I tuned in late to Ed’s radio program this morning and something was different. His voice was lower and quieter than usual. I thought he had a cold. Ed normally has the righteous rage cranked up but not today. I was listening less to the words but to the tone of his voice. It was subdued, almost inaudible and maybe a little somber which of course made me listen even more intently. Ok…….,what’s up?

He took a female caller who explained what the loss of the payroll tax deduction would mean to her and her family. Her weekly loss would be around $30 and trying to remain calm, she said, “That’s my gas money. That’s the money I need to get to work every week”.

Another caller, a man from Colorado said he was employed by the state.
“Ed, you know it snows a lot here and my snow shovel is broken. I was going to use that money from next weeks’ check, to buy a new shovel and now I don’t think I can”.

Ed responded and honestly, I’m not sure what he said because I was stuck on the shovel.Here’s a 30ish year old man, employed full time by the State of Colorado and he was on a national radio show telling us that he couldn’t afford to replace a broken shovel. A SHOVEL.

Of course I realized then, why Ed was so subdued. He had invited folks to call in and tell him and us, how important that extra money in their paycheck was. These calls had streamed in for about fifteen minutes before I tuned in and what he heard, affected him. He wasn’t alone.

During a commercial break, I could feel myself starting to get upset. I promised myself that I wouldn’t go there today. I have outrage fatigue and I really didn’t want to dwell on what the Republicans had done, to put these poor folks in so desperate a place. As all this was going through my head, Ed took another call.

“Hi Ed, I’m a small business owner. I used to have a lot of employees but the recession has been so hard on my business, I had to let almost all of them go. I still have two though. You know Ed, I have a scrap metal business and we work really hard to make ends meet. The two guys I have left, one of them has a 2 year old kid. I decided that if they take this money out of their paychecks, I can’t really afford to, but I would add that money back, to make up the difference”.

There was a change in Ed’s voice as he asked this man “So you would make up the difference, even though you really can’t afford to”?

“Yes I would”.

A few off topic calls came in and then Ed took a call from a woman, who’s voice was determined and resolute.

“I have small business too, Ed. I have more employees than your previous caller, they work very hard. They can’t afford to have this money taken out of their paychecks. I can’t really afford to do this either but I will make up the difference too. I’ll take the hit, if it means they don’t have to”.

I’ll take the hit, if it means they don’t have to.
These are some of the folks who continue to give me hope.

Yeah, that’s the America I remember.