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For forty-seven years I was a registered card-carrying Republican. For about half of those years I was a right-wing Republican a clear reflection of both my religion and my politics. In my late 20's and 30's I was a follower of the propositions of the ultra-right John Birch Society, a group of dedicated anti-communist activists. There was however, one element of the extreme far-right mentality I wholeheartedly rejected: the concept of the supposed purity and superiority of the white Anglo-Saxon protestant male and its corresponding manifestations such as the KKK and neo-Nazis.

I have lived under twelve presidents, from FDR on. I advocated support for and voted for Republicans such as Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, George Romney, Ronald Regan and George Bush Sr. (I was too young to vote for Eisenhower). And to this day, I am an admirer of Richard Nixon, apart from his colossal blunder. But, it is not in my nature to do as my grandfather ( a staunch Democrat) consistently did vote the party line. It did not matter who the person was, if he or she was not a hard-line Democrat, they did not get his vote.

Unlike my children and grand-children, I have lived through a world war (WW II), the Korean War, the war in Viet Nam and countless other conflicts around the globe. I have lived through recessions and time of un-heralded prosperity. I've seen the ups and down of Unions and workers and worked on each side. I've worked in big business and small business environment, in the trades and in both wholesale and retail businesses. I've lived and worked with farmers and loggers. I've been a grunt and I've been in upper middle-management. I've dug ditches and executed multi-million dollar contracts. I've worked directly with people in all regions of the Americas and in some fifty other countries I've dealt, in the course of business, with their culture and their banking systems and business practices. I've worked with homosexuals and women, served under Blacks in the military and lived in a Black neighborhood. I've seen first hand the shanty towns of the deep south and the poverty of the farm workers. I've served some time behind bars. I've had the experience of being homeless and I've ministered among the homeless, the mentally ill, and others in crisis. I cite all of this for one purpose only all of this has worked together to make me whatever I am today and has prepared the way for whatever I may become in my remaining tomorrows. All this stuff and much more, has colored

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