by Jean Liebert
I joined my union sixty years ago
To have health insurance I couldn’t lose
And a pension when work-days were over.
I’ve paid for both, plus union dues.
Did Blue Cross lose money on me?
I laugh at that. (It’s so absurd.)
My pension has managers who invest
And fight off government raids, I’ve heard.
What’s the news today from Wisconsin?
“Our wages were always higher than others.”
Not true but not unreasonable.
Our education oft exceeds our brothers.
Walker says our health costs are lower.
True. This can’t be dealt with by yourself.
But when you were offered a ‘public option,’
You foolishly blocked its adoption.
What’s the bottom line?
Is the Middle Class on its way out?
Beware these righteous governors.
They all want to take away your clout!
Jean Thurston Liebert, age 92, lives in Corvallis, Oregon. She writes poetry, short stories and a novella, Another World. Her published work is included in Apricot Memories, a non-fiction history of the apricot industry in California; Linn Benton Community College’s Collections; the Oregon Writers Colony anthology, Take a Bite of Literature and the online site New Verse News. Her 2010 fiction was cited as notable by Oregon Writers Colony.
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