I am from southern Ohio, where I grew up lower-middle class.  My father worked in a foundry, just as my grandfather did, until the foundry closed in the 1980's.  I spent my childhood hunting and fishing with my grandfather.  I learned to be polite, to be strong, to have faith, and to stand up for what you believe in.  My part of the country was especially hard hit in the recession of 1980, and I remember how hard it was to find a job at all when I graduated high school in 1981.