Open Letter To Boy Wonder

My co-worker Darin, who I love and admire writes:
> Who should I vote for this election, and why?

While I can’t answer that for you, I’ll gladly tell you how it plays out in my head:
I vote for those candidates whose values, as reflected in their legislative actions, most closely reflect my own.

In a real way, I’m voting for the kind of world in which I want to live. But, even if we won’t live in a utopic world, tomorrow, we *can* vote to inch toward that direction (or full-steam away from it).

Here's what matters to me, as a reflection of my values:

• Tax, Trade, Labor, and Industrial policies that make the wealthiest %0.5 percent even wealthier, as more and more of the rest of us join the ranks of the working poor. I’m compelled to do right by “the least amongst us.” Today, 1 in 4 children live in poverty. That number is rising, as opportunities to avoid and escape poverty are shrinking. It has NOT always been this way, and this 30-year trend does not have to continue. I know that Clinton was a Democrat and the Dems controlled the House briefly at that time, but they still contributed to this 30-year trend. It’s not about Dem. Vs. Rep. It’s about the undeclared war on the Middle Class. If a political candidate or pundit isn’t talking about it, they’re probably on the wrong side of that war. Glenn Beck is a multi-millionaire. While I won’t hate on him for that, I won’t pretend his opinions about tax policy will serves the other 98% of us. For example, NC’s Senator voted to continue tax incentives for Multi-National Corporations who outsource jobs, and *then* voted to cut unemployment benefits. This is antithetical to my values, and it directly affect many peeps who are close to me. Make no mistake, my dear friend, elections matter. And these “off-season” elections matter much more than you might think.

• Fighting wars with unclear purpose or questionable reasoning. There’s the biggest chunk of America’s alarming debt and impending national bankruptcy. Mind you, it’s not the Bush Administration’s loved ones who typically go there to bleed and kill and die. The least affluent among us who do.

• Most importantly, it is the corporatization of America that I find most disturbing. Make no mistake; I am a capitalist. I am all about some profit. Pay me, Yo: For my talent and services, for my time and effort, for my wit and personal brand. Pay me for the fruits of my physical and intellectual labor. Capitalism is good. But *unrestrained* capitalism will swallow democracy. History has proven it; I’m seeing it with my own eyes as our democracy transforms into an auction. You and I (nor anyone else that has to work for a living i.e., members of the Middle Class) will never ever win that auction. We could win the lottery and still not win that auction. The prospect of what America might become terrifies me. It’s called feudalism, and does not work well for 98% of those within that system, who are doomed to live one step above slavery.

Am I going to take the economic musings of Sarah Palin (or those like her) seriously? Hardly. Primarily, because she is an idiot, frankly. Even if I’m wrong about that, she does have difficulty stringing together a subject and a verb, coherently. But I digress. More importantly, she seems to equate our economic system with our system of government. Will I blindly accept the words of *any* celebrity or TV commentator? Not when it comes to The Economy. I want to hear what the experts are saying. They are called economists; and part of what they do is to make the complexities of their industry accessible to folks like us.

Here's an expert: http://robertreich.org/post/1263581986

Here are some expertise on the complexities of our broken Health Care system. It matters a lot: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/391/more-is-less

Democracy is an ongoing, incremental process. So, if you voted for Obama’s vision of change two years ago, give him a real chance to undo that which has been decades in the making. He just got started. Meanwhile, the dark forces of Feudalism raised their game when Obama became president. They ratcheted up their hate, so that you can hear it, loud and clear. Early in the Obama administration, drug-addled gas bag, Rush Limbaugh clearly said he hopes the President fails. He hasn’t backed away from that, nor has one single candidate he supports. Yesterday, Speaker of the House, Mitch McConnell says his “single most important job” is to defeat Obama n 2012. He’s promising to use his position to do *nothing* in the name of We the People. Party leaders don’t usually talk this way.

Once, they called the out-of-power, minority party the “loyal opposition” because in spite of their differences, they worked with the president and the majority party for the good of the people. No more. It’s not about We the People, it’s not about governing, nor policy; it’s about raw ugly partisan personal power.

The lines are clear: Those who support Obama’s agenda of change verses those who look to obstruct and circumvent him, in order to keep things as they have been for the past few decades.

They’re counting on your apathy (e.g., “It doesn’t matter”), your anguish (“real change is hard; I’m tired of all this”), your ignorance (e.g., “there’s nothing I can do”), your impatience, and/or your amnesia, Don’t give it to them. Get a good look at what’s at stake. Think about it as best you can. Then, vote your conscience.