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The True Citizen, Wednesday, May 5, 2021 — Page 5A
Michael N. Searles
TO MY REPUBLICAN FRIENDS
Some reading this article
might say, “I didn’t know you
had any Republican friends.”
In truth, we all do. We work,
teach, enjoy a sporting event,
and attend church with some
who hold political views differ
ent from our own. In most cas
es, the issue of politics does not
come up. We share so much
that it is sad that we cannot
sit down and talk about those
things that connect us. I am
a Democrat and I am pleased
with the progress we have
made as a nation, but I believe
there are Republicans who
also are pleased. How many
Republicans thought receiving
$1,400 was a bad idea? How
many Republicans like the
idea that Georgia has the third-
worst rate of uninsured citizens
lagging behind only Texas and
Oklahoma or that 1.4 million
Georgians go without health
insurance? Are the only unin
sured in Georgia Democrats? I
suspect a significant number of
Georgia Republicans are living
today under the shadow of ill
health and possible medical
bankruptcy.
Republican leaders will
decry the expense of federal
programs and the overarching
presence of the federal govern
ment. Yet, those same Republi
can leaders have no solution for
the problems that plague our
state. If the citizens of Geor
gia had not elected Senators
Ossoff and Warnock, would
we have received the $1,400?
There was a time when Georgia
along with other southern and
rural areas had no access to
electricity. While electricity
was commonplace in the cit
ies, it was largely unavailable
on farms, ranches, and in other
rural places. It was the Rural
Electrification Act of 1936
that provided federal loans for
the installation of electrical
distribution to serve isolated
rural areas of the country. In
the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, we
did not hate the government;
we saw it as a lifeline.
The idea that government
undermines personal liberty
is a more recent phenomenon.
There are things we can do on
our own and there are things we
can only do together as a soci
ety, as a government. There are
times in our history when big
change is necessary. Nearly
everyone knew that something
dramatic needed to be done
during the Great Depression.
The population in general and
especially the elderly suffered;
however, their suffering was
seen by those in power as the
price for living in America.
President Franklin Roosevelt
signed the Social Security Act
into law on August 14, 1935.
This single piece of federal
legislation lifted millions of
elderly out of dire poverty.
Yet not everyone supported it.
Republicans and conservative
Democrats made accusations
about the program's influence
on the economy and insinuated
that the program was socialist.
The American Bar Association
and the U.S. Chamber of Com
merce denounced Social Secu
rity as an attempt to "Sovietize
the country" and a compulsory
socialistic tax. Other opponents
lamented the high payroll tax
that the Social Security Act re
quired to finance the program.
It is not surprising that Presi
dent Biden’s call for gen
erational changes in transpor
tation, housing, digital infra
structure, home care services,
social safety net programs,
child care, education and clean
energy has been met with such
fierce resistance.
Unlike the Repub
lican 2017 tax bill, SEARLES,
Biden has plans 6A
With Mother’s Day just
around the bend, I am remind
ed of the many women who
have influenced my life, sev
eral who are even younger than
I am and aren’t yet mothers by
the technical definition. But
they’ve mommied me on vari
ous occasions when I needed it.
Then there’s my grandmothers,
my aunts, friends’ mothers,
older friends of mine, teach
ers, college professors. I am
blessed by an array of caring,
compassionate women who
have guided and molded me
over these last 39 years.
But I have to say I fail to give
my own mother, the one I gave
that title to, the one who carried
me in her womb and on her
hip until I was brave enough
to venture on my own, enough
praise and credit. This column
is dedicated to her.
The teenage years between
mother and daughter are a
rough road to travel, to say the
least. I am currently the mom
to a 19-year-old girl, and while
I know I don’t experience near
what some of my other mama
friends have or are currently
going through, I have to admit
that every (however sporadic)
Diana Royal
SWEET ANNIE
eye roll makes me respect my
mama even more. I was a total
pain in the you-know-what,
a holy terror. People never
believed that because I was
raised to have manners and
was mean only to my mama.
Yet rather than fuss and fight
with me, she’d calmly tell me
she understood I needed an
outlet for my frustrations. That
kind of love is comparable only
to Godly love. She’s always
known, even now, when I’m
hurting or stressing or what
ever, and I know she’s right
there, waiting to talk. The
only reason she doesn’t offer
unsolicited advice now is due
to my hateful responses in the
past. I am ashamed of that, but
like people say, the truth hurts.
In my earliest memories,
Mama woke me up every
morning, calling me her sun
shine and telling me I was
beautiful. She says when I was
a little girl and a stranger would
tell me I was pretty that I’d
bat my eyelashes and respond
with, “I know,” stretching out
that vowel and flashing my
dimples. Might sound conceit
ed, but I didn’t know any other
way of thinking. My mama
made me feel beautiful and
special. I lived my childhood
the way the blondheaded baby
girl in “The Help” did, hearing
the “You is kind. You is smart.
You is important,” mantra on a
daily basis. Mama instilled in
me very early on to be proud
of who I was.
She took me to church, made
sure I had money for the offer
ing and showed me that giving
and praying were two of the
most important things a person
could ever do.
She taught me compassion,
to smile genuinely at people
and to appreciate a good joke
with a hearty laugh, a few tears
and a little bit of belly pain.
Mama let me make my own
decisions, whether it was try
ing to dye my hair bright pink
with Kool-aid mix or listening
to music others might say was
unsuitable. She was right there
beside me singing 90s rap. Our
favorite jam was Warren G’s
“Regulate,” and Mama always
wanted to “be” Nate Dogg.
When he died unexpectedly,
she left work early and we
spent the day together, eating
junk food and rapping like
fools.
Watching my mother with
my own child has been the
greatest gift of all. She’s shown
me the type of mama I strive
to be. She never asks for any
thing in return, except maybe
a hug or two (or 20). She’s
kissed booboos and spent hours
searching for lost stuffed ani
mals; she’s loved
me despite my
flaws and through Dri vAi
all my less than ROYAL,
remarkable mo- 6A
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To be included in the Burke
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contact Roy Chalker
at 706-554-2111.