(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . And still he calls us vermin • Daily Montanan [1] ['Steve Paulson', 'Jock Conygham', 'Edward Barta', 'George Ochenski', 'More From Author', 'June', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline'] Date: 2024-06-03 My wife and I – married 43 years now – are retired. Both of us grew up in the Midwest, descendants of poor immigrants. We both worked at jobs for our entire adult lives. So did our parents. We raised a daughter, who is also married, and who has also worked since she was a teenager. We pay our debts and pay our taxes. Because we oppose his political ambitions, Donald Trump calls us “vermin.” We’re not perfect, but we try to be good neighbors. We shovel the snow from our sidewalk and say “howdy” to people who walk past. We try to keep our yard clean. We take plates of Christmas goodies to our neighbors during the holidays and put up lights in our front yard every year. We wish folks a “Merry Christmas,” but we also understand that not everyone celebrates the same holidays that we do. We do our best. We try to drive with courtesy. We contribute to charity when we’re able, though we wish we could do more. We’re members of a church, and both of us serve on committees there. I spent a year as chair of our church council. Donald Trump calls us “vermin.” We don’t believe politicians have the right to lie to us. We don’t believe they have the right to turn Americans against each other, or to preach hate. We don’t believe politicians really love America if they embrace extremism and promote political violence. We can’t understand why a man who wants to be our president would show disrespect for the sacrifices of men and women who’ve served our country in wartime. We fly the flag on national holidays. When our daughter was in high school, we took her on a trip to Washington, D.C., visiting the Capitol, the Smithsonian, memorials to Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, FDR, the Vietnam War and the Korean War. We visited the National Archives to see the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And Donald Trump says we’re “vermin.” We try to patronize local businesses and support local jobs. We deal fairly and honestly with people the best we can. We believe in justice, truth, fidelity, kindness, honor, loyalty, patience, liberty, self-restraint, humility and hope. But Donald Trump calls us “vermin.” We believe America is filled with greatness and the potential for more greatness. But that greatness didn’t happen by itself. It took hard work, courage, enterprise, and devotion to principles. It didn’t come from a misguided belief that we were always perfect. It came from having the courage and capacity to change things for the better – to get rid of slavery, to stop denying the vote to women, to create Social Security and Medicare for the elderly… things like that. We believe in these things, and Donald Trump calls us “vermin.” Building this country took a belief in the future – among people who were born here and people who came here by choice. Together, they defended our nation, grew our food, cleaned our motel rooms, built our homes, healed our sick, educated our children, and stood up for what is right. We believe that leaders – at least in America – must seek to serve the people, and not to be worshipped or feared. We believe a president should never aim to enrich himself through the office. We believe leaders – in America, anyway – must instill loyalty, not to themselves, but to the country and the Constitution. We believe no president should deliberately violate his (or her) oath of office. We are loyal Americans. But Donald Trump – who wants to be our president – calls us “vermin.” Paulson lives in Billings. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/06/03/and-still-he-calls-us-vermin/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/