Conversation with American sheds light on confusing politics south of the border

There is an adage: Don’t judge people until you walk a mile in their shoes.

Many of us have judged Americans for electing the mercurial president currently holding office. A conversation with a Seattle resident visiting Moose Jaw shed light on why Americans supported this man for president. The American I spoke to was hesitant to reveal his citizenship as he realized his fellow citizens aren’t that popular elsewhere in the world.

Our conversation started about Boeing, one of the world’s top two commercial aircraft makers, located in Seattle.

Boeing faces difficulties with customers and aviation authorities over the safety issues on the Max 737 planes.

The Seattle man, also called Ron, said the Boeing leadership put profit ahead of safety after the head office moved to Chicago and executives became influenced by New York bankers.

“It was just greed,” he said.

My immediate thought: here is a socialist from the Democratic state of Washington.

Ron is a semi-retired budget consultant to school boards, a job that makes him wince because “there is never enough money.”

The school system he outlined appears nearly dysfunctional. Students who need to be in special education classes require parental approval. To get parental approval the schools “bribe” parents with expensive bus service.

Students can and do disrupt the classroom, hindering the opportunity to learn as in Canada. Classroom aides to prevent disruption reduce funds for teaching. No traditional discipline is allowed. Not even suspension from school is allowed. Single mothers on welfare assistance can only increase their payments by having another child. Without a father role model, many of these youngsters grow up being disruptive in school.

Charter schools which are essentially private schools where traditional discipline is allowed are popular. Their students have better achievement rates.

“But they are taking the cream of the crop.”

The school system wasn’t his only complaint.

Finding stores and trades that service the things they sell is almost impossible. Yet the big chains, Sears, K-Mart, Nordstrom grew large from their service to customers.

Often, he needs to drive 30 or 40 miles to buy what he needs. Instead he orders online from Amazon, avoiding the risks of driving with the perks of free delivery, quick service and usually lower prices.

Amazon, he says, is putting small businesses out of business.

Some see the solution to these American concerns is taxing the big corporations heavily, but he believes higher taxes will drive big business from America to lower taxed places.

He isn’t the only American who has seen his country’s greatness diminish over the years and wishes to restore life to what it once was.

The short conversation offered insights into why many Americans support the current president.

Not once during the conversation did we mention names of politicians.

Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net