This is where I lived with my husband and first baby in 1976. We were in the unit on the right. Lehi has really grown since we lived in this duplex which then sat on a simple street without sidewalks or neighbors. It was purchased by Glen's father as an investment property. I drove by it the other day after shopping in Lehi and took this picture.
1976 was a presidential election year and a bicentennial celebration year honoring the formation of The United States of America in 1776. Jimmy Carter won that year beating Gerald Ford who had been vice president before becoming the president when Nixon resigned over Watergate. Carter was a one term president. That was my hope for Obama.
I truly was surprised at the amount of despair I felt as I realized that Mitt Romney would not be our next president last Tuesday evening. It has been a hard four years. I was so ready for a change. I spent a long night tossing and turning. I really do worry for my grandchildren who will carry the burden of big government and mandates with its inherent loss of freedoms and agency. California has led the way and I worry that they will be our first bailout, our Greece.
With Carter we entered a phase of run away inflation. I dreaded my grocery store runs, knowing that prices always went up while the food budget didn't. Interest rates for home loans were in the double digits. It was a constant squeeze. It felt scary. That is how I feel now. Scared and worried.
It's interesting to compare the two maps and see the changes in red and blue states in the last 36 years. Notice how close the popular vote was in both elections. It seems hardly worth it to vote for president unless you live in one of the swing states with their valuable electoral votes. But I will vote. I won't squander that right.
How the election shaped up by county in 2012
On this Veteran's Day it is hard to know that generations of men and women have sacrificed to uphold our freedoms and principles. Now we are told that the culture is changing and we have to change, too. I know that the world is changing and there will be change, but I also know that a strong country needs strong and committed families who value work and honesty and taking the higher road.
As a Mormon watching a Mormon run for President of the United States, I also felt very much like Daniel C. Peterson who described his feelings here. He is of my generation and a Mormon and he states it so well.
1 comment:
I love you mom and appreciate your passion and experience. The last four years have been an unbelievable wild ride for us too. Don't be too down about events you can't personally change, you are always so wise with your advice. You've saved me in some hard moments with your perspective. You will have to show me this duplex sometime in person, and we can show you where Andrew lived(with a wolf tethered to a backyard tree) when he was a boy.
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