The Price of Ignorance & Apathy

Come voting time, you have three choices. Vote for candidate A; vote for candidate B; Vote for No One, opt out of voting and accept whatever comes.

Vote for A because you share values:  poor people are lesser people, undeserving of my tax dollars; teachers are over paid, with far too many benefits; health care for everyone goes against my nature. I have insurance, they should, too. Military spending is too high but I would never second guess our generals. 

Vote for A because it’s my party, right or wrong. If the other guy really wanted my vote, he or she would have joined my party first.

Vote for candidate B because you share values: society by and large is made up of us, all of us. While some of us are better off than others, we owe it to our society to help the needy, care and nurture our children, and support our teachers. Health care is not only good for everyone, it’s less expensive than emergency care.

Vote for B because it’s my party, right or wrong. If the other guy really wanted my vote, he or she would have joined my party first.

I marvel at those who vote against their own best interests, who toe a particular party line in spite of the personal costs. They vote with as much thought as lemmings en route to the cliff. It’s their identity. They vote for military budgets that include aircraft and tanks when even the generals say they don’t need them. They vote for the congressman who voted to authorize $12Billion for a thirteenth aircraft carrier, when China only has one and most nations have none. They vote against rebuilding our national infrastructure when thousands of bridges are on the verge of collapse, schools are crumbling and highways are in disrepair -- some in their own district.

They vote as if they are part of the 1% when, in truth, they’re living far closer to the edge than they know. They imagine how they’d feel if they someday made it into the big leagues themselves, and were somehow going to be taxed accordingly.

The cost of such foolish thinking is found in decreasing support for schools, increasing collapse of infrastructures and social networks. Let’s pay less now to develop our children and more to incarcerate them later. Let’s ignore the failing water, electric and sewer system failures. leaving it to others to deal with later.

Even worse are the people who benefit from services, then fail to vote. Thousands of Chattanooga residents who are now covered by healthcare insurance for the first time will not vote. Nor will families in desperate straits who find relief in supplemental nutrition programs or other subsidies. They leave themselves exposed to the voters eager to eliminate safety nets of any kind.

In Chattanooga and the rest of District 3, voters have a choice -- between a person who has made over $680,000 in four years while doing nothing for his constituents -- or Dr. Mary Headrick, who served her Tennessee patients for some thirty years as a primary care doctor, a woman with brains,breadth and backbone; a woman who stood up for her district, from Chattanooga to Oak Ridge and beyond.

This time, Tennesseans, vote for what’s good for you. Vote Mary Headrick for US Congress.

Walt -- Withering

I met a man yesterday at the local gas station/convenience store who is in his seventh year of challenges. He lost his tech job in 2007, at 58 years of age. Shortly after that, the family lost their house. He lives now in subsidized housing with his wife of thirty-one years, who herself is suffering with severe medical complications. His rent: $25/month.

There are times when he has to beg for bus money, or to cover his rent. He has tried to get jobs ever since he lost his, to no avail. He realized how much damage he’d suffered when he couldn’t keep up with the pressure of working at Food City. “I realize now that I had had a nervous breakdown. I couldn’t see it when I was in it. I didn’t know it and I didn’t know where to turn for help.”

The man I met was well-groomed. His speech was what a body expects to hear from a well-educated person. In spite of everything, he maintains a proper facade -- until our conversations get deeper. Then, his fear is palpable.

We talked about his children, both out of the house. His son is elsewhere, married with a child. His daughter lives nearby, on her own, dealing with her own demons. As a certified nursing assistant, she cares for the elderly and barely makes enough to sustain herself. If her father’s future is bleak, hers is more so.

It was painful to see one’s life shattered, especially when his daughter was seven years younger and still living with her folks. His memories of those days, when they were evicted and set out on the street, is still too raw to ponder. It was worse for his daughter, he told me. Her future dreams were shattered, too. He tries to deny responsibility for their plight, preferring to blame it on the collapse but he doesn’t believe that, not really. Inside, he still feels everything is his fault, and that’s debilitating.

Living in a studio apartment barely big enough for one, there is no escape for him, or his wife. They’re afraid living there, especially at night when occasional gun fire rings out from neighbor’s apartments. After two years, he still can’t get used to it, or accept fully the pain it causes. When he steps out for a cigarette, he keeps his eyes peeled for the drug dealer who offers him free samples whenever they meet. He’s turn him in if he thought it would do any good. he knows better.

“I paid for my son’s education,” he says softly. “That was before the collapse, but just barely.

“I couldn’t do that for my daughter. She got her CNA on her own and was able to move on but we shared a car for almost two years. It was our home.”

He looks forward to next month, when he can go on Social Security, finally. Unlike millions of homeless and dispossessed, he had paid in maximum contributions, so his check will be close to $1800/month. It’s still below poverty level for a family of two. His rent will go up according to scale but he’ll be unable to leave. Still, compared to the past, he senses he’ll have some of his dignity back.