Jan 30, 2008  
A gut vote…a good vote
 
The candidates and issues we will vote on are many, and making our choices will be difficult, so difficult, in fact, that most of us will end up going with our gut feeling on a single issue or two...Logic, as important as it is, will have little effect on most of our decisions...

Here comes Super Tuesday. The candidates and issues we will vote on are many, and making our choices will be difficult, so difficult, in fact, that most of us will end up going with our gut feeling on a single issue or two.

Logic, as important as it is, will have little effect on most of our decisions. Who reads the fine print of the offered propositions? Who has time to study, in depth, the positions and the flip-flops of the candidates? Knowledge of issues and candidates is important in a democracy if we are to make the best decisions...but who – you may ask – has the time?

So, this leads me to a plea. Vote for yourself. Vote for YOUR economic interest.

About that gut feeling...
Seeing that we will ultimately vote our gut feeling anyway, let us all take a closer look at...our gut. See that person down there. We know that person better than anybody. We know that person works hard, not just for him or her self, but hard for his or her family. We know that person down there struggles. What we might not know is, we don't have to struggle, and we shouldn't.

Perhaps you haven't noticed, but we...here in the United States...are in a class war. Unbeknownst to most of us, the sides have been drawn by the powers that be – those with money and power. On their side – those with money and power – are the corporate elites who claim to know what's best for the rest of us. On our side – those without money and power – are...well...the rest of us – the working poor, the non-working poor, and the once very large middle class, working or otherwise.

Though the elites tell us what is good for us, what they REALLY want is what is good for them; namely, more money and power. They will do whatever it takes to keep, and even increase their share of the economic pie. They will tell us they deserve a bigger piece..."We've gone to school, we deserve it"...and that the rest of us only deserve LESS..."You want more, then go to school." To them we are costly parts of a machine, cogs that are replaceable. What they don't acknowledge is...we are HUMAN, and though we try – and try hard – we still struggle.

We don't have to struggle, and we shouldn't
Fortunately, we live in a democracy. That means the power to change our lives...to decrease the struggle...is in our own hands. It's in our vote. Sweet!

Whaddaya say we vote for ourselves...we vote for our guts. Let's be true to ourselves and be true to our families. That'll be our single issue! We'll look at the candidates and the issues and ask ourselves one question: Will my family be better off?

It's economics...
What appears to be our "single" issue really covers a large politico-economic gamut. What is good for "the rest of us" (which happens to be the vast MAJORITY of people) is good, period. That is what democracy is all about. WE ARE THE WORKING CLASS. For the working class to get even just a little bigger portion of the economic pie, it takes organization, it takes numbers, it takes – whether we like it or not – a union. If you want to reduce your and your family's struggle, then vote for candidates and issues that help workers. Now let’s go out and vote our guts out.

JN