Twenty-four days ago my Dad died after a grueling three-year stay in a nursing home that he called his “jail cell.” Dad succumbed to a rare, progressive and irreversible neurological disease of unknown origin that is not hereditary. I wrote his obituary, and wanted to include Dad’s humble origins, which is why I wrote “born in a farmhouse” in the middle of Minnesota corn country.
https://www.cremation-society.com/obituaries/Daniel-Harold-Erickson?obId=18584550#/obituaryInfo
Dad’s extended family lost the farm when Dad was one y/o and they moved to Lowry, MN (population under 300). Dad’s Dad (Farfar for the non-Swedes) became a traveling salesman for Watkins Products – a Willy Loman type. Farmor worked two days a week for the US Postal Service. They were poor and religious. Farmers in Minnesota tend to vote Republican and I highly doubt my Dad ever voted for a Democrat.
When Trump ran in 2016, I heard my Dad use the word “asshole” for the first time EVER. While I sat next to my Dad’s bed and Trump was stumbling, bumbling, and stumping, my Dad said, “I will never vote for that asshole.” After America elected the con man, my Dad never complimented the guy in the White House as Dad knew the tariffs imposed by the con man seriously adversely affected Minnesota soybean farmers. This has been well documented. Maine lobstermen were another Trump constituency severely impacted by the tariffs. This has been well documented.
Years ago my family visited a college buddy in New Hampshire (he arrived at North Park College from a town outside of Bahstahn, Mass) and we dined on fresh Maine lobster. My dear friend, a staunch Republican and hands-on political junkie, has lived in the Granite State for well over 20 years. In 2016, the proprietor of Jambro Productions, which is a college reference, decided he absolutely could not vote for The Donald.
So there you have it in a nutshell. Two lifetime Republicans, both white men, who detested Trump.
So if you are a racist, a xenophone, a QAnon believer, or a single-issue voter, i.e., pro-life, go vote for the incumbent.
In the epitaph to Bob Dylan’s 1964 release, “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” the last line reads, “the chimes rung and they are still ringin’.”
View, play, contemplate, and spread Ministry’s “The Soundtrack to Your Election.” (scroll down) https://ministryband.com/vote
Every vote counts!
- Mark Erickson
