For many of us, this lengthy election season has gotten very personal and has really struck people where they live. While we may get off topic on petty distractions and campaign methods, many Americans have an individual stake in who will be our next leader. This defies the personalities of those running for president or vice president and is instead about how deeply the issues at hand are affecting the lives of many Americans. When I say that I'm supporting Barack Obama it isn't because I think he's a cool guy or I like the shape of his ears it's because I'm looking out for the practical issues that are going to affect me on a day to day basis. Frankly, I wouldn't care if he was a jerk (though I don't think he is) his plans make more sense for me, my family and my children, and he has gone to the trouble of making his plans available to the American people.
There has been a lot of talk about the actual decisions and whether community organizers make them, but I believe many of us are confronting some important decisions that are not very pleasant.
Some of the decisions I've had to make lately:
Putting off paying the gas bill to pay the water bill,
Skipping an out of town wedding of a dear friend because I couldn't afford the gas,
Figuring out which stores have the best prices on the basics like milk and bread,
Going back to eating foods with pesticides because organic is now too expensive,
Deciding exactly how far you can stretch a half-pound of hamburger,
Trying to figure out if my kids would qualify for reduced price lunches at school, and
Determining how to break it to the kids that we couldn't afford school clothes.
These may seem like trivial decisions and yet with an income which places me firmly as a denizen of the middle class these weren't the decisions I was making even a year ago. I actually, last year, got to take my family on a short vacation and the decision was about where to go. Now I am at that kitchen table, as Joe Biden has so accurately described, trying to figure out how to do with less. The latest setback -- my husband's company deciding to move his shift and pay him less for more work.
I realize a few things about the decisions that I'm being forced to make. First, I'm lucky. My husband and I both work and though our jobs aren't terrific, we have them. We are able to rent a condo that is adequate to our needs. We have great kids, a lovely family, and we live in a very beautiful town in northern California, which is very expensive. On the other hand, we don't have the type of portable careers that would make a move to a less expensive area any more advantageous, and we're California natives who don't want to leave our extended families behind.
Our situation is by no means unique. A sister of mine who makes twice what our family does is working two jobs, going to school, and raising two incredible daughters. Finally able to buy a house just before home prices dropped significantly she is now paying on a house that has sunk dramatically in value leaving her owing more than her home is worth. It's tough all over for even those in the upper echelons of the middle class. Her decisions recently, "Do I short the kids by taking on more hours at work? Can I afford to take more than two classes at the local JC? Can I sign the kids up for any extracurricular activities this year?"
These decisions have largely been forced on us by foreign and homeland economic policies that are not in the interest of most people. We are not the nation of whiners that some Republicans have so charmingly labeled us. We're people working hard and dreading we'll miss that last date before our electricity gets cut off, and there is no exaggeration when I say that many of us are truly a paycheck or two away from economic disasters like not having the rent. Too, because we are "middle class" there are few services to help us. My children don't qualify for reduced lunches and the strong need for these services from the pressured and pressed lower class makes few rescues available or possible.
These tough financial times won't just hurt the middle class. How much can banks or utility companies or credit card companies take when people just can't pay their bills? How do grocery stores cope with losing part of their income when people buy less food? Economics from the bottom up does appear to make a difference at the top. It may not seem so stark initially but with people now starting to miss payments on non-subprime mortgages there is certain invitation to financial disaster to the whole country, rich and poor.
Let me illustrate this more dramatically if I can. The other day, I caught my son looking at our main entrée with a little depression. This strapping 15-year-old kid who is 6 feet tall and still growing, looked at me, and said, "There isn't enough food here." He's right; there wasn't. I contented myself with lettuce so that he could have more.
So what really hurts in this election, in the final analysis, is that: a kid looks at a plate of food and realizes he may be hungry when dinner is done while politicians spout about pigs in lipstick and bridges to nowhere and sex ed for kindergarteners. These mean nothing when your belly is empty or when the electric company does cut your power off. It means nothing when you go to school in your old ripped clothes. It means nothing when you choose not to see a doctor because you just can't afford the copayment even though you "have insurance."
There is a war on the middle and lower classes and it begins with the politics of distraction. It begins by not solving anything while politicians point fingers, instead of coming up with real plans to address issues. Only one candidate thus far has actually stated what he plans to do, while the other is marshalling his forces to make this election about ridiculous things like personality or distraction. The American people deserve so much more than that and it's clear we will pay a price if distraction and obfuscation become the dominant meme of this political cycle.
It's definitely personal when politics descends to this level and it is inherently disgraceful. I cannot care about pigs wearing lipstick or how many houses a candidate has. Instead, what I really care about is the politician that offers plans preventing me from having to watch my son look at our kitchen table again and see that he'll go to bed hungry.