My mother Colleen B. Duskey passed away last year on Oct. 12, 2023, failing to do one thing she wanted to do – vote for President Donald J. Trump one more time.
I did it for you Mom.
I voted early in the Republican primary and voted for Trump. I also voted for Jim Justice, Chris Miller, Carol Miller, Mike Stuart, Roger Propst, Roger Hanshaw, Kris Warner, Eric Householder, Kent Leonhardt, Anita Harold Ashley, Betty Gregory and a few others. I wanted to write-in Hamilton Burger for prosecuting attorney but was told write-in votes were not allowed.
For a couple of positions, I am not saying who I voted for because I like both people. It happens. And your vote is, after all, a secret ballot and you need tell no one who you voted for.
The primary election somewhat overlaps Mother’s Day and that makes it all very melancholy for me since this is the first Mother’s Day I have not celebrated with my mom in 76 years.
And I don’t like it.
I sure miss my mom but how could I not since she was there for everything. She was there for all my ups and downs and questions and questions that weren’t really questions but I just needed some affirmation for what I was going to do anyhow.
She has been gone for quite a while now and I am just now beginning to accept that I am not going to get a telephone call or make a telephone call at around 10 every night.
But life goes on.
As does Mother’s Day.
What about Mother’s Day how did we get here?
According to History.com this is how Mother’s Day became Mother’s Day: “The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis. Following her mother’s 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children.
After gaining financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. That same day also saw thousands of people attend a Mother’s Day event at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia.
Following the success of her first Mother’s Day, Jarvis—who remained unmarried and childless her whole life—resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar. Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood.
By 1912 many states, towns and churches had adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, and Jarvis had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.”
So, to all the mothers out there I say Happy Mother’s Day (if a little late) and to some non-mothers I know I say the same thing because you would have been a great mother.
CLEAN UP TIME: The primary election will be over very soon and with that being the case it is time for all the losers not heading for this fall’s general election to go out and gather up their campaign signs.
Why?
Because what had been free speech has now just become litter.
And this litter needs to be cleaned up.
And speaking of cleaning up, it will be interesting to see how the political parties coalesce after all the horrible things they have said about each other during the primary season. Especially nasty were the political money pacts such as the Black Bear Pact, which was especially hateful in its dealing with candidates other than the one it supported.
Former President Ronald Reagan had his 11th Commandment which said: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.”
That one was kind of blown out of the water in this primary I fear and now I hope the Republicans can put all the rancor aside and work together to beat the democrats which really are the enemy of the people.
THE BRILLIANCE OF PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: While I was doing my research on President Reagan, I was impressed by how intelligent he was and how he was able to make a point in such a few words.
Here are some of his best:
n “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job,” he said in the 1980 general campaign. “A depression is when you lose your job. And recovery begins when Jimmy Carter loses his job.”
n “Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.”
n “If more government is the answer, then it was a really stupid question.”
n “We could say the government spend like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors, because the sailors are spending their own money.”
n “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
n “Now back in 1927 an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people will adopt every fragment of the socialist program.”
n “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.”
n “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”
n “We must never remain silent in the face of bigotry. We must condemn those who seek to divide us. In all quarters and at all times, we must teach tolerance and denounce racism, anti-Semitism and all ethnic or religious bigotry wherever they exist as unacceptable evils. We have no place for haters in America — none, whatsoever.”
n “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem. … Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it. … The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.”
n “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.””
n “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
He must have been speaking about President Donald Trump on the last one that is why it is so important we re-elect President Trump in November so that we can Make America Great Again.
Until next time stay safe but don’t live life in a bubble.
