Plessner Chronicle Blog

Except for the fact that I lost my wife to a stroke a year ago, all-in-all life for me and my family is just fine.

But I wonder just how much of that good life we are going to leave to our grandchildren. Will they enjoy the American dream that you and I have been blessed with? Will they be able to go on to college, university or a first-rate technical education program?

Will our grandchildren be able to find good jobs with rewarding wages and a retirement as safe and secure as we have? What kind of life will their children have and will the world even be livable by the time they retire?

All of these thoughts come to mind because of the current political election which has, regrettably, turned from a road show into a soap opera and now into an embarrassment, one way or another, to every American.

You and I, at our age, have one last chance to turn things around for our grandchildren and it has to do with the 2008 presidential election. We know that most people our age are politically conservative with what are called traditional values. We also know that people like you and me have tended to vote Republican since the election of Ronald Reagan. But times have changed — quite drastically — and the Republican Party of today, despite what it’s leaders or candidates tell you, is not the party you joined when you were a “Reagan Democrat” or “Reagan Republican”.

I was a Republican long before that. My great-grandmother Flora, who cared for me when I was a toddler, was a Teddy Roosevelt Republican. Great-grandma Flora lost her husband Hermann to Influenza in 1889. He fought for the Union in the Civil War and they were both members of the original Republican Party, the one that elected Abraham Lincoln!

My grandfather Edward was a Republican patronage employee in St. Louis, Missouri, where I was born, and my mom and dad were both registered Republicans. I actually voted for Barry Goldwater for president and I’ll bet many of you did the same thing!

But things have changed since then and especially the Republican Party.

Republicans have always tended to be fiscal conservatives and small business people, but today’s Republican party is more reckless than Democrats ever were when it comes to money. Just look at the huge debt they are creating day by day!

And Republicans have done everything they can to kill small business. If you don’t believe that just look around your neighborhood for an independent drug store, filling station or grocery market.

Republicans were always more interested in solving domestic problems, but today’s Republican politicians are much more interested in being imperialists, sticking our nose in other country’s affairs and helping international businesses get bigger, ultimately at our citizens’ expense. Have you checked how much more it costs to fill up your automobile when you want to visit your grandchildren? I have!

And worst of all (in my opinion) the Republican Party is being run by a class of professionals who can only be called political criminals. Just look at their lying television commercials, their organization that is run by a majority of Washington lobbyists and the McCain campaign manager who is a registered lobbyist for the nation of Georgia!

In addition, the same neo-conservative operators who got us into an unjustified war on Iraq are John McCain’s best friends and advisors on international and military affairs!

I have believed for some time that American conservatism was on a losing slide to the dustbin of history. After what has happened in recent weeks,I’ve decided that John McCain’s choice of a modestly experienced, small state governor as his vice presidential candidate is the conclusive evidence of conservatism and the Republican Party’s disintegration. I believe the Republican Party — the one that played such a big role in my family’s life — is lost for all time and that is why you and I, while mourning our loss, must vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

For America’s sake and for our grandchildren’s future, I hope you agree.

Sincerely,

Gerald Plessner