Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Jack Remembers: Buy American

There is an unwritten law that all politicians, Republican or Democrat, abide by, and that is, if you are running for public office, you drive an American made car. A close friend of mine decided to run for State Representative. Only one thing wrong, he was driving a Lexus, a luxury car made in Japan by Toyota. Before he filed for office, he sold his Lexus and bought a Buick.

I checked around to see if any of our state or local politicians were driving a foreign made vehicle, and found that Claire McCaskill was driving a Ford Flex, whatever that is, around Washington D.C. Ike Skelton, who has never driven a car due to having polio when he was a boy, does own a 2003 Chevy Malibu. My favorite State Representative Joe Aull from Marshall drives a Ford Fusion. State Representative Tom Shively from Shelbyville, a friend of mine, drives a Dodge Caravan.

I decided to ask our Lafayette County officials what they drove. Kellie Ritchie Lafayette County Prosecutor drives a Chevy Traverse. Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh drives a Ford 350 pickup. Gil Rector, Northern Commissioner drives an F-250, and Dale Ensor, the County Treasurer, drives an F-150 pickup. Presiding Commissioner Harold Hoflander owns Hoflander Ford, Lincoln & Mercury dealership in Higginsville, so there is no question about what he drives.

Several years ago we were having a reception and fund-raiser for Ike at Harrisonville. A young man from Independence volunteered to help Ike whenever we needed him. He was going to help at the Harrisonville event, but was late showing up, and when he did, he was out of breath. He said his dad had given him an old Volkswagon to drive and he had parked it at the edge of town so no one would see one of Ike’s helpers getting out of a foreign made car.

If we could get everyone in the country to file for an office, all our vehicles would be Made in America.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com

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