It seems to me inflation has been going on since I was old enough to buy things. I’m 68 so that’s been a while. With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 I witnessed the beginning of the decline of the middle class.

“Blue Collar” workers had been enjoying a good living wage — able to buy a home, put a car in the garage and raise a family on one income. Reagan didn’t like such contentment. He was all in with wealthy people and big corporate lobbyists who wanted less regulation so they could increase profits.

The wage earner was apparently getting too big of the cut.

It was the era when big business was given the go to set up shop in countries that didn’t have labor and environmental restrictions like the U.S. I watched factories shut down in my home city and my age group go on unemployment until they found something else. Many didn’t and found comfort in substance abuse instead. Reagan wanted the middle class to appreciate the wealthy crumbs trickled down and pull their own selves up by their bootstraps.

And prices continued to go up. It didn’t seem to matter that setting up shop in unregulated countries put huge profits in corporate pockets. Being able to breath clean air and having clean water to swim and recreate in, to drink, comes at a price. Corporate was not willing to pay that price.

The middle class dwindled further with automation. Technology is great except it outsources jobs.

Then came propagandists like Rush Limbaugh convincing the middle class the fault of inflation and no jobs was the liberals. Liberals want social justice, a living wage, a safety net when things get rough, health benefits, good public schools, roads and hospitals, regulation of corporate so we can have clean air/water, an elected government that governs for the people and upholds the Constitution. Liberals are not to blame for inflation.

It doesn’t take a degree in economics to see the blame lies with corporate greed and control and the wealthy who wield their power over some pretty slimy politicians.

A writer in the Nov. 28 issue of the Homer News went to great lengths to explain inflation. The writer said that factual data needs to be presented rather than “bombast” — like calling Vice President Harris a “border czar,” I suppose. The writer said we should all have faith in the “ameliorating process of congressional deliberation” yet believed the “diversity” of Trump’s nominated cabinet members is “remarkable.” Remarkable indeed. Couldn’t find a more remarkable troop of millionaires and billionaires to run the country.

We have no choice but to put hope in the congressional process. This is the season of hope.

I agree with Commonweal writer Jim Sleeper when he suggested Trump has “twisted and co-opted the spirit of liberty.”

The people are hungry for bread and he gives them a circus show. Sleeper offers some poignant quotes from great historical writers such as Benjamin Franklin — “this Constitution with all its faults … can only end in despotism, … when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.”

This Trump person is a twisted character with despotic tendencies. Before it’s too late and our history gets taken away from us, everyone should start studying it.

I read that U.S. voter turnout was only around 55% this election. And 50% of them prefer the lies and circus show entertainment, believing inflation woes are hell on earth and are willing to give up living in a democracy that grants amazing freedoms. The meaning of contentment escapes most. There is a bigger picture out there.

My best friend likes to quote an old commercial fishing captain he knew — “often what seems to be, isn’t!”

Therese Lewandowski has lived in Homer for 42 years, is currently retired and enjoying life with family and critters on her hobby farm while keeping herself educated on civics and political topics.