I’m a little bit ashamed. One of my heroes passed away just over a month ago and I did nothing to recognize his passing except sit on my patio with my dog and contemplate all the, “What ifs”.

The reason I haven’t mentioned anything about him is because I detest politics and at one time in the past this fellow became a politician. I feel like everyone is entitled to their own personal beliefs when it comes to religion, politics, and what kind of dog they choose to take up with.

When asked, I’ll talk about religion and pets. I avoid politics because it can be a sensitive subject for a lot of folks. Brussel Sprouts and politics both leave a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve been a democrat and I’ve been a republican. I’ve been displeased by both.

But there were a couple times I was an independent. My hero that passed away was an independent in 1992 and a third-party candidate in 1996. I tend to root for the underdog and Ross Perot was an underdog. There was no way America was going to elect a guy like him. However, both times he ran, his campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third party or an independent candidate in US history. – So says Wikipedia.

To me, he just made sense. I know he was quirky. His voice was a head turner. And he wasn’t much to look at. But I liked him. I’ve worked labor just about my whole life and there’s one thing he said when he was running that made me a believer. He said that if NAFTA was passed, we’d hear a gigantic sucking sound of jobs leaving the US. Time proved him to be correct. Thus he became the only presidential candidate to have a sticker gracing one of my vehicles.

I still have that red, white, and blue Ross Perot for PRESIDENT bumper sticker on my old truck. It’s looking kind of sad these days. It’s doing all it can to just hang on. I do have another one that’s in pristine condition. I keep that one with my collection of past presidential candidate bumper stickers.

My daughters have ribbed me over the years about that old sticker clinging to my truck, but I refuse to take it off. It is proof that just once in my life I voted for someone that never turned out to be a bad president. Someone I wasn’t ashamed of.

Once I was sitting in the barbershop when I guy walked in and was laughing about seeing an old truck parked outside that still had a Perot for President sticker on it. I looked up and said, “I wouldn’t laugh too loud, buddy. Perot never started a war. He was never impeached, nor were we attacked under his leadership.”

He looked at me, quit laughing and solemnly nodded, “I guess you’re right.”

“Yep.”

I’ve instructed the executor of my estate to be sure and slap that last Perot sticker on the end of my casket when my time comes. They can trash the Goldwater, Wallace, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Obama, and Trump stickers for all I care, but the Perot sticker goes with me.

So does that old Coke bottle filled with dirt from my homeplace in Mississippi, but it won’t stick to the outside of the casket.

So, here’s to my unsung hero. May you rest in peace Mr. Henry Ross Perot.

In the meantime, Spanky and I will raise the back-garage door, sit on the patio, and gaze at your sticker fading on the bumper of my old truck while contemplating all the, “What ifs”.

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Rick Algood
August 12, 2019