Soapbox

Dear Sir

John Kerry’s campaign sent out an e-mail inviting people to write in with their stories about why they support his campaign. While I doubt they were interested in a book- hey, they got me started! And I’m not a one-issue voter, anyway. So here’s what I wrote.

Dear Senator Kerry-

I am an Ohio housewife and mother of two teenagers, PTA president, choir director- pretty typical middle class, I guess.
While I always vote in every election and make a point of educating myself on the issues, I have never been politically active beyond the occasional letter to the editor.

The past 4 years has changed all that.

When George W. Bush was elected (sort of) I was disappointed but resigned. “How bad can he be?” I thought. “If he surrounds himself with good people like Colin Powell, the country will muddle through somehow.”

Boy, was I ever wrong!

I watched with ever-growing dismay as environmental safeguards were rolled back, treaties and other agreements were abrogated and the working class of America was given the added burden of carring the wealthy and corporate class on their backs. Crucial issues of our times, such as the future of social security and energy independence were being ignored, and over and over the president displayed an alarming affinity for distortion, dis-ingenuiousness and outright lies.

Then came the tragedy of September 11th. On that day I sat in my neighbor’s living room and watched the towers fall, and we held hands and sent up fervrent prayers for the president of the United States, and for our armed forces, whom we knew would be called upon, sooner of later, to answer this attack. We prayed for our leaders to show wisdom and discretion, strength and humility.

Instead I saw our president resort to a course of belligerance, entitlement, imperialism and uni-lateralism. Day by day it became clear to me that there are only 2 crayons in the box of George W. Bush: black and white. For a world leader to be unable to see any shades of gray is tragic and deadly thing.

While my immediate family is reasonably well-off, many friends and family members are in a much more precarious situation. My sister lives in rural south-eastern Ohio and her adopted son was just thrown out of his Head Start program because the entire program there has just been shut down due to budget cuts! My mother runs a food pantry in Athens county and is alarmed and saddened to see the growing lines of people, many working 2 or even 3 jobs, who cannot afford to put food on the table by the end of the month.

I have always believed in public education, but my kids are now in a small private school and a charter school. This is because the republican-controlled Ohio legislature can’t be bothered to do what the Supreme Court has ordered them to do over and over and change the school funding formula, so our schools are crumbling. “No child left Behind” is leaving a lot of kids behind, and we are just fortunate enough to be able to make our own way.

My son doesn’t know yet where he wants to go to college or what he wants to study, and we don’t know yet how we’ll pay for it. We have managed to stay out of debt but haven’t put away nearly as much money as we shoud have for college. Thanks to Bush policies, it is not a good time for kids entering college- either for paying their bills or getting a job when they graduate.

And the thought that my son is now 17 and soon will be a prime target for the military has not escaped me. I am not anti-military and have a cousin who served proudly in the Marines. But “No child Left Behind” also requires school to turn over info to the military recruiters! My son is an ardent environmentalist and pacifist, and I am concerned that world events will soon cause him to lose his choice to even go to college and help protect the earth, because he’ll be drafted to the army to protect George Bush!

I began looking for something, anything to do to change things. I wrote more letters to my local newspaper, and to friends online. I spent hours talking with my kids about politics and world events, and I turned to other news sources, such as BBC, CBC and eventually, Air American Radio, for my news, as I no longer trust the mainstream media to even care about the truth, much less report it. The Bush presidency seems to be a run-away freight train taking us headlong over a mountain but I get called unpatriotic for pointing that out and suggesting we pull the brake lever!

And then along came the candidacy of John Kerry. I have prided myself on being somewhat independent and never voting for someone based just on party affiliation. Much as I had come to fear another George Bush presidency, I wanted to find out about you for myself.
I attended a Kerry houseparty and met with other area democrats (turns out there are a lot in Columbus! Who knew?) and began to warm to the idea of you as president.

When I heard that you were coming to speak in Columbus I made sure I got my name on the list to help. On June 15th I was at Westgate Park from noon until after 8 PM, doing everything from filling tubs with bottled water to checking people’s tickets, keeping out pro-Bush signs and helping escort the national press into the park.
I stood in the rain for hours, and never felt so energized! I was so excited to see all the people who braved the weather to hear your message, who want so much to believe things CAN be made better, and that there is still a chance for them to grab a piece of the American dream!

Contrary to the impressions given by the national media, I found you a dynamic and forceful leader with a message of hope and strength. I saw you give of yourself to the people there and know that when you finally left you must have been even more tired than I was. I think your running mate, John Edwards, will only add to the positive energy on the ticket.

I am pleased that in the face of unrelenting and often unfair attacks your campaign has stayed as positive as it has. I am disgusted by the Bush administration willingness to play the terrorism card at every turn. They have equated abortion with terrorism, gay marriage with terrorism and implied that pregnant women can be assaulted with no consequence because of a vote you missed. It is sickening!

Frankly, lack of health insurance, homelessness and the national debt are dangers that terrorise every man, woman and child in America, but the president seems blythly unconcerned about that. “The future? I don’t know- we’ll all be dead” he once said. Well some of us hope to leave children and grandchildren behind, and want them to inerit a decent life. Under Bush, if their parents aren’t millionaires now, their future is in doubt.

My husband probably shakes his head a bit in amazement at the mild-mannered woman he married becoming such a political activist. I do literature drops, have donated to your campaign and read voraciously to keep myself educated about politics. Friends send things to me that they have received, asking “is this true?” because they know that I can find out the straight story, not the republican spin found on the news.
I am the “go to” lady for buttons, bumper-stickers and yard signs. I am trying to get on the schedule to do volunteer work at the Columbus Kerry headquarters on the hilltop and am a member of the Worthington Area Democratic Club.

In short, Senator Kerry, I have come to the point in this new millenium when I realize that I have to do more to safeguard the future than just be an informed voter. If Ohio is a battleground state, I will muster up for the fight. I have to try to change the course this country is taking in whatever small way I can.

This is who I am now: middle-aged, middleclass, white, college graduate, mother, democrat, Christian, environmentalist, activist, Kerry campaigner.

I WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST A SONG for your campaign to play at appearances. My 13 year old taught me this song by “The Calling” called “Our Lives” . It goes, in part:

Is it love Tonight
When everyone’s dreaming
Of a better life;
In this world
Divided by fear
We’ve got to believe that
There’s a reason that we’re here!
There’s a reason that we’re here!

“Cause these are the days worth livin’,
These are the years we’re given,
And these are the moments.
These are the times,
LETS MAKE THE BEST OUT OF OUR LIVES!