I could hear the truck coming around 4 pm each day, I would run to the stairs and look out the window. His yellow service truck chugging down the driveway, Dad was home. Walking in after a long day outside working under large pieces of heavy equipment, he’d strip off his navy work pants, light blue work shirt now covered in grease, and walk upstairs to take a quick shower. He’d then come downstairs and take a nap on the couch until my mother got home. While he napped, I went knocking on neighbors’ doors looking for anyone who would play catch or shoot hoops with me. Coming home around 6 pm my dad would be up, and my mom would have dinner cooking. His nap was over, and he was back to work. This time at home. When I was young, he painted cars and delivered firewood for extra money, he would then use the money to finish our house. Built on 10 acres in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in 1988, our house was a constant project. With the help of my grandfather, my brother, and myself he finished the kitchen while I was in middle school and finished the basement and deck while I was in high school. My father is Blue-collar. A working-class man who works for his family.
As most kids do, I rebelled against anything my father tried to teach me. I wanted him to play catch with me, he wanted to show me how to change my oil. I wanted him to take me swimming, he wanted to teach me how to replace drywall. I wanted to serve myself and he wanted me to serve my family. While teaching me, he would get some company and an extra pair of hands to carry the workload of life and I would get valuable life skills. But I didn’t see it that way. My dad would always tell me, “You need to be able to do this on your own” and I would reply with the disrespectful line of “I will just pay someone to do it for me”. It turns out it is a lot harder to earn the amount of money needed to pay people to solve all my problems for me. So, in 2019, when I was building my house, I asked my dad and brother to help clear the lot, build cubbies, and stairs, and to finish the floors, allowing me to afford a house I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. It was during those days I realized that I was blue-collar too.
I started a small business when I was 19 with my best friend from high school. I never really thought of myself as blue-collar because I was the “boss” if you will. But I was. I wore a uniform, tee-shirt, and shorts, worked long hours that would leave me drained at the end of the day, and only spent money on those things the business needed to grow. I liked my job; I liked the people I worked with, but I hated the toll it took on my family.
What is blue-collar? Well, I would describe it as someone who is working for survival. They prioritize basic needs over luxuries. They often perform manual labor and wear a uniform. Successful blue-collar families often have fewer material things than others but save well. They are vital to our economy and for generations, they were valued in our society. Blue-collar America builds our infrastructure and keeps us safe.
Examples of Blue-collar are my dad, my grandfather, and myself until 35.
But I never wanted to be blue-collar. I always wanted to be an intellectual. My teachers would always tell me and my parents how smart I was, but I never seemed to get the grades to prove it. I understand now why. I didn’t read. To a blue-collar family, reading can seem like a luxury rather than a necessity. Reading takes time that blue-collar families don’t often have, and books are expensive. But after discovering that I was blue-collar while building my house, I decided to become an intellectual. I decided to read.
What is an intellectual? I would describe it as someone who reads. Some would say an intellectual is defined by critical thinking and self-reflection, and I agree those are often traits, but blue-collar people also possess those traits. The difference between the two is the ability to understand and communicate what one thinks and reflects, and one who reads is better equipped to do so. Intellectuals live in a different bubble than blue-collar America, and the two don’t often converse. Intellectual Americans help plan our future.
Examples of intellectuals are FDR, Woodrow Wilson, and John Quincy Adams.
What is a blue-collar intellectual? I would describe it as someone who was raised blue-collar, and either helped by hard-working parents or on their own merit worked their way into a higher economic and power bracket in society. This happens with higher education; a lot of blue-collar intellectuals are the first generation in their families to achieve this. Blue-collar intellectuals are deep-thinking individuals who, due to their unique circumstances, relate to a wider variety of people. They are often more adaptable than traditional intellectuals and better leaders.
Examples of Blue-collar intellectuals are John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and James Garfield.
Understanding who we are as individuals and as people is important to our survival as a nation. Our founders were a mix of colonial blue-collar and intellectuals, but it was the blue-collar intellectuals who brought the country together. Men like George Washington and John Adams provided reasonable leadership at the inception of our republic helping bind our Union. And when that Union was threated during the civil war it was another blue-collar intellectual, Abraham Lincoln, who led us through. Our nation is once again struggling and it needs leaders, it needs more blue-collar intellectuals. If you are blue-collar and would like to become a blue-collar intellectual a great start is to read John Adams by David McCullough, then pick one of the other great men in his story to read about. From there carve your own path and learn about history, government, relationships, and leadership.