National Politics Is Everybody's Business

1964: THE YEAR I LOST MY MARBLES

I never went to college and I am computer illiterate. So what is it in my education that gives me the right to offer constructive criticism to our federal government on the many grave problems facing our country?

Over and above my constitutional right of freedom of speech, I hereby give you my educational background.

The first part of my education was strong parental guidance; secondly, I was drafted and spent two years (November 1952 to November 1954) in the U.S. Army Infantry, which was an education in itself. I was a businessman for 50 years in the wholesale/retail food business, dealing with the biggest business in the U.S. I watch all the TV news and financial channels, and I read one or more newspapers every day.

Perhaps my greatest education on what it means to be an American came from a great American (my father), John Batista Rigazio, who passed away in 1949. I was 17 and had just graduated from Spaulding High.

My father was the only person in his family who came over from Italy as a teenager. He was 58 when he died. He worked in the brickyards and later opened three retail fruit and produce businesses, plus one wholesale produce route. He himself spoke three languages fluently; however, he would not allow my mother to teach us Italian.

In his mind, we were Americans of Italian descent, not Italians living in America. He ingrained many American values in me which are too many to list. However, the one I could never forget was America was the land of opportunity, not the land of guarantee.

So in 1964, I was a 33-year-old businessman and family man and never wrote a letter to the editor, never questioned my federal government’s decisions. However, that all changed when Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) gave his inaugural speech. He said, in essence, America was a nation of unprecedented wealth. He listed many of our great assets.

He then said amongst all this wealth we in America still had citizens living in poverty, citizens not being able to afford a college education, some not having adequate health care, and last but not least, our older citizens were in need of federal programs to take care of them.

What LBJ said in his 1964 inaugural speech was he was GUARANTEEING all Americans everything because they were Americans.

My father, John Batista Rigazio (JBR), told me America was the land of OPPORTUNITY, not the land of guarantee.

From 1964 (the year I lost my marbles) I have been following our country’s building on the 1964/68 socialistic foundation laid out by LBJ and his great society programs.

There is no way in a letter to the editor I could give readers my views of America’s 1964 march to socialism. I will say, however, that we have more people dependent upon government to maintain their living standards. This is a direct result of trying to change America from the land of opportunity to the land of guarantee.

I suppose in retrospect if America could socialize on a balanced budget it would be OK. However, as President Reagan said, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you’ve got.”

Note: LBJ, from 1964-68, passed 450 socialistic bills, laying down the foundation for socialistic growth in America. I feel about 150 bills were probably needed and many existing laws needed to be enforced.