Intellectual liberal; knee-jerk conservative

I was raised in a small town in Illinois where Dagos and Pollacks were considered minorities.  There certainly weren’t any other ethnic groups to pick on.  This was a town where an African-American family tried to move in but no one would rent to them.  The man (with a Master's degree in music ed) had gotten the job of high-school music teacher mid-year because the local guy who was the current teacher had been found passed out drunk in the band room.  The smartest girls in the high school married the dumbest guys (I consider that to be the ultimate in undermining your own cause).  My father was the worst racist around (buried in some old diary of mine).  And, believe it or not, my great grandfather's parakeet hated Kennedy’s.  I am totally not joking.  When I was a little girl around 1960, I spent a lot of time on my grandparents farm (maybe this will be my Scranton someday).  My great grandfather would curse every time JFK came on the TV or radio ...  “God damn that Kennedy.  Etc. Etc. Etc”.  Great Grandpa was anti-union, anti-everything.  He hated John Kennedy so much that when my great grandfather died in 1968, the bird continued to chirp wildly every time he heard that accent.  I kid you not.  It truly was funny.

I didn't really take this stuff seriously and clearly didn't fit in.  Being the smartest girl in the high school sort of set me apart, and from that distance I knew I wanted the heck out of Tiny Town.  Of course, I went to California. Change was slow, however, and when I went to Berkeley for college in 1970, I honestly thought Brazil Nuts were called you-know-what.  I didn’t care much about politics but I did become a liberal and registered Republican to vote against Reagan.  After college, graduate school, and a postdoc at Wisconsin, I evolved into a full-fledged liberal.  But, still, under the surface, sometimes these old thoughts come out.  There are things that don’t fit with my usual political views.  I am sad about abortion although I am definitely pro-choice.  I am pretty sure that I am pro-death penalty.  Yes, I have to admit that one.

So, now, comes the purpose of this diary.  I had to phone Macy’s customer service today because it appears that I have had my identity stolen and need to get information on a charge card bill I got.  After several phone calls attempting to find a person whose accent I understand (probably part of my Midwestern genes, I can’t understand many foreign accents on the phone), I started asking to speak to someone in the United States.  After a while of this, I started realizing where these bad vibes were coming from ....  Great Grandpa and the Wolfe family tree.

So, the question is ... What does outsourcing really do to our economy?  Is it a bad thing or a good thing or a no-thing that Macy’s is totally gone to India?  I  get the reason they do this but what is the long-term effect? Certainly, more Indians will be able to buy Tata’s $2000 car and polute the world.  But, what else?  And, can I support companies who use US employees without destroying America and everything we hold dear?

PS  I know this is coming from a dark place I try to suppress but when it bubbles to the surface I need a place to channel it.