Decision '72..
The wise and wonderful Mom over at 'The best is yet to be' recently posed the question,'Who was the first person you ever voted for to be President of the United States?'Congress had barely passed the law lowering the voting age when,as a freshly minted 18 year old,I threw myself in earnest into the political pool way back in 1972.
Those were heady days indeed!..
Youngsters nowadays have no clue about the kinds of things that weighed heavy on the minds of my generation.
The state of the world,and the socio-economic considerations that desperately needed to be addressed!
...for example.
**International terrorist groups dominated the nightly news!**
The Irish Republican Army bombing city streets at will,Pakistani extremists taking Israeli athletes hostage,and executing them at the '72 Olympics,and commercial jets being hijacked like there was no 
tomorrow..
**Homicidal third-world despots held their country in a relentless totalitarian grip**
..Idi Amin boasted that his role model was Adolph Hitler!**We were embroiled in an un-winnable war in Vietnam**
**Natural disasters crippled large sections of the country**
Hurricane Agnes,the worst in U.S. history, slammed into the Eastern Seaboard,causing a whopping 3 billion dollars in damages!..
**Don't even get me started on the energy crisis!**
Oil shortages around the globe caused the price of gasoline to soar above $1.00 a gallon!!..Oh,..there was a bright spot to be had for sure.
A phenomenal young swimmer by the name of Mark Spitz,electrified the '72 Olympics by winning an unprecedented SEVEN gold medals!
Boy howdy,..things were sure a lot different 36 years ago, when I cast my very first vote for Democratic nominee,George Mcgovern...
He lost by a landslide to Republican candidate, Richard 'Tricky Dick' Nixon.
If only he had won,pot would have been legalized!
..I guess we'll never know how things might have turned out.
Make chex payable to §£ïñg 9:59 AM
22 Bootleggers
22 Comments:
My first election was 1984..I voted for Mondale. That didnt work out either. I wonder what life would have been like..we would have had our first female vp and Sarah Palin probably wouldn't even have been heard of.
Pot is not legal?
1988 - Dukakis? wow. I've only voted 5 times, is that right?
Sage- It really,REALLY is time for a change!..
Pot's not exactly legal..but at least they no longer sentence you to 20 years in prison for smoking a joint.
Lost- ..rookie. ;)
when i was 21 i turned 21 a week or so after the election but i would have voted for Johnson. so my first time to vote for president was for hubert humphrey...sigh*
my daddy voted for nixion and boy did i give him hell for that..never let him forget it either..
1980 - Jimmy Carter. Didn't get my first win until Clinton in 1992.
Although I have never voted for a Republican for any office I can't bring myself to pull the straight Dem ticket lever. It would make me feel like a puppet.
i think palin's way crazier than eagleton but nobody's making her drop out.
i guess the standard was higher in 1972.
Yellerdawg- Don't be too hard on pops,I just heard that Bush's approval rating is lower than Tricky Dick's ever was.
Even after Watergate!
Thinker- I've never picked a winner.
I moved to Colorado too late to register
for Clinton.
Billy P.- We keep Sarah around because it's like watching a trainwreck in slow motion.
We just can't stop looking.
1976. I voted for Carter. I was just talking to one of the youngun's at work yesterday about what was going on in this country in the 70's. It helped put a little perspective on what is going on now and that the country has been through hard times before, yet has managed to survive. I guess it just feels uglier this time around.
There is nothing new under the sun.
I was out of the country when I turned 18 and didn't know how about absentee voting (my parents weren't exactly helpful about those sorts of things). I would have voted for Carter over Reagan. My first actual vote was for Mondale.
Did you know that in Monterey Park, Calif at the local McGovern campaign office where I had volunteered the FBI or the CIA or some govm't office had infiltrated the place and had a list and info on all of us that worked there for free? How do I know? I got a letter in the mail telling me so.......seems the undercover dude was outed. it was damn scary.
Evil G.- Let me guess..You didn't like the way Ford got shoved on us after Nixon resigned right?..me neither.
We'll make it through this,no doubt.
It's just that the older I get,the harder it gets.
Citizen- It's like there's some kind of historical form letter.
'Insert name and dollar amount here':_________
It's deja-vu all over again.
The polls are very encouraging,if you put any stock in that sort of suff.I think maybe I might just pick a winner this time.
Rosie- I didn't know that,but why am I not surprised..
Don't think for a minute that big brother isn't eavesdropping on ,this conversation!
1972 was an interesting year. remember going camping with our 4 small children while hurricane Agnes rained down on us. it was a bit scary when the big trees stated falling around us. We had to get a chain saw to get out of the camp ground.
In 1972 i was still a republican. Nixon was a local boy gone bad. Politics seems to corrupt people.
mom- I rode Hurricane Agnes out far away at Fort Riley Kansas.
I think you had a better time..
Nixon and Bush both suffer the same delusion that they are sovereign rulers,rather than public servants.
Ah Sling I feel so very tired considering this all. I rmeember Don avoiuded the draft by having the "lotto" type balls fall down either sider of his birthday whic was ... wait for it... July the
4th... your Independence day...his mother had promised to shoot his foot off if he was drafter - such was the family feeling against Vietnam....
Bloddy politicians - they are all rotton as far as I am concerned.
Sorry about my crap tyos but who is the dude in the last photo - he looks familiar!
Middle Child- It does get wearisome,I know.
Every politician from dog-catcher to President has promised 'change' for the last 36 years,yet in many ways,things are exactly the same.
Don't you fret about typos doll,..pobody's nerfect.
The guy in the last picture is George Mcgovern,the Democratic candidate that I voted for that year.
The more things change, the more they stay the same..
And it was 1980- Carter..
this was by far one of the best political posts I have read in a long time
Doralong- Those that don't remember the past,are doomed to repeat it...no kidding.
Mouse- Thanks kid! :)
Thanks for the reminder that the world was insane then too.
I voted for McGovern, then years later I saw him on TV trying to run a small hotel. He was appalled at all that was involved, payroll, taxes, licensing, etc.
And he wanted to run the country?
1976-Carter. Although my first political campaign was working for McGovern...going door to door as a frakking kid. And I still care deeply. I know it's the in thing to say that all politicians are corrupt and the process is too flawed to work and all that other blah blah blah but I guess I've always believed that the system is only as good as the people who participate in it. Sit on the sidelines and bitch or show up and do something about it. At least that way, even if your candidate loses, you can sleep at night knowing you did your bit.
I'm never looking for perfection in a candidate...just someone with intelligence and compassion and, this year, someone with a hot wife and 2 really cute little kids.
I really, REALLY hate to admit this...
But I was young and very very stupid and voted for George Bush, Sr. (I can't believe I didn't vote for Clinton the first time around!!!!)
Oh well, at least I never voted for Dubya! I don't think I could live with myself...
I'm very grateful that I grew up and came to my senses. :)
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home