What I saw at the revolution

My parents were children of New Dealers as they were called back in the day. My father admired FDR for his strength and resolve during World War II that he was moved to enlist after the Day of Infamy, as did many other young men of his age. Being a Democrat back then was much different than being a Democrat today. The party of FDR, Truman, Scoop Jackson, and John Kennedy was akin to the Republican party today in many ways, i.e., a muscular foreign policy, support of personal and economic liberty, etc. My parents were proud Democrats. They always preached personal responsbility and hard work. This ethos served them well for most of their lives.

As I grew up in the late 1970s I began to see how hard it was for our family to make ends meet. The 1970s were plagued by several energy crises with long gas lines, the weakening of the US dollar, rampant inflation and unemployment, high interest rates, and a weak foreign policy. I'll never forget the look on my father's face the day the Iranians took our citizens hostage in 1979. As I listened to conversation around the dinner table I knew how disappointed my parents were with the Democrats. The once proud party of Roosevelt and Kennedy was being destroyed by McGovern, Carter, Humphrey, Mondale, and other liberals who believed that government would solve our problems.

Nothing could be further from the truth. As the presidential election of 1980 kicked into gear I noticed my parents talking more and more about this "Reagan fellow", as my father called him. Time after time my parents wondered if this "B-list" Hollywood actor could deliver us. At the time, we lived in a basement apartment in a four story building in Jersey City. My father, a proud WW II vet who stormed the beaches of Normandy, was reduced to taking two jobs to support his family. He worked on the railroad during the day and was the building's superintendant at night. We lived in a small apartment; two bedrooms, one bath, a small kitchen, and an even smaller living room. That's all I knew for 18 years, but we somehow managed. I always had enough to eat, a place to sleep, and my parents sacrificed enough for me to go to Catholic school. It was a hard life for all of us.

My father would come home after work late in the afternoon. He'd turn on the TV and I'd get him a beer as we watched the news before he went to work in the building. I learned politics from my father as it unfolded in 1980. I always looked forward to watching the news with my father until one day, the news got so bad that we stopped watching altogether. My parents, particularly my father, felt abandoned and cheated that the service he gave to his country had been "wasted". It was at that point my father decided that the Democrats had left him and our family behind. He went to work for Ronald Reagan in our precinct as a captain; a "Reagan Democrat". He still wasn't sold on Reagan but he knew he could no longer support the Democrats. On the nights he did not work in the building I went with him to meetings or to canvass the neighborhood or to pass out literature. It was a lot of fun and quite educational as I learned about why we needed to cut taxes and reduce spending; how we needed to restore the dignity of the military and rebuild our armed forces to confront the Soviets on the world stage; but most importantly, I learned that we needed to restore America's place as the "shining city on the hill".

On election day that November in 1980, my father promised me he would take me with him to the polls after work. When he got home we rushed over to St. Peter's College on Kennedy Boulevard to cast our vote. My father took me into the polling place with him. He voted on a number of measures and members of the House and the Senate. Then he looked at me and said, "It's your future, why don't you vote for the President". And I did. I voted for both of us. I voted for Ronald Reagan. We went home and watched the returns. As the night wore on it became obvious that Reagan was going to win. When the networks declared Reagan the winner I could see tears in my father's eyes. I could see that all that he and my mother sacrificed over the years would not be in vain.

We finally moved out of the apartment building in June 1982 into a three bedroom home out on nice big piece of land in the suburbs of New Jersey. It was the first home my parents lived in since their childhood. Later that year my father bought a brand new car. It was the first new car he ever owned. Two years later I went off to Drew University to begin my own journey in life. I never looked back. It truly was "morning in America" and I was part of it. We were better off than we were four years ago. I was part of the "conservative revolution" my father helped start on the streets of Jersey City as a "Reagan Democrat". I've never been more proud!