Grandfather came over from the old country at the turn of the century. He was drafted into the Russian army and deserted. Got picked up again and was sent to Siberia. Deserted again. Heard the soldiers were coming around again. So the family smuggled him out. He worked in Germany for a while and then went to America. Spoke 5 languages: German, French, Russian, Polish, and English. Played the violin. Worked in the shoe mills in Brockton MA and then bought a farm during the great Depression (now worth over $1 million).
His son, my Dad, left the farm during the Great Depression. Worked as a laborer. Literally dug ditches in the frozen earth. Got drafted during WWII. Went to college on the GI bill. Finally got a PhD in Chemistry.
On my mother's side, Grandparents came over from the old country and worked in the textile mills in Pawtucket RI. Grandfather had an accident in the mill and lost his eye. No workers comp. Went to a doctor and had an operation to fix his eye. Bad news. The doctor operated on the wrong eye and left him totally blind. No trial lawyers. No medical malpractice. No health insurance. Lost his job. No work for the blind. No ADA legislation. No retraining.
Grandmother supported the family until she lost her job (the mills went South. 70% unemployment in Pawtucket). No laws about factory closing. No welfare. No unemployment. Family lost their house (it was almost paid off). Family went on the streets. Grandmother had a nervous breakdown and went to state hospital. (Support for Mental Health and Health Insurance, anyone????) Grandfather begged on the streets. No disability or worker retraining. Children went into foster care. Mother made to work at age 12 because her foster mother didn't think she was getting enough money from the state. Children split up. Finally, oldest brother reached majority age and slowly got the family back together again.
WWII happens. Boys get drafted. Boys go to college on GI bill. Boys get PhD. Girls supported their husbands as they went to college and then worked and brought up the kids.
My generation: 4 lawyers. 4 computer nerds. 2 stay at home Moms. All college educated. 1 Phillips Academy (Andover -- yup, same as the Kennedy's and Bush's) and Ivy League grad. 1 Carnegie Mellon grad in Computer Science. All due to Pell Grant Program.
Without the Democratic party, my family could not have achieved what we did. When I tell this story to any Republicans, they shut up. Family tragedies that could have been avoided. Legislation has been passed so that other families don't go through what my family did. Family triumphs made possible through enlightened support of the government because of the Democratic Party.
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