Kevin,

  I would have sent this followup response in private email, but yours is not listed.  The reason I made my original post in a public forum was for kind of a "how I formed my political beliefs" post which I had planned on sending to this board anyway at some point or other;  your post was the catalyst for that.  And for the record, no the PATCO strike was not the foundation of those beliefs, it was only the beginning.  I was only 11 at the time after all, and needed more information and life experience to reach lasting conclusions on these issues.  And I had plenty of other examples over the years to build on and reaffirm my opinions against republican policies: the Iran-Contra scandal, huge deficits in the 80s, a budget surplus during the Clinton administration followed by another huge deficit almost immediately after Bush Jr. took office, current ongoing economic problems.  And those are just a few examples in the years since 1981.

  As for the strike, your opinion of the strikers' main motivation echoes that purported in the media, that it was primarily a money issue.  It seems like they had a lot more to lose (their entire career) than gain (a little more money) if that was the case.  But I didn't write my post to try to change your opinion.  For what it's worth my dad, for one, did it for the betterment of their job situation and profession.  And the lesson he taught me from it, to be ready to take a stand for your beliefs, has always stayed with me.

  Anyway I'm glad that you and your workforce have been able to keep our skies safe since 1981.  You have my respect for that.  As for my family, we did fine after those times.  My father was one of the fortunate ones who had another career outside aviation to fall back on;  he has worked steadily in that career ever since and is now nearing retirement.

Ken