A brief history of the Propp family...

A brief history of the Propp family...

I always believed that my ancestors came over on the Mayflower, at least proverbially.  My father is of German heritage.  My mom cooked some German dishes, and Dad used German words occasionally (though mostly words like "Dumkopf").  I never put it together, but after Dad was gone I learned that his own father had come to America from Russia, via Germany. 

Many Germans settled in Russia  during the 17th century when Catherine the Great opened Russian territory along the lower Volga river for settlement by Germans.  There were many named "Propp" among the emigres, apparently mostly from two Propp families, one Jewish and one Christian (the one from which I derive).  There is actually a small town somewhere along the Volga named "Propp."  The reasons for the emigration were varied, and a brief history can be found here, in the section titled "Volga Germans":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germans_in_Russia#Volga_Germans
In the late 19th century the political landscape changed and many Germans left Russia for other places, including the United States.  Many of these new immigrants settled in the Midwest, in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, etc. 

My grandfather emigrated to the United States in 1882.  I was lucky enough to find the ship's passenger list with his name and those of his family (at the time) on it.  My father was actually born in Kansas in 1898, the last of 13  children, where my grandfather owned a farm, which is now long gone.  At age 14 Dad left home to apprentice as a barber, which trade he followed his entire life.  He moved to Detroit, not sure why, but owned a few barber shops in succession.  Many of my friends from Brightmoor remember my dad's last shop, which was on Fenkell (5-Mile Road) between Braile and Patton streets.  Some time later my parents had a little "oops" (I believe) and here I am!

An Open Letter to Mitt Romney

September 19, 2012

Dear Mr. Romney:

I am a 100% Permanent and Totally Disabled Veteran.  I receive Veteran's Disability Benefits.

I retired after 30 years of hard work in my career field.  I receive Social Security Benefits.

I have not paid as much in federal income tax as some have over for the last few years because my income is lower than when I was working in my career.  But like all Americans, I do pay federal excise taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, usage taxes, and more.

I was not handed a fortune, like you were, Sir.  Though I lived nearby and desperately wanted to, I wasn’t able to go to Cranbrook Institute, nor was I able to go to Harvard.  No casual $10,000 bets.  No $50,000 lunches.  No multi-million dollar mansions and vacation homes in the Hamptons.  No half-million dollar horse with a tax deduction that's tens of thousands of times the one I got for my children.  No Sir.  Despite my disability I earned a living by the sweat of my brow, sometimes almost literally working myself to death, to provide a modest living for my family.  You served your church and were patted on the back.  I served my country, and received poverty wages and a relatively small, ongoing stipend for my disability.

So Sir, given your stated attitude toward people like me…

I am PROUD to be among that 47% of American Citizens whom you say are lazy moochers who "believe they are victims... that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing..."

I am PROUD to be among that half of American citizens whom you say it is "NOT YOUR JOB to worry about."

I am PROUD to be among the near majority of my fellow Americans who you say will never "take personal responsibility and care for their [own] lives."

AND I am PROUD to be among those Americans who would NOT be afraid or ashamed to show ALL of their TAX RETURNS to obtain any job, let alone the job of President of the United States and Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces.

AND, I am ASHAMED that a few who want to be leaders of our nation openly endorse economic Darwinism - Who want to give ever more tax dollars to the wealthiest Americans via tax cuts.  Who advocate paying for those tax cuts by slashing and/or eliminating life-saving programs for children, and for the working poor, for those who seek desperately but can’t find work, for the sick, and for the elderly.  Prospective leaders who want to put billions more tax dollars into the pockets of the most wealthy Americans but slash children’s health care programs, nutritional programs for poor children, educational assistance like PELL Grants to those of us who (unlike you) didn’t have wealthy parents to “borrow” the money from, unemployment, Social Security and Medicare.  You know, all those things like food, that we “victims” think we are “entitled” to and expect the government to pay for.

I do not support your candidacy.  I will never support any candidate, of either party, who discounts nearly half of my fellow citizens as being parasites who feed off the life blood of the “few good citizens who pay income tax.”  I will never support any candidate who wants to shift the wealth of this nation ever more to the very few at the expense of the vast majority…  I would never support any candidate who has no inkling of what it is like to struggle to get a good education, to worry about feeding your family, to fear that your child might become ill or injured while you don’t have health care coverage to help pay for the care they need.  I have been there.  The President has been there.  You have not.

I sincerely hope that your party’s efforts, well funded as they are by a few billionaires and millionaires, will fail to generate rage and hatred against us “parasites,” to divide our country, to use lies and feigned outrage to trick poor and middle-class Americans to vote against their own best interests and put their futures in the heartless, insatiable hands of you and others like you.  May God save America if you and your associates are successful.

Donald B. Propp

Proud Member of the American Fourty-Seven Percent