I knew this since I was 12. VOTING LESSONS TRUE STORY: My father, Puki, a proud Naturalized US citizen took his civic duties very seriously. He never weaseled out of Jury duty and held dearly his right to vote. Prior to voting season, he would sit my siblings and me down (4 kids) to discuss the candidates, the ballot propositions, referendums etc. He would declare “voting is not a right; it is a privilege and a huge responsibility. You need to be prepared and understand how your vote will affect you.” It helps to visualize Puki who wore a pocket protector, gobs of Vitalis on his jet black hair to make it shiny and true to his Old Spice. While Puki would describe the differences and characteristics about the candidates and their political parties, he would rarely tell us who he would actually vote for because in the old days, that was considered inappropriate. I’ll never forget this day and only now see how funny it was. One day he enthusiastically described a proposition for a huge Community Center, Public Park with pools and lots of amenities. He then asked us, “Would you vote for this?” Of course we all responded with “yeah Dad you have to vote for that…”. Suddenly Puki starts yelling at us. “Don’t you kids understand anything? Nothing is free, who do you think is going to pay for it and do you think it is a one-time expense? No, it will keep growing and what about when other parts of the city want their own recreation centers because it’s only fair…I can’t afford any more taxes – nothing is free…if people want a pool they should pay for their own pool…” Of course we all tried to get away from the verbal beating which went on and on. I figured out many years later that he was “a conservative” and much later when I joined the heavily taxed and realized the government waste, Puki was right all along. No pun intended.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 01:23:47 +0000
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