Open Letter to 2014 Candidates

I am the grandfather of millions of children whose last meal was at school yesterday, a Friday, children whose may not eat nutritious food again until Monday. I am the grandfather of millions of children whose schools are substandard for lack of funding, who is tired of hearing that my adult children, capable teachers, are the reason for poor education, even though their young student’s attentions are focused on the lunch bell, or by the bone chilling cold they experience on their way to school with no jackets, even though there are not enough current books and materials to go around.

I am the father of children whose lives were uprooted and whose jobs were disappeared by corrupt bankers who destroyed in the collapse of our financial systems – and took billions in bonuses in the ensuing years.

I am the grandfather of college students mired in college debt that can never be discharged, not even in bankruptcy while colleges and universities promote their degrees as if they really matter. I am the friend of other parents whose children went to for-profit universities with 6% graduation rates, universities who recruit students in the poorest communities, selling promises that can never be fulfilled while taking government guaranteed tuitions.

I am the son of a woman who raised three children as a single head-of-household with the income of a minimum wage job. I am the elder son who went to the local store to buy a few staples like soup and canned beans for supper and had to say ‘Put it on our account’. I am the young man, barely a teenager, who heard the words, ”Don’t you ever pay cash?” from the store owner who was, in effect, subsidizing our meals.

I am the citizen whose heart goes out to the single head-of-household mother who today works three weeks, full time at minimum wage just to pay the rent, who often goes hungry as she puts what little food she has on plates for her children.

I am a veteran who watched as the Senate Republicans block $21 billion plan for new VA clinics because it’s not paid for while they advance $600 billion corporate tax cut that’s also not paid for.

I am a veteran who knows the value of an aircraft carrier and wonders  why, when we have twelve of them, ten on active duty and two in reserve, and our closest perceived competitor has one and is building a second,  are we building another one that’s behind schedule and over budget to the tune of $1.3 Trillion.

I am a citizen who sees a threat to our National and State’s sovereignty that will occur because our bought-and-paid for Congress will legislate it into being.

I am an environmentalist. If I poisoned our food, air or water, I would go to jail. Yet we are going to allow corporations to do just that and it’s be legal, or soon will be. Local communities will not have to power to correct the poisoning of our water supplies by oil companies polluting ground by fracking. State regulators will be powerless to stop the next BP oil spill or sue for damages to the environment or the destruction of local economies.

I am the American fearful that our government is willing to cede its sovereignty to international corporations by allowing the President to have Fast Track authority for Trade Deals, most of which have nothing to do  with trade.  If these 'deals' are passed,

• Pharmaceutical companies will extend patent protection to 50 years, eliminating low cost generics from the market place.
• Biotechnology companies will produce genetically modified plants that neither bees nor butterflies can pollinate, resulting in their extinction en masse.
• Communications giants will usurp the public internet for massive private gain, even more than they already are.

I am the citizen who is looking to you, candidates for US Congress and State Congress. I ask: 

• Do you have any idea what I’m talking about? 
• Do you understand the myriad threats our children, grandchildren and our plants are facing? 
• Do you have the courage, the voice, the stamina and the determination to take on these issues and resolve them for the benefit of your constituents?

I am the voter in Tennessee who most admires US Congressmen and women – from other states.--- like Elizabeth Warren in MA and Bernie Sanders of VT, Rosa DiLauro of Connecticut and Raúl Grijalva of AZ.

I am the voter in the Red State of TN who admires State legislators of other Red States, like:

UTAH, which has cut homelessness by 74% with a goal of eliminating it by 2015. They did not do it because it was the right thing to do. They did it because it was cheaper to provide a secure place to live and assign social workers to help these people find their ways out of poverty, than it was to cover the costs of emergency room visits and other social costs.

The Red State of ME which passed a law permitting importation of prescription drugs from Canada, saving the City of Portland over $200,000 year in benefits. Hardwood Products, a maker of popsicle sticks and wooden skewers saved over $400,000. That’s just one Maine Company. You do the math.

I am a Voter, I am literate and I am committed to electing people who will make a difference. Why should I vote for you?

I’m listening.