Dear Mitt Romney:
It's been a few weeks since the recording of your comments from your fundraiser. I know I wasn't meant to hear them, but I'm glad I did. They've helped me in so many ways.
Let me tell you about myself. I have not had an easy road like you, Mitt. My parents didn't believe that a college education was important for me. I was advised to "get a good union job at a grocery store." So that's what I did for a while. I worked in a few grocery stores. A couple went out of business. One was bought by a mega-corporation and I was laid off. I went to work for Wal-Mart for a while. It didn't take me very long to figure out that working in a grocery store, union or not, was not a good job. At one store, when I moved up the ladder to department manager, I made an astounding $8.50 an hour. Just imagine it, Mitt.
I should probably tell you that I have a ten-year-old daughter, and that my husband is disabled. He has two artificial hips, six rods in his back and a lot of screws to keep it all in place. Despite those six rods, he still has three herniated discs in his back. He will not get better. The best we can do now is to try and manage his pain as best we can. He will never work again. With that in mind, I decided that it was time I invested in myself, and since I didn't have any stock to sell off, I took out a whole bunch of student loans and with the help of Pell Grants, I went to college. I did really, really well there, too Mitt, and someday, provided you aren't elected to office--I'm going to go back and get a higher level degree, but right now, I'm $22,000 in debt and I'm afraid to go any deeper than that.
See, even though I am armed with my education, I can't find a job. I've been looking for quite some time. I'm not in those labor statistics, because I don't draw unemployment. My husband receives Social Security Disability and his medical needs are covered my Medicare and Medicaid. My daughter and I get Medicaid too, and we're very grateful for that. My family also gets SNAP benefits. I live in an apartment where my rent is based on my income. You see, Mitt, we live on $715 a month. I bet you make that much in just a couple of minutes.
I guess I am lucky, Mitt because after months of searching, I have finally found a job. It doesn't start until after the first of the year, so I'm still looking for something to hold me over until then, but at least I know there's an end in sight. It's been a rough few months for us. It's not easy to pay the bills on less than a grand a month, but somehow we've managed. The job I found is only part time and it doesn't offer benefits, but thanks to Obamacare, I might not lose my Medicaid now. I have a chronic illness and I require medication daily, otherwise my health would be in jeopardy. I very much want to be around to see my daughter grow up. Well, that's enough about me. Now that you know who I am, Mitt; allow me to tell you who I am not...
I am not lazy nor am I victim. I take responsibility for my own life. I am motivated and I contributed to my community while I was looking for a job. I continue to do so. I believe in giving back. I am also ridiculously intelligent and I am vividly aware of what's going on in the world around me. Most importantly, I firmly believe that we are all in this together. I have values and principles and I believe that anyone who puts stock in the Republican mantra of "I've got mine" has lost their humanity. You're damn right you didn't build that--not all on your own. Everyone has a little help at some point in their lives, and anyone who thinks they haven't is deluded and ridiculously arrogant.
I am damned grateful for the social safety net. It's really helped me out while I've been unemployed. It's kept a roof over my family's head. It's fed us and given us the ability to see a doctor when we got sick instead of racking up debt by using the ER (and thereby raising medical costs for everyone). It's helped pay for our medication as well. I worked really hard to find that job, Mitt. I wasn't trying to sponge off the system. And to be fair, I worked for quite a few years and I've paid a lot in regressive taxes. I've tried to use the system in place for it's intended purpose; to give me a hand to get back on my feet. To keep me and my family from being homeless in the street. And to be fair, my unemployment wasn't all my fault. There was a huge recession that I had nothing to do with. That was you and your Wall Street buddies.
See, I put part of the blame for my unemployment on you and people like you. You and your ilk have taken jobs that belong in the United States and you've taken advantage of a tax break that allows you to deduct the cost of moving those jobs over to countries like China and India so you can pay workers ninety-nine cents an hour. Sure, you could still turn a profit over here in America paying workers living wages, but you can make an even bigger profit moving them overseas. That's called greed, Mitt. And the ironic part is that you do this every single day and then call liberals unpatriotic. Really, Mitt?! Are you kidding me?! Where's your sense of patriotism?
That tax credit you took to cover your expenses for taking away our jobs? That was enacted by your pals, the Republicans, and to go one further, they just blocked legislation in the House that would trade that tax break for a similar one for bringing those jobs back home. Do you remember that Mitt? Because I do, and so do a lot of people just like me. Where's your love of America now, Mitt? I believe that part of patriotism is sometimes putting your country ahead of your bottom line. Where's your part of the shared sacrifice? Maybe it would be different if you weren't making any money here, but you are. You just want more, and more, and more. It seems to me that no matter how much money you make it will never be enough. How can you talk about job creation with a straight face when you're shipping jobs overseas even as you speak?
So, I'll make a deal with you, Mitt. You keep talking about dismantling the social safety net, and about how much people like me are moochers. And I'll keep volunteering with my local Democratic Committee and telling people how that net is really an investment in people, to help them get back on their feet and reach their potential. I'll keep telling them that it's you taking our jobs away, and then laughing your silly, plastic laugh about it. I'll keep pointing it out to people when you lie, reminding them that you have no strength of character or courage of your convictions. Hell--you have no convictions. I'll keep telling folks about your love of money over love of country.
One more thing, Mitt. I know that math isn't your strong suit, but here's the bottom line: There are more of us than there are of you. Yes, historically we're underrepresented at the polls, but that's changing. We're registering to vote in record numbers, and I know that scares the hell out of you because you're doing everything in your power to suppress our votes. I'm going to keep telling people like me that you were talking smack about us while you sat down to a meal that would take my family, living on my husband's disability check, almost six years to pay for. That kind of greed and avarice is obscene by any regular person's standards. You were right about one thing, Mitt. We're not going to vote for you.
Very truly yours,
Stephanie Mann
I am the 47%
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