Silence Is Not Golden

By now you're likely sick of all the ads, the media coverage and the water cooler talk at the office. The election may still be more than five weeks off, but at this point most voters are feeling campaign fatigue.  Chances are pretty good you have made your mind up on the Presidency one way or the other. Maybe you've told yourself you're not thrilled with the options you have for that office or that you've become frustrated with the entire political game and you aren't sure that any of them have your best interests at heart.  These scenarios are all reasonable and understandable points of view. Guess what? You still need to get off your ass and go vote.

I know. You're wondering how I have come to the conclusion that I get to tell you what to do, right?  I don't get to "tell you", but I get to remind you that voting is not just your right, but your responsibility. You can take the coward's way out and say that not voting is as much of a political statement as voting and volunteering and working for a candidate or cause. That philosophy is partially true, because you are making a choice. But it is not a choice based on the good of the government that represents you. It's a choice based on what makes you feel good by doing nothing. Doing nothing in this sense muddles and dilutes the process of democracy.

Not voting is a defiant act that may have the best of intentions behind it, but voting is not a political act. It is a patriotic and sacred endeavor. Like it or not, this is how we have chosen to administer justice and policy in our republic for more nearly two and a half centuries. It is an imperfect system; a system which can be maddening and at times even callous, but most of the time it works. It usually works really well, actually.

Sadly, much of the time when the democratic process does fail, is because we the electorate are uninvolved. This simple lesson that you probably learned in high school civics is just as true today as it was then. No Vote = No Voice.

Before you get all high and mighty and tell me what an ass bag I am, remember that I am not telling you that you have to vote. I am reminding you that you should. You should vote because what gets decided on Nov. 6th and in virtually every election that's occurred since you turned 18, affects your life directly, no matter how slightly. The significance of the decisions we make in the polling booth are almost always of more value than the amount of time it took you to cast a ballot.

For much of our history, large groups of our citizens were denied the right to vote in this country. From minorities and women to the descendants of those who were here before European explorers arrived. For the first several elections in our nation you were required to be a white, male landowner to cast a ballot. The conditions for who is allowed to vote have changed slowly and painfully throughout the last two centuries, many times at the cost of lives. Now, for the most part, you need be 18 years of age and a legal resident to participate in this great endeavor.

The freedom which we are so frequently prideful of in our land is most brightly illuminated in our voting process. It is a freedom which comes with a body count and bloody past. It is not to be trifled with and it is not to be considered lightly. It is not designed to be a playground for base political games. If we choose to let it become something less than a great freedom and a day of celebration for our right to vote, that would be a damn shame.

So, you may choose to not vote on Nov. 6th. That is your solemn right and no one can make you go do it. Just remember that your are an integral part of this process and your voice will have an affect on our future, whether you choose to use it or not.

My Freeloading Ways

In the hours since the first appearance of the now infamous video of Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney speaking candidly about his campaign and economic viewpoint at a Boca Raton fundraiser last May, pundits and strategists have been calculating the political damage and assessing the fallout. Even conservative columnists like David Brooks have taken Mr. Romney for being completely out of touch with the electorate.

In terms of how this affects Romney's chances of winning will take weeks to play out. In the immediate aftermath of these incendiary, and deeply cynical statements I have attained a crystallization as to why I find the tactics of the right so appalling and out of touch with my own view on life.

I paid no federal income taxes for the year 2011. Therefore in Mitt Romney's eyes I am a free-loader sucking at the teat of big government. According to his Orwellian vision of a failed America, I have no ambition, no work ethic and no desire to better myself or to take responsibility for my life. Mr. Romney, while I respect your right to your own ideas and the right to free speech, let me show what my life is really like and perhaps in that example you may begin to see why I am offended by your short sighted and bigoted policy views and why you will not get my vote this November.

For the last several years of my life I have co-owned my own small business. During that time I have purchased a building, paid to have it renovated and paid annual property taxes. Obviously, our business has hired employees, paid unemployment taxes, federal payroll taxes, state withholding taxes and made employee contributions to retirement accounts and paid for our own health insurance policies. We pay these bills on time and in full and are always in good stead on our accounts.

At the end of 2008, my wife graduated with a bachelor's degree after quitting her job and focusing again on her education. Upon completion of her degree, she was not only unable to attain a job in her field of study, she was unable to attain any job at all. Yet, her student loan bills still came due and a crumbling economy had nothing to offer our family. Still, she helped at our business and four years later is waiting for that opportunity to garner full time employment.

As a family with two children and an unemployed wife, our family manages to get by on what I make for a living. However, after Earned Income Credits, deductions for our kids and mortgage and various other factors, our final income tax bill is zero.

So you'll pardon me sir, if I do not share your view that because we borrowed federal funds to send my wife to school and because we pay no federal income tax that we are irresponsible and unmotivated. I work very hard to run my business. My wife gave up a job to return to school and build a better life for our family and we wound up worse off than before, but we're not complaining to anyone or waiting for a handout. My kids have access to a special health program run by the state that affords the two of them excellent medical care for a very low rate. We take advantage of this because it is in the best interest of our children and their future. I would imagine that if you found yourself in the same situation, you would do the same thing.

Perhaps this is a large part of why you misunderstand the average American so terribly. Because you have been privileged to grow up with means, it's likely that you lack a real world understanding of families like ours who have taken advantage of government help. Maybe, you do understand my situation and still think me a freeloader. Or, it could be, that you don't really mean what you said and you just keep the saying the wrong kinds of things the wrong way. I don't know.

What I do know is that in you I see a man bereft of compassion and empathy for a group of people who need help. Working families, starving families, sick families and hopeless families. If you are elected President, these people will be your constituents as well and I would very much like to believe that you will look out for their best interest and that you will enact policy to help them make their lives better. Your actions and your words betray that you will not do that. You will treat them like lepers and hangers on who are just dragging the system down.

The 47% you so blatantly chided in your speech are not a drag on our system Mr. Romney. They are our system. They are social security recipients, student loan holders, veterans, business owners, the working poor, the unemployed and the lower middle class fighting to get to the next rung on the ladder.  In a way, we are the 21st century's poor huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We may not be of import to you and you may look down at us with scornful indignation, but I can promise that our family will be at the front of the line on election day to ensure that you don't get an opportunity to put your money where your mouth is. Because it would irresponsible of me to let a man like you be the President of the United States.