One of the good guys: HRC 25/100
22 August, 2016 | Index
Dear Hillary Clinton,
Gerard Mclean here, writing to you from Englewood, Ohio near Dayton. There were 100 days from your nomination to election, so I’m writing you 100 letters. This is the twenty-fifth letter. The others can be found in your USPS mailbox or online at 100HRC.com
I read an article about your health today and saw you are 68. You have a birthday soon and I suspect the alt-right will have 365 days of fun with that, but I digress.
The reason 68 sticks in my head is my last landlord for my business office was 68 when he started renting my office suite to me. One of his side businesses was a small loan company, which he funded by day-trading. I know the small loan industry got a bad rap in Ohio and the 2008 law put him out of business.
He was one of the good guys, though. He was known underground throughout the neighborhood as someone who could help with a small bridge loan. He didn’t demand huge interest and his heart extended perhaps beyond what was wise. Many of my neighbors — prior to the hard Great Recession crash in Oct-Dec of 2008 — ate because of his kindness. In the end, though, the State of Ohio and the Great Recession didn’t see the difference between the big-branded payday loans and him. His employees never needed for medical care, even as one of his oldest was diagnosed with cancer. She eventually lost her battle, but she didn’t die bankrupt; he took care of everything.
The State of Ohio rewarded his generosity and humanity by putting him out of business. He’s retired now at 78. The last I heard, he was still healthy and doing ok. He is still day-trading and helping humans (and cats) as earnestly as ever, albeit in different ways.
I think of him often and wonder at times how many more people he could be helping if we had UniversalCare, SinglePayer, MedicareForAll. I wonder also how many bridge loans he made to people whose life depended on them paying their monthly health insurance premium. I would think the answer would keep us both up at night.
Regards,
Gerard McLean
cc: Sen. Sherrod Brown
