"It's those rich 1%ers, man."

I went to the local food market to get cheese for the pizza I was making for dinner. As I walked out of the market there were a couple of employees being lightly chastised by their boss for not putting the carts away fast enough. A man ahead of me over heard the total conversation. As he  loaded his truck with his bought items, I caught his eye and he told me what had happened; I told him I was in a similar position when I worked at a zoo. Then the conversation became interesting. It went something like this.

"I make neon lights with my hands. When I go home I still work because you need to get ahead of the game in this design business," he said. "I had a coworker get yelled at because he wasn't doing his work. Man, the boss is an old guy. Probably mid 70s. He's 'tight'." (By 'tight" I guess strict, old fashioned.)

"Oh really?" I said.

"Yea, you're a young guy. You know, it's those Republicans and Democrats that are screwing this country up. Especially those rich one percenters, white Republicans. It ain't the Jews ... It's ain't the blacks ... No, no. It's those rich one percenters."

God fucking dammit. Why me?

"If you read history, the rich are just fucking us over. The Rockefellers? Well they were the first millionaires this country had. They had the railroad business and then they started investing their money everywhere, buying stuff out. It's the same with these rich Republicans. They control the corporations."

"Hmm. Interesting." I position my body to exit the conversation -

"It's not just the corporations, it's also the media. Once you piece everything together it becomes clear. The rich buys the lobbyists and the lobbiyst buy out the senators. The lobbyists work for the rich. That's why Obama, though he can say this and that, won't accomplish much because he has no control over Congress. They're bought and sold. Ever heard of Bernie Sanders? Well Sanders went into the VA and fired the lazy guys who weren't giving out the benefits. I say vote for him. You gotta vote - that's the only way to change this country. Look him up."

I nod my head to acknowledge I heard him.

"The rich voted in that guy Reagan. All this anti-union and the economic crap started with him. He's the one who started deregulating all the businesses because it kept the rich rich."

I nod again.

"That Rauner sh*tbag ... He just invested tons of money into making this state a right-to-work-for-poor (right-to-work), that's my spin on it. He wants to kill unions. I'm in the union and make $40 an hour."

"Pretty good dough."

"Slavery ended here in this country, but it moved over seas."

"What do you mean?"

"The Republicans are moving business over seas for cheaper labor."

Other things were said that I can't remember. After he was done talking we said our good-byes.