My father's family is from the South.
The roots of this family are tinged with heartache: racism, alcoholism, abuse and criminal activity.
They are a group of people who are intelligent, well read, patriotic, religious, artistic, loving and dedicated to trying to be better tomorrow than they are today.
Oftentimes they fail but their strength is in their willingness to get up and keep trying to be a better version of themselves.
Due to the death of the older generation there is no longer the unity on that side of my family that there once was - it was fragile to begin with but now it is virtually non-existent.
My mother's family came here from Italy.
We are not the typical Italian family depicted on television or in the movies. Our roots are in the North and occasionally there will be a savvy Italian American comic who will make that distinction in their routine and only those of us raised with the Northern Italian Mindset get the joke - it is on us, but we don't care because deep down? We think we are better than the rest of ya....so there.
From both my mother and my father I receive a life message that I freely give to you:
If you want to a good idea of a person's character, look at their companions.
Now, as with all pithy sayings, this one is so general as to be problematic. If I see a young priest on LA's Skid Row, going from tent to tent and delivering fresh socks and meals while laughing with the people and calling many of them by name? I am seeing someone ministering to the poor. And there will be a really good chance that the young priest in question will say to me, "These are my friends". Why? Because that is what we do - Christians work in the depth of poverty and despair - and so I would not judge him to be a drug addict, a criminal, too mentally ill to work, or any other knee jerk judgment I may be tempted to make of someone else hanging out on Skid Row. So that's on me. I have to remember, when I am discerning, that the immediate evidence of 'this is what I see' could be faulty.
However, I also challenge the idea that the every day person who hangs out with criminals, drug runners, violent men and women etc. is not revealing something about themselves. As we say in my 12 step program, go to the barber shop enough times and you are going to get a haircut.
I guess the difference could lie in 'intent'.
If I go to the barber shop every day to make sure the people there are okay - they are eating well, getting enough sleep and know they are considered valuable - then I am going to check in with them, hang for a minute and then be on my way.
I might ever wear a hat so I can remind myself that my hair is not the reason I am at the barber shop.
Anyway - what the heck am I getting at here?
In 2008 I started to edge my way out of the Republican Party. I found the party's choice of a Vice-Presidential candidate to be problematic. I liked their candidate for President but I was concerned at the reaction of many of my Catholic brothers and sisters to the VP choice. Many were already touting her as a Presidential candidate for 2012 and the best I could figure out as their reason was that she had given birth to a child with special needs, thus affirming a wonderful pro life stance in the public square. As much as I admired her for that, I did not think it was enough to make her a viable candidate for President and, because of her relatively shaky record of management in Alaska, I wasn't comfortable with her being a 'heartbeat from the presidency'.
I voted Republican that year because I really did not think I had a choice. The Libertarian Party did not suit me - unlike when I was 18 and just wanted marijuana to be legal. The Democratic Party was leaving me behind because of their commitment to abortion on demand at all stages of pregnancy. I just could not support that and I could not find a third party to help me out.
By the time 2016 rolled around I had had enough of the Duopoly. I was preparing myself for not voting for a Presidential Candidate for the first time in my voting life.
It was then I found the American Solidarity Party.
I remember reading the platform and thinking, "Oh my gosh, I can vote for these people."
Now, I had a lot to learn. I did not understand what Distributism was so I needed to learn and to my delight the people I met through this party helped me. I read documents by Popes and listened to lectures by professors and kinda sorta got it enough to understand it is not socialism and is not about saying private ownership of property is evil.
I also delighted in the types of discussions we had - people were so willing to listen to each other, to disagree without being disagreeable and quick to condemn what someone like me sees as obvious. Riots are bad. Destroying property be it personal, federal or state or local, hurting people in the name of justice is bad. Civil disobedience can be productive and good in the face of unjust laws. Protesting and marching can be effective in letting the powers that be know there are large numbers of Americans who support the protection of life from conception to natural death. Abortion is wrong. Now let's discuss the best ways to irradiate it. We support Natural Law and that a marriage is between one man and one woman. Now how do we work to protect the civil rights of all Americans regardless of their sex, religion, orientation, etc. etc.
The party went through an upheaval. Many left because we did not pull left enough for them. There was a power struggle in which names were called and accusations were hurled but never once during that time, even with the most 'radical' that were leaving the party, did anyone threaten anyone's livelihood or physical well being. We got mad at each other. People left. We started to rebuild and came out on the other side with a firmer understanding of who and what we are - we are a viable third party alternative to people committed to an agenda that supports true social justice.
This past election we ran Brian Carroll for President and made some significant inroads. Our membership has tripled in the past year. Since the events at the Capitol I have seen a steady stream of 'likes' every day on our Facebook page.
We will never be everyone's cup of tea but we are making progress.
With that in mind, I give you all the opportunity to learn more about us. My suggestion?
Start with learning who is now on our Advisory Board.
https://solidarity-party.org/about-us/
Women and men who want to affect change in this country in a positive and loving way are on this board.
To me this matters. Now, it may not to you - in fact, it may not impress you at all. I have had people tell me that this is no guarantee that our Party is a good party, or that its rank and file members will not behave badly and you know what, that is true. Shoot, I remember when a troop of Boy Scouts, back in the 1960's, lined up in the parking lot of Candlestick Park to flip off the Niner's Coach at the time because our record was so awful.
However, much like the principle taught me by my family, I believe you can learn a great deal about a person or a group by looking at either its membership or who that person hangs out with on a daily basis.
I believe it is possible for you to read out statement of principles, look at the people on our Advisory Board, read out platform and get an solid idea of whether or not you believe we represent a group of people who would burn buildings in protest, storm a Capitol in protest, surround a woman trying to eat dinner in a restaurant and scream obscenities at her until she has to flee or if anyone in our leadership would, like Maxine Waters of LA, encourage that behavior.
And if you are worried that we are not what we are saying we are - that perhaps we are a Barber Shop - you can always wear a hat.
List of Advisory Board Members for ASP:
Lois Kerschen
Leah Libresco Sargeant
John Medaille
Dr. Daniel Philpott
Dr. Charles Camosy
Dr. Erick Schenkel
Charles Marohn
Ambassador Oscar R. de Rojas
Dr. Patrick Deneen
Susannah Black
Dr. George Yancey
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