Privilege!

Seems like we hear a lot these days about Privilege. To be sure, there is much being said in social media and the legacy press about Privilege, but I want to discuss some ways I enjoyed and experienced Privilege in my growing up years in the 1960s. I trust my readers will find this discussion informative and in some sense entertaining. So here we go.

First and foremost, I was blessed and privileged to be raised in a Christian home by parents who took me to church and clearly explained the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They had their challenges in marriage and could easily have thrown in the towel. Thankfully they did not. I was Privileged and greatly blessed that they “hung in there.”

Yet another way I was blessed and Privileged was having the opportunity to learn from and hear the stories from ordinary Americans. My father was not a member of the local country club. His social venues were at a local gas station and feed mill which gave me the opportunity at a young age to get a great education in public policy. Both the gas station and the feed mill had a diverse collection of farmers, small businessmen, and retirees. Some were Republicans and some were Democrats. Good God fearing men who would give you the "shirt off their back." None of these everyday individuals were a “basket of deplorables!” Topics for discussion included taxes, Social Security, Medicare, foreign policy, agricultural subsidies, and labor unions. The discussions were lively but civil. The same group of folks would of course regularly see each other at church and other civic functions. Thankfully, the toxic anonymity of social media was not available. It was no secret to anyone that my father was a staunch Republican. But he had no issue in working collaboratively across the aisle with Democratics on issues that he considered important for farming, road construction, and local taxes. In one instance, my father took an active role in campaigning for the Democratic candidate for mayor of our rural southern Indiana city because my father believed the incumbent Republican mayor was dishonest and ineffective. The Democratic candidate won the election, and I am confident that my father’s support of his candidacy was instrumental in helping me secure a summer job in the city cemetery mowing grass and digging graves following the election of the Democratic Mayor. Working outdoors in a cemetery in 95-degree heat was indeed a Privilege!

No one was cancelled or subject to scorn for speaking his mind on a subject in the gas station and feed mill venues. Politics was not a blood sport. Thankfully, political discussions did not include today’s subjects such as biological boys playing on girl’s sport teams; gender transition surgery for children; legalized abortion up until the date of birth of the unborn child; how many genders there are; and whether God was non-binary. I am sure all the men participating in the gas station and feed mill discussions from both political parties would turn over in their graves if they were aware of the white-hot cultural issues swirling in our great country today. I also believe these patriotic men who bravely and sacrificially served their country in the military during WWII at great personal cost would also be surprised and disappointed that they would be deemed today by many Progressives as being part of the “oppressor class” in our country.

Yes, my public policy education sitting on milk crates at the gas station and feed mill was indeed a Privilege, and I reflect on it with great appreciation. Perhaps I am too cynical and pessimistic, but I am highly skeptical that candid discussions of cultural and public policy issues can be conducted in a similar manner today. For anyone brave enough in social discourse to spend social capital in taking a prolife stand; a two-gender stand; and no biological boys on girl’s sport teams stand, there is the ever-present possibility that the discourse will be taped and posted on social media. While many are quite willing to be scorned or cancelled privately for expressing their heart felt convictions, the possibility of losing a job for so doing would give most individuals concern.

While there has been some hopeful pause in the Progressive march for mandatory DEI worship, I am not sure how long this will last. But one thing I am certain is that the Progressive left will spare no effort in order to permanently silence “Privileged” individuals who share a Judeo-Christian world view. If this ever happens, America’s 250-year experiment will be in dangerous jeopardy. May God save our great country from this peril.

God bless you and thank you for the privilege of your time in reading my blog.

•