Mark Small

People of the 38% are not simply jerks. They are damn mean - joyful, in 1970, when students who protested an idiotic war were shot and killed; self-righteous when they drove a nice kid away from their school system. 5/16

The 2016 election for President illustrated how the 38% can assert itself. Those people turned out, voted, and got the GOP ticket for Prez/VP close enough that, with some well-placed hacks, the dictators of all the Russias got to pick that ticket as the winner. 6/16

At other times the 38% was with us. Gun nuts who showed how brave they are by walking into Starbucks locations, handguns on hips, daring anyone to question their Second Amendment right. (Hint: The Second Amendment should not be put on display for its own sake.) 7/16

In undergrad, during the summers, I worked construction. One guy, at a job site in Indy, was defiant when he said no one ever would take away his eight-cylinder Ford LTD and 8/18

sneered that for every person who tried to reduce pollution through conservation, he would just drive more miles. He had little concern for the environment or anyone other than himself. 9/16

At its peak, the USA, with only five percent (5%) of the World’s population, owned or controlled half the World’s wealth. Many Americans enjoyed a standard of living that brought material comforts with little effort. 10/16

Eventually the economic bubble that followed World War II did not burst but sagged. Jobs in factories disappeared as the factories reduced, or moved out of the USA, operations. Some line workers had made over $50,000 per year - in 1980 dollars. 11/16

Kokomo is the county seat of Howard County, in which Russiaville is located. Indiana’s 5th Congressional District contains part of Howard County. Other towns in the 5th had economies based on factories. 12/16