I broke my ankle in early 2015 and was out of work for a few months. During that time I was very bored, and watched the news all the time. I turned from one station to the next and back again. The Presidential election for 2016, was already ramping up and that was the bulk of what I saw on the news. Hillary Clinton, along with Donald trump was dominating the news channels, main stream and on cable. Each channel had their own versions of what the people needed in a president. I was stymied that the different channels, seemed to be supporting either the republican side or the Democratic side. Where was I going to find the truth. I was not a writer back then and had loads of free time waiting for my injury to heal. I began to surf the internet. I looked up both candidates that the tv had shoved in my face.
Being a life long republican, I searched Trump first, and a handful of other Gop candidates. Trump was a businessman and a reality tv star. But he had no political experience at all. He did however have a lot of articles about his life and business dealings. Here we had a billionaire who had filed bankruptcy over nine times during his life thus far. I read about Trump college, where people signed up and paid, and then never got an education, or their money back. I had friends who also worked in construction like me, and we would discuss politics at work until I got hurt. I remember one morning, I was asking what the other guys thought about the wall proposed by Trump. Some wanted it and some didn't. Two of my coworkers shared that he was a hypocrite. Oh I asked surprised? He has illegals working on most of his properties they said. How do you know I asked really wanting the truth. One of the guys said, because we worked on a project of his for two years. We became friends with some of the staff. We would all smoke outside together. We talked every day. It is just a fact we know is true.
I dug further online and found even more disturbing information. This guy was a misogynist, just like Bill Clinton. I found stories and pictures of Bill and Donald partying and golfing, and hanging out as friends. I even found a picture of Hillary with Donald Trump and his sons from many years ago. I grew a quick distaste for Trump and his racist bigotry. I then began to search about Hillary Clinton. Her early political life seemed harmless, but as I read more and more about her, I understood, that she always voted in favor of new laws that would benefit the wealthy and not us, the people. She stood for a lot of the same thing that her husband stood for and I wasn't crazy about him either. I watched them both on the tv. They were both arrogant and to me it seemed very cold hearted. Money was all they were about. It was then I realized that it was our senators, who would write a bill, (new law), and submit it to the house and senate, to turn it into law.
One day while watching the news the commentator made a reference to a crazy old senator from Vermont named Sanders, who was going to run against Hillary in the primary presidential race. He laughed and said yea a socialist, what a joke. They dismissed him and it was back mostly to Trump and a string of nobody candidates, and Hillary and the same. I began to look into Sanders. I found articles galore where he would propose a bill and both the republicans and the democrats would just vote it away, saying it was bad for our country. I found video clips of Sanders speaking on the house floor about one or another of his bills. I began to watch and listen to them. The man, to me, made perfect sense. Every thing he tried to propose into law, benefitted the average citizen. But both parties wanted nothing to do with that.
I, for some reason, was resonating with everything this crazy old guy said. When I saw one clip, about the rich taking advantage of the rest of us, I was stunned. I kept listening very closely. how is it I thought that this man was not already our president. Where was he hiding all this time. With a more in depth look, I found where he was hiding. He had been working for us in the senate the whole time. Only neither party gave him the time of day. He was for the people, and they seemed to be with the top one percent.
I eventually saw him live online in a Bernie Sanders for president group in facebook. He was on fire, speaking the same things I heard him saying on the videos from past years, only this time, the average people were hearing him too. He started his campaign with twenty people around a campfire in Vermont. I was caught, hook, line, and sinker. Never before in my life had I heard a politician talking against the rich and powerful people in control of our country. How a small group at the top of the food chain was sucking up all the money. Trillions in profit to the top, while the American people suffered in sickness, poverty, and low wages. How there was no American dream. How generation after generation struggled to give their kids a better life. A better life that has still not surfaced. Our kids today are still struggling just to survive, while the elite wealthy few have it all.
Sanders was fighting for a healthcare for all plan, paid by our taxes. College too, paid for with tax dollars. He ranted about why should we send billions and billions of our tax dollars abroad, when we could use them here at home to benefit our own people. To me it made great sense. He talked of financial inequality and social injustice. About the rigged economy and political system. About the corrupt Judicial system. Every word he spoke hit home.
I switched from republican to Democrat, to vote for him in the primary. I began stumping for Bernie online. Every day I would spend hours writing and sharing about this man, and his awesome ideas to help all Americans. My page grew to over three thousand followers very quickly. Americans were beginning to understand, what in over a century had taken place. We had become financial slaves to the top one percent. I would write four of five paragraphs and post on every news site I could. It didn't take long before I realized not many people were reading my posts. Then I saw why. The longer posts had less reactions than the shorter ones. I began to shorten my posts and still try and get the point across. In no time, my short one paragraph stories were getting hundreds of likes. I tried even harder to shorten them further.
When I was able to put up a short five sentence or less post, thousands of reaction began hitting my post for Bernie. Within a few days, facebook had banned me from posting. My page was hacked, and I was no longer a force for Bernie. A few weeks later, he lost to Hillary. The news media had just about blacked him out the entire primary race. Not one station left or right had anything nice to say about him, if they said anything at all. But millions and millions of Americans supported him anyway. His message was and still is, loud and clear.
My ankle was better and I could walk again. I went back to work, but found I was extremely empty inside. I worked in my gardens, canned food, added ducks to my chicken coop, and still, there was a loneliness in my soul. The general election came and went. Trump beat Hillary. I could not have cared less. For me, it was not about Republican vs Democrat, it was about the American people versus the wealthy elite controlling class. We the people had already lost at the primary. Big money would remain in control.
I was in the chicken coup one morning and an idea came to me. Write a story about the chickens and grandkids. The next morning I began to write for the first time in my life. I wrote Pop Pop's Helpers. It was the first story I ever wrote. It was followed by several more short stories, all included in The Adventures of Mya and Jordan. Other Ideas were coming into my head also. I found on several occasions I would awake near three am, with a story pounding in my head and chest to come out. Those stories just came out led by some force other than me. The story of Sarah and Jake, Releasing the soul, the Confession, and of coarse my favorite, Melissa. Melissa was written in 2017. In 2019 the story about our politicians and Jeffery Epstein was brought to light. It was as if they stole my story.
Anyway, this year, 2020, I tried to make a separate facebook page so I could campaign for Bernie Sanders again, but Facebook permanently banned me from commenting or posting from that page. Then I tried to open another page. I was informed by facebook I could no longer open any more pages. That is why you have seen some political posts on my writing pages. I would not even be a writer had it not been for Bernie Sanders. In honor of him, my stories have always been free for ALL to read. Rich and poor alike. And also like Mr. Sanders, my stories are clean and uplifting, they touch emotions I forgot I had.
Currently I still have my two story blogs and my personal page, consisting of over 25,000 followers. I do my best to say hello when I can, and even touch your page occasionally. When I say I love you, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. So to those of you who are still around and enjoy the stories, now you know a little more about me. Peace to you all and have a wonderful life. I love you! <3 Mike