Could My Parents Afford Their Life Today?
I received another major endorsement this week, and this one got me thinking about my parents.
I'm honored to have received the endorsement of the Rhode Island Laborers' District Council.
Of the 23 State Senate candidates they endorsed, 21 are incumbents. I'm one of only two non-incumbents to receive their endorsement. You can read their endorsement here.
That makes it particularly meaningful, but there's another reason this one is personal.
My Dad Was a Union Cabinetmaker
My father was a cabinetmaker for over 50 years and a proud member of Local 94.
For more than 40 of those years, he worked for the same company, Hope Store Fixtures.
This isn't a story about whether you're pro-union or anti-union.
It's a story about my dad, the life my parents were able to build, and what a good job meant to a working family.
My parents weren't rich.
My father went to work every day. My mother stayed home and raised the three of us until my younger sister graduated from high school.
They owned a home.
They raised three children.
They sent all three of us to college.
All three of us graduated in four years, and we did it with minimal debt.
My father's job provided more than a paycheck. His union membership provided another level of stability and protection that gave my parents confidence as they planned for their family's future.
Work hard. Live within your means. Take care of your family. Give your children opportunities you didn't have.
That was the deal, and I think a lot of people my age grew up with some version of that story.
Could My Parents Do It Today?
That's the question this endorsement got me thinking about.
Could my parents afford their life today?
Could a young couple starting out in Rhode Island today buy a home, raise three children and eventually help send them to college?
Could they do it without accumulating a mountain of debt?
Could one parent even consider staying home with the children for a period of time, and could they have some confidence that if they worked hard, played by the rules and lived within their means, they'd be okay?
For an increasing number of working families, those things feel much further out of reach.
That's What Affordability Means to Me
We talk about affordability constantly.
Usually it comes with statistics, percentages and charts, but affordability isn't really a statistic.
It's whether a teacher, carpenter, nurse, electrician, police officer, small business employee or other working Rhode Islander can afford to build a life here.
Can you afford a home?
Can you raise a family?
Can you put a little money away?
Can you give your children opportunities, and after a lifetime of working, can you afford to stay in the community you helped build?
That's the standard that matters to me.
Economic progress shouldn't simply mean that Rhode Island collects more revenue or spends more money.
It should mean that the people who live and work here have a reasonable opportunity to get ahead.
A Special Endorsement
The Laborers wrote in their endorsement that I come from a union building-trades family and understand firsthand the difference a union can make for working families.
They're right.
I saw it growing up.
I'm proud to have earned their endorsement.
I'm proud to be one of only two non-incumbent State Senate candidates they chose to endorse, but most of all, I'm proud to be the son of a cabinetmaker who went to work for 40 years and, together with my mother, built a good middle-class life for our family.
My parents gave the three of us opportunities they didn't have.
That's the American promise I grew up believing in, and I don't think it's asking too much to want the next generation of Rhode Island families to have that same opportunity.
