Old Harry

Just so you know where I came from unless you haven't figured it out.

My good friend Jules in Missouri sent me this piece and here is what I told him.

"You knew I would like that one didn't you Jules?

You trying to get me all warmed up?

Grandpa and dad were chairmen of the Democratic party in their day and school board president like me.

They loved Harry, give em hell Harry the buck stops here.

Now I stand for no one but my family. I have no one to vote for.

Sad state of affairs.

Beer summit, give me a break.

This is how I feel. If I am wrong I will learn from it. I never voted for Nixon but I did vote for Ronald Reagean and not because he was a movie star. I liked Gerald Ford, what a mess he inherited. Sorry, never liked the Bush's. Does that make me a bad person?

Of course not. Harry was a farmer like me and dad and grandpa and I guess we just saw a lot of things the same way. Dad always said he made the most money under Truman and that helped Grandpa retire in town. It worked out well.

"Harry Truman, from Missouri, was a different kind of President. He probably made as many important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.

Historians have written the only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri . On top of that, his wife inherited the house from her Mother.

When he retired from office in 1952, his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.

After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There were no Secret Service following them.

When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, 'You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale.'

Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, 'I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.'

He never owned his own home and as president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food. Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale. Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, 'My choices early in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference."

It is likely that we won't see another Democrat or Republican for that matter, like him again." I really believe that. I am hunting for the party of Common Sense, thank you Thomas Paine.

Hey, I have been wrong before and this is dangerous for a farmer to talk like this. Really? Shouldn't be. We still have that freedom and we need to defend it at all cost.

I better stick to crop production.

Ed