Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Why I voted for Pete Seeger for President

Today, as I have every Election Day since I was old enough to vote, and not too sick to make it to the polls, I cast my vote in the circus that is our national presidential election.

I did not vote for Mr. Obama.

I did not vote for Mr. Romney.

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans represent me or my family anymore. I am slipping into the vast ranks of the new world order of American serfdom, and I do not appreciate it and will not support the perpetrators with my vote.

Instead, I wrote in someone local, who I consider a person of conscience, who has spent his life trying to support the interests of the working man and to protect our environment.

That's right: Pete Seeger got my write in vote for President of the United States.

I used to be a lawyer, until I nearly got killed in an accident which left me disabled, and was forced to retire to save what is left of my health. Back in the day, New York did not have a continuing legal education requirement, and taking classes to hone your skills was strictly voluntary. Classes typically cost under $150. Then the Empire State decided to mandate what before had merely been good sense and professional responsibility. Overnight, the price of CLE classes soared into the multi-hundreds and even thousands. Because once the schlubs have to do it, they can be made to pay through the nose.

And that is precisely what is now happening with mandatory healthcare. My husband got laid off from a job he held for 25 years, and we are limping by scraping up what amounts to an extra monthly mortgage payment for COBRA. We tried to arrange health insurance for ourselves, but were told the fee for family coverage would be nearly $5,000 per month for the same coverage that we have had historically, which I thought was astronomical at less than half that figure for COBRA.

So basically, my husband has to make six figures in order for us to pay our taxes and have healthcare. Without paying a single other bill. No food, no shelter, no utilities. He needs to hunt up the goose that laid the magical $100,000 egg just for us to have healthcare and pay the government their pound of flesh.

That is insane!

We have had to loot his pension to keep a roof over our heads, since unemployment wouldn't even cover COBRA, much less our living expenses. And we have been gutted by penalties for early withdrawal, in this sickening economy, while Wall Street and Detroit get their bailouts and had the nerve to celebrate with bonuses.

Where is the bailout for Main Street? Forget about extending a helping hand, but how about just not kicking the average citizen when he's down? How can you justify penalizing us for having had the good sense to save for the day when we would need it, and then using the money to keep our home? How can you require people to choose between healthcare they will not be able to afford, especially since they are now a captive market at the mercy of industry profiteers, and paying their rent, house payment, or to keep their lights on?

Mr. President, Obamacare and the utter insensitivity of the government to the needs of everyday people have ruined my family financially. Mr. Romney, you aren't where I look to for salvation.

The disgusting corruption of politics in this country by big money has made even Democrats, the so called party of the working man, nothing more than perpetrators of the gradual erosion of this country's economic vitality and of our civil rights. And I can't see even an iota of hope that there will be meaningful change to our twisted big money loving campaign finance system and the lobbyist lunacy that has replaced representing constituents with rewarding contributors.

Hence, I voted my conscience, and not for you. I would rather "waste my vote" than support the fun house mirror version of America that you and the presently broken system represent.

God save America and the Constitution from her government.