A letter to the President....

Mr Obama -

I worked hard to get where I am and own the things I do. I am only 28 years old but was taught by good parents to do the right things and work hard. I pay my bills on time (most of them, as on time as I can get) but I am not perfect. I have learned lessons that most young people must learn in order to succeed. Because of my work ethic, my long hours, and my own drive and determination, I am what I am. I own my own house (well, some of it...the bank technically owns the rest), my college degree (you still own a small portion of that, too), my own car (well, crap, the bank here, too...but I at least own a damn tire by now or a seat..maybe the rearview mirror), my credit cards (I DEFINITELY own those...despite the bank's best intentions), my dogs (I'm willing to negotiate on who owns them, highest bidder?), I have a good job and I work hard hours at that job (present 15 minutes notwithstanding) in order to own the parts of the above things that I do.

I realize I'm ahead of the curve. I realize that I have been very fortunate. But what I also realize is that your plans and intentions threaten to punish me for my hard work. You want to take what's mine, what I've worked for and what my parents worked in long, hard hours to own themselves and you want to give that to someone else. You want to give that to someone who's not put forth nearly the hard work, or who's not been nearly as diligent. You want to reward the misfortune of others by negating the effort that went into my good fortune (which, is by no means a fortune, but could be called good luck). You want me to share with people that have done nothing to warrant sharing with. (Trust me, I'm an only child, I know I'm not great at sharing anyway, but I at least understand the concept..)

If we are a team, if we are all in this together, then we damn well should be putting in the same level of effort. To you, the thug out on the corner that supposedly deserves to be "bailed out" but who refuses to get, and keep, a paying job and me - who goes to work every weekday - are the same. To you, the lady that scams the government by living off of Food Stamps, Welfare and Public Housing while remaining unemployed is the same as my parents - who put in 30 years each at the Phone Company (who are still bastards) and busted their asses to retire and live their dream on the Gulf Coast and dabble in small business as they choose. I ask you, where was that lady on the weekends that my parents were answering phone calls from work at 8a on a Sunday morning and having to go to the office? And where is that worthless bastard when I'm putting off the things that I want to do because I have to wait on and send out the data for our conference call in the morning? Where is that guy when I'm walking out of the office at 7p? They're standing in front of you with their hands out, that's where they are. The rest of us have our heads down and are busting our ass to make ends meet. We don't want government handouts because the American Dream is to get it done on your own. I don't want to fall behind on my payments because that means I'm a failure.

You bail out banks repeatedly as they drown further and further in their own quagmires, you bail out people that got fired from their jobs (whether it was their own fault or not) and make the company that fired them pay the lion's share of their healthcare, you bail out the people that didn't read the papers or listen to the explanations of what they were buying in that 3,000 sq. ft. house with no money down, and you bail out the domestic auto industry that has failed to stand up to the unions ruining their bottom lines for years, and you reward those and other unions by making it easier to infiltrate businesses that have long tried to keep them out. I don't understand, Mr. Obama, how that should make me want to work hard, to succeed, to push harder to get out of this economic crisis. Your examples seem to be that if I do nothing, if I just let others work hard for me, then I too will get to share in their riches.

You see, that's just not how I was raised. And I don't think it's how you were raised either. Why else did your parents move to America? Why else have you pushed those around you to excel and persevere? Why else do you send your children to the exclusive Sidwell School? Why did you want to be President? Because you expect more than failure out of those around you. You expect your peers to work as hard as you do. And, Mr. Obama, you were raised with a better expectation of America.

I must say that even though I didn't support you, I had hope for you. In just the first month of your presidency, you have lowered my expectations of Americans and dashed my hope in you. If I didn't think my parents would be disappointed, I would quit paying my bills, quit excelling at my job and quit expecting so that I, too, could stand to be rewarded by your society. Sadly, I still expect more out of myself, even if you do not.

-AW


“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation… You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005