To all undecided voters: if the economy is your number one
concern, you’re likely stuck between a candidate who’s policies have not worked
well enough, fast enough and a candidate whose numbers don’t add up. You won’t
find an answer there. So I encourage you: vote for the candidate who believes that
the fundamental values of being an American are equality and opportunity, not
individualism at the sake of community. Someone who may be a Christian, but
will not impose his beliefs or the religious leanings of his party in policy –
not because they aren’t important and worthy, but because he values the
separation of church and state for the sake of (not despite) his own personal
faith; someone who is a man, but recognizes that empowering women – who now
make up more than half of the electorate, spending dollars in the U.S. and more
than 75% of the healthcare dollars spent – to make decisions about their own
health and their own bodies and that ensuring women earn an equal wage are economic
issues, not just gender issues; someone who is heterosexual, but believes the
right to pursue happiness includes the right to marry who you love; someone who
was born in the United States, but understands that immigration is a central
thread of American history and society, and young immigrants who came here not
of their own choice, who go to school and participate in the community, that
they deserve a chance at citizenship like so many of those who came before us;
someone who is married with two children, but defines “pro-family” as promoting
unconditional loving, supportive households of all shapes, colors and sizes; someone
who believes that resiliency and community and pulling together to help those
less fortunate are not values we reserve for Katrina and Irene and Sandy, but everyday
actions that define what makes us American; someone who believes that in the
United States of America, the greatest country on earth, we should not have
people dying in the waiting area of emergency rooms because they do not have
insurance; someone who supports the redistribution of opportunity, not wealth,
and believes 47% of the country has something to offer too.
If you aren’t
convinced that either candidate will make you financially better off in the
next four years, then vote for a future that embodies the values upon which
this country was founded. Equality and opportunity for all, including and
especially those who are different from yourself – either by gender, race,
class, background or status – and a society in which all can compete in the
free market, not just those who can afford to overcome the barriers to entry.
In the polling booth today, remember what makes America great… and vote for
Obama.
