dixie Youth League and his church's men's group.
He's a proud graduate of Crockett County HS, but his formal education ended there. After graduating from high school, he went to work on the family farm.
Now some would argue that we've been sending college-educated lawyers, doctors, engineers and economists to Washington for generations and look at the mess they've made of things. Did all those doctors and lawyers really learn anything in college? In the 8th District, most people do not hold college degrees. For too long, the voices of these uneducated and under-educated people have been ignored. For too long, college-educated smarty pants have had control of our government. It's time for the voices of the high school graduates to be heard as well.
Stephen Fincher will bring a high school graduate's understanding of complex foreign relations problems and global economics. I trust that little Stephen learned enough biology back at Crockett County High to understand stem cell research, renewable energy and global warming.
Stephen Fincher will be the voice in Washington for millions of Americans who were too poor, too stupid or too lazy to go to college. He'll speak for the unwed mothers who sacrificed the chance to go to college for their children. He'll speak for the good old boys who went off to the Army after graduation and those who joined the Navy to see the world.
He'll speak for the GED recipients, who couldn't finish high school as teens but got a piece of paper for passing a few tests.
And he'll provide hope and inspiration for millions of high school dropouts. If Stephen Fincher can be elected to Congress, there's hope for those without any education.
That's why I encourage voters to send Stephen Fincher to Congress.
Because when it comes to leadership, we don't need no education.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The 99'ers
Like millions of other formerly employed Americans, I am among those who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment insurance. As working Americans make plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we are wondering how will we put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads.
Times are tough for millions of us, but probably none have been harder hit than the greying members of my generation. These aging Baby Boomers are unwanted surplus labor in a job market shrunken by outsourcing, Wall Street profiteers, improved technology and ineffective government Thirty years ago, we would have taken to the streets and demanded that government step in and create jobs much as was done during the last Great Depression. But these days, the generation that marched against the war in Vietnam are too tired and beaten down to stand against injustice. We've been beaten down for a long time now, as evidenced by the fact that few of us stood up and opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those Baby Boomers who opposed the wars left it to the younger generation to stand up against war. The younger generation, our sons and daughters, did not fear involuntary conscription. The war wasn't fought with draftees, only young men and women who volunteered to fight and die for their country. Unthreatened by the draft, the younger generation shrugged and said it "wasn't our problem."
It seems many Americans take the same view of unemployment. It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job. It's a depression when unemployment hits home.
I suggest it's time we faced facts. Unless we somehow find the resolve to restore our once-powerful manufacturing sector, millions of middle-aged Americans will no longer be needed in the work force. These former workers, many college educated, are simply surplus in a changing economy.
We should lower the age at which workers can collect Social Security and allow these middle-aged 99'ers to retire early with a measure of dignity and security. Lowering the retirement age for those 55 to 61 would immediately reduce unemployment levels by removing these millions of unwanted workers from the unemployment rolls and create new opportunities for younger workers. This was one of the benefits of the original Social Security Act approved in the 30's. While it provided a much-needed benefit to millions of older workers, it also provided a powerful incentive that convinced many older Americans to retire and provided jobs for younger workers.
This won't happen, of course. Republicans will condemn any move to provide relief to the suffering working class. They'll rail against "big government" even as they expand its reach into Americans' private lives. The same politicians who fought against providing extended benefits to the jobless would oppose any effort to provide a security net to people deemed surplus by corporate America.
Times are tough for millions of us, but probably none have been harder hit than the greying members of my generation. These aging Baby Boomers are unwanted surplus labor in a job market shrunken by outsourcing, Wall Street profiteers, improved technology and ineffective government Thirty years ago, we would have taken to the streets and demanded that government step in and create jobs much as was done during the last Great Depression. But these days, the generation that marched against the war in Vietnam are too tired and beaten down to stand against injustice. We've been beaten down for a long time now, as evidenced by the fact that few of us stood up and opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those Baby Boomers who opposed the wars left it to the younger generation to stand up against war. The younger generation, our sons and daughters, did not fear involuntary conscription. The war wasn't fought with draftees, only young men and women who volunteered to fight and die for their country. Unthreatened by the draft, the younger generation shrugged and said it "wasn't our problem."
It seems many Americans take the same view of unemployment. It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job. It's a depression when unemployment hits home.
I suggest it's time we faced facts. Unless we somehow find the resolve to restore our once-powerful manufacturing sector, millions of middle-aged Americans will no longer be needed in the work force. These former workers, many college educated, are simply surplus in a changing economy.
We should lower the age at which workers can collect Social Security and allow these middle-aged 99'ers to retire early with a measure of dignity and security. Lowering the retirement age for those 55 to 61 would immediately reduce unemployment levels by removing these millions of unwanted workers from the unemployment rolls and create new opportunities for younger workers. This was one of the benefits of the original Social Security Act approved in the 30's. While it provided a much-needed benefit to millions of older workers, it also provided a powerful incentive that convinced many older Americans to retire and provided jobs for younger workers.
This won't happen, of course. Republicans will condemn any move to provide relief to the suffering working class. They'll rail against "big government" even as they expand its reach into Americans' private lives. The same politicians who fought against providing extended benefits to the jobless would oppose any effort to provide a security net to people deemed surplus by corporate America.
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