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It took my about a month, but I have reached 100 posts here at DU.com. I feel I will use this post as a sounding board for my views on American Politics and the state of American Life. I truly hope you are ready for some random cynical angry.
First of all, I would like to ask that I came to DU.com by accident, through the Top 10 link at Oreilly-sucks.com After coming off the road as a truck driver after 2.5 long years of that torturous work, I felt really dejected and depressed. My phyiscal fitness, which I had worked on for 8 years, had gone to pot due to the fat fried fat you can get at all-you-can-eat Truck Stop buffets for $9.99. Not only that, I was now stationary and didn't know what do to with my time. While on the road, I was forced (since I didn't have a CB and I didn't want XM radio) to listen to a constant stream of AM radio. Though I tried to stay with Sports Radio as much as I could, political radio is all you can find out in the sticks of the Country. So, Limbaugh, Savage, Laura, Hewitt, Medved and Humphrey dominated what I listened to when I got tired of my CDs (incidently, I never heard of Hannity or Beck until I was in Fort Wayne and Oklahoma City respectively).
Truck drivers are EXTREMELY conservative, bordering on ignorant bigots. White truck drivers are mostly from the west, mid-west and south, so their ideas on everything are the most convserative out there. Being mostly ignorant and illeducated (since truck driving does really appeal to the lowest common denominator) and finally being able to afford some things for the first time (my first year as a driver I made $59,000 in blood money), alot of white truck drivers praise Jesus on a daily basis (then go find either the lot lizards <trucker slang for whores> or the Mr. Sunshine <trucker slang for a pusher for wide awake drugs>), praise G-d every sunday (yet use his name in vain and break at least 4 of the 7 deadly sins everyday <the most common broken are lust, pride, sloth and gluttony>), and tend to follow the conservative line of "I got mine, f-ck you!"
I bring up my time as a truck driver here because, while driving an 18-wheeled sweatshop, my political views began to change. I was continually being shouted down and proven wrong (looking back, I realize that losing an argument to idiots isn't really losing). I began to really listen to the other side, and I really began to agree with them. I was turning, literally, into a modern day selfish, evil-tempered neo-con with every bad trait a neo-con has. Worst of it all, I became a regular call-in listener to AM radio.
Then, in December of 2002, I had a moment of clarity. I got a message on my Qualcomm (trucker's in board computers) that I will remember for the rest of my days. It stated: "We at (name left off) thank our drivers for their dedication to driving during the Thanksgiving holiday. Our customers appreicate it as well. With Christmas right around the corner, we are offering drivers a $500 bonus if they drive over 2500 miles the week of Christmas. It is not much, but it is the least we can do to reward our dedicated, hard working drivers." I pulled into a terminal outside Kansas City, MO to fill up and listened to the drivers. Most loved the idea. . .more money in their pockets meant more money in their pockets. One driver said he couldn't drive Christmas because he promised his wife and two kids he'd be home. The other drivers laughed at him for passing up the money.
When I parked and meant into the terminal, their was a driver who was begging for a load west so he could be home in time for his daughter's birthday. The driver managers rudely pointed to a sign that said "NO LOADS WEST" then called me up. They said they were very limited in their loads at the present time, but told me they had a load going to Oakland, CA to Quaker (Gatorade). I took the load (since it was a load taking moe closer to home) and gave to the guy looking to go west. As he thanked me, the driver managers came flying out, screaming at me that it was my load and how dare I do what I just did. I, to this day, view my next run as a punishment run, but I was told to take a load 1800 to Brownsville, TX in 2 days. I did it, but was done phyiscally for a day. Then I was left to rot in Brownsville for almost 5 days waiting for something. That was 5 days without pay because those wheels weren't turning.
I realized that driving wasn't for me, but kept my mouth shut. Drivers were too ignorant, too selfish, too rude and too base for me. The companies, being run by truckers who were promoted, were even worse. This was my reality until I came off the road, went back to school, started a business and became a brother in one of the largest Fraternities in the country (I just had the pleasure of coming back from SAM's national convention in Washington DC).
Why did I bring this up? Simply put, there are alot of similarities between truck driving and the current state of our country. Truckers are traditionally used and thrown away when their are no longer useful (as our our veterans to the Bush Administration). Truckers are offered bribes in order to keep the status quo (as were the tax rebates in 2001 and 2003 <here's $600 dollars, vote for me in 2004>). Truckers are pushed to extraordinary phyiscal, mental and emotional limits and need chemical help to maintain their miles and pay (as are the kids in any ghetto in America. Instead of miles, it's lives). Truckers aren't unionized (and most OTR truckers HATE unions) and are generally abused by their companies (as are most American workers). Truckers are deeply religious people but don't practice what their preach (as our Great Leader). Truckers claim not to be bigots, but continually screamm but minorities and immigrants in a negative, bigotted light (as do alot of Republican Fat cats).
As stated, I lost everything as a truck driver. My lifestyle, my phyiscal health, my marriage. But I view the experience, 20/20 hindsight, with a positive light. Without it, I wouldn't be so driven to succeed now at University. I wouldn't be 28 credits from my degree and getting ready for Graduate School. I wouldn't be looking to be a prosecutor. I wouldn't be in a Fraternity. I wouldn't have what I enjoy now. And I wouldn't have the belief that my political beliefs are right and theirs are completely wrong.
I look at American right now in the same boat I was in in December 2002. We have been lied to, manipulated, bribed, used and treated like idiots (like companies treat truckers). Somewhere, American realized what is most important in life: family, community, commitment to the greater good, believing in G-d and living a good life. Bush and his administration believe the all-mighty dollar and the pursuit of the black bottom line is most important. And, just like what I did to the truck driving companies, America is slowly turning their backs on the the Bush Administration and are redefining what it means to be human and American. The Limbaughs, the Hannitys and the Savages are the driver managers, lying and manipulating for the boss. Americans are the drivers. There will ALWAYS be a few die-hard who will take the bribe and the treatment. They will be the lowest common denominator. But for the rest of us. . .well, it's what I truly believe. Substance over style.
I turned my back on driving a truck, on AM radio, on neo-cons and reinforced my political beliefs. My fellow DUers, America will follow my lead and, come November, the Trucking Company "Bush Co." will have to file Chapter 11.
This wasn't as angry as I thought it would be. . .because, I am finally at peace with myself and my mistakes. Again, evantually America will be at peace with herself and her mistake. And that peace will start November 2nd.
Thank you for your time. Respond anyway you want. And let's all work to give Kerry a democratic Congress WHEN he is elected as our 44th President.
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