Vote on own pocketbook

I was a boy raised during the Great Depression of the 1930s. My mom was the provider for our family consisting of myself, a brother and a sister. My mom worked 10-hour days, six days a week as a cook in a railroad hospital. We had a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and were never hungry.

Most families in America were like ours economically. In the words of a comedian of those times, Sam Levenson, “We weren’t poor, we just didn’t have any money.”

Every family had to figure out for themselves how to get by. There was no government assistance program. We played kids games that cost no money. We saved 10 cents to spend on a Saturday afternoon movie. I cannot recall anyone being envious of families that had more to spend than theirs.

Today, it is quite clear that most persons vote their pocketbook. Personally, I have no disagreement with that practice. But I think it to be unconscionable for anyone to vote for a piece of someone else’s pocketbook.

Gene Sivertson

Spokane