Hi there. I’d like to talk to you a little about this election. I’m a mom of two, living in Ohio, with a family income under $50K a year. You could say I’m pretty close to the average American. I want to give you a few of my ideas about how to reach out to the American public, or if not them, at least me.
First off, please drop the mudslinging. I’m sick of it. I have to listen to my daughter argue with me enough, and I don’t need to see my presidential candidates bickering like three year olds, too. I don’t care who called who what – just tell me what you stand for and believe in, and let me do the comparison.
Second, please stop trying to demonstrate that you’re one of us. Seeing you have a beer in a local bar, go bowling (when you’re clearly not a fan of bowling), and try to act like you would hang out with me if you lived in my neighborhood doesn’t impress me. I don’t want to vote for the person I’m most likely to have a beer with, or the person I think is the best looking. This isn’t American Idol – this is for the most important job in this country. I don’t care if you’re good looking or can knock back shots of whiskey with the best of them. I want you to show me you’re smarter than me, and smarter than most of the people in this country. I want to know you can handle yourself with class amongst foreign dignitaries and not that you can use urban slang to appeal to me.
I’d like to hope that voters are a little wiser this time around. We saw what happened last time when voters picked the guy they would most like to have a beer with. Personality doesn’t equal competence. Show me you’re brilliant, you can think quick on your feet, and you’re ready to work hard for all Americans, and not just your rich friends.
There have been so many issues brought up this election, but I can tell you which ones are most important to me. I want to know how you will help pull this country out of a recession. How will you protect my family’s health care benefits so that we can continue to receive affordable health care, and how will you make sure every person in this country has that same access? How will you deal with the rising costs of gas and food – costs that are going up so quickly that this middle-class family is working additional jobs to afford it all? How will you take on big businesses that choose to put their own profits over the health and safety of our children? How will you enact change to protect our environment? And how will you make sure that my daughters will have access to an excellent education in safe, well-maintained schools?
Yes, Iraq has been the #1 issue in this campaign, but the truth is that for someone like me, Iraq is a small issue. I want the soldiers home as much as anyone else, but if we don’t fix things at home, what will these men and women have to come home to? Unemployment. Gas and food they can’t afford. Health care that is so expensive people must weigh if going to the doctor for a health problem is worth the cost. Rising violence from the desperate situations many are forced into. Foreclosure. Schools that are overcrowded and short on good teachers. What kind of a welcome home is that?
While the media is bogging you down with controversies over if you wear a flag pin or not, my oldest daughter is being denied insurance coverage for her autism, because they feel it is an “incurable and untreatable” condition. While you argue over whether tax cuts should be for those making under $75K or under $200K, I spend $50 to fill my car’s gas tank each week, a necessary expense because I live in a city with poor public transportation and alternative fuels aren’t given a chance thanks to the oil lobbyists who want to maintain their record profits.
Despite all of that, I have it pretty good compared to many in this country. We still have food, we still have some luxuries, and we still have our house. As long as my husband isn’t laid off – a real risk we’ve faced three times in the past year – our bills are still paid each month and the needs of our family are met. But there are so many who can’t even provide the most basic needs for their families. Food banks are running out of food because of the growing number of people – even middle-class – who must now turn to them for help. Should my husband be laid off, I could be one of those people, too, depending on charity and the kindness of others to feed our family.
I’m not scared of terrorists – I’m scared of my own country. I see a government who cares more for large corporations than it does for individuals, and who would rather spend thousands of dollars investigating steroid use in baseball than think up a way to give all Americans basic health coverage. Lots of people around me are losing the battle to be successful. They’re not looking to be rich – just have all of their needs and some of their wants met. They work hard, but they’re losing hope that things will ever get better. I’m watching the middle class deteriorate and the poor reach new levels of poverty that anyone sitting in their designer suit in Congress should feel is obscene.
So please, be that person who is smarter than the average American. Show us that you understand that a country cannot be great unless it is meeting the needs of all of its people. Prove to us that better days will come because of your ideas and actions. I don’t just want hope, I want a solid plan, and I want to know that your first priority – before turning your gaze outside of our borders – is to make sure everything inside those borders is the best it can possibly be.
Sincerely,
An average mom
Great post!
Awesome! Now of course, they would ignore you, even if you could say this to their face. But this is awesome!
I am damn near in tears here woman.
Excellent post! I hope they hear you; you speak for many.
Don’t stop with the Presidential candidates. Send this out to all the candidates running for the House or Senate too! All of them regardless of party affiliation.
That was excellent, Christina. I especially loved the line (and the idea): “I’m not scared of terrorists – I’m scared of my own country.” Amen to that.
And I agree wholeheartedly with T — other candidates need to listen up too.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself. Thanks for saying what the majority of us are thinking.
Mamma – great idea.
Just stumbled it too!
*loud applause*
Perfect. You captured the message perfectly. If we can get you the email addresses of all of the officials who need to hear it, will you send it??
Very well said. I plan to e-mail it to all on my list.
Other- copy and paste intoan e-mail and send……
That was a really fantastic post, VERY well said!
wow. well said. 🙂
Bravo!
I’m so impressed with candidates that kiss babies. I mean, really. Baby kissing is obviously essential to running a country.
Brilliantly said.
Now if only they were listening instead of trying to shout each other down about who listens to ‘the people’ the best.
Yup yup and yup.. as I accept that I am part of the working poor in this country, I know that the only way I can cling to my middle class upbringing is though a fantasy of denial.
I am azamazed that I can keep up an appearnce of “ok middle class” when reality is…we live below the poverty line.
My mortgage company is trully out to get me.. and I have been walking around with a broken arm for 6 months becasue we are unisured…
if only they would listen…
Excellent post. Very salient points.
Unless discussion about Bosnia and Wright will lead to a stronger economy, healthier environment or a better future for my daughter – I don’t want to hear about them anymore!
Amy In Ohio
Your post gave me chills- so well said. Get back to the issues of fixing our messed up country!
Very nice non-partisan post. 🙂
Excellent!!! Very well said!
Now how do we get them to read it?
That was the best post you’ve ever written.
*applauding*
Christina, this is masterful. Send it to momocrats, pretty please!
What a great letter! I agree 100% with everything you said, although the war is a pretty big issue to me b/c my brother is set to head over to there.
I wish the candidates really did read this letter, a few months ago I was excited and hyped for the election, now I am annoyed and disappointed.
Well said, Christina.
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!!
Going to Sk*rt and Digg now!
I sincerely hope you get what you’re asking for.
excellent. You’ve said everything I’ve been thinking and feeling.
Christina, this is brilliant, honest and absolutely true. For a blogger who only occasionally talks politics, you have struck a chord with all of us reading. Absolutely awesome.
Yes, exactly!
Jane, Pinks & Blues
Yes, exactly!
Jane, Pinks & Blues
Good job – where’s the petition? I want to sign it while I can still afford a pen.
Boo-Ya sister. Well said all around.
Thank you for the supportive comments, everyone! It feels great to know that so many feel the same way.
I encourage you to submit this post to StumbleUpon, Digg and Sk*rt if you want to spread the word.
Seriously — That is something that NEEDS to be sent to all presidential candidates and congress/senate members alike. You’ve said it all so perfectly — it needs to get to a nation-wide audience. I’ll help, just tell me how…..
Excellent post. Very well said. Now, if the candidates would just read it we may have a chance! Deb in MA
Well done! I’ve linked to this letter from my own blog.
I love this post. It is what I have been thinking too. Great writing!
Just wow. This is sentiment to most everyone I know, dems or repubs. It seems right now the people aren’t to happy with any of the candidates.
Amazing post. Absolutely amazing.
We should all link this letter… start a movement, bloggers in numbers can be a powerful thing, with luck the people that be will see it.
On another note.. can I use this or portion of it (particularly the healthcare portion) for a debate going on in my Healthcare Systems class as an anon example of what people are thinking? I can link you or not, whatever you want?
Well done, Momma – you’ve said exactly what’s been on my mind for months!
This is a great letter and one I wish the candidates would actually pay attention to. (deep sigh!)
Oh my God, please tell me that this will somehow reach “THEM” (the candidates) and many other Americans who totally 100 percent agree with what you so eloquently wrote. Wow, you rock girlfriend. 😉
sitting in their designer suit in Congress
Good point that most of us tend to forget. Doesn’t matter what side of the aisle they’re on, it seems that our representatives have difficulty walking in the shoes of ordinary people.
as a fellow mother of 2, one with autism, i commend you for hitting the proverbial nail on the head. amen, sistah.
Excellent- except that, to take a page from the anti-abortion book, there are many people who can’t voice their opinion anymore because they were killed in the war. They will never have a chance to fill a gas tank or raise a child. And if we as a country don’t start to play well with others, many more of us will be among the dead.
Sorry to be a downer but we need to look at the big picture.
Thank you for writing this. I quoted part of it and linked my readers here to read it on your blog.
I was in tears when I read this. I’m a single mom of two who has had to ask her parents to take care of her children so she can do her job because she can’t find a good paying local job. I drive a tractor trailer and with the rising cost of fuel more and more drivers are being forced to hang up thier keys while the persidential candidates argue about what they did or didn’t do or where they stand or don’t stand on certain issues. If someone could get them to read your blog, it might acctually make a difference.