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What About Us: We believe the Country Can Represent a United States?
I have to say I continue to struggle with this question of who is taking care of the middle to upper middle class. While I certainly don't want to take anything from the lower class income base I simply think distribution of benefits needs to be adjusted. The wealthy do not have my concerns, and the lower income base does not have my concerns however they are the squeaky wheels and there is always a tax break, social program, or incentive.
The middle class is trying to move forward in many arenas with the struggle of paying taxes for public school, and paying private school tuition. Creating organizations to make grass roots efforts to enrich communities and being kept out of upper class organizations that will support our causes. Living in suburban America and pretending not to know if the balance gets off too far left as described in "Two Nations", for sale signs appear and property values shift.
I love America and the options for religion, social choices, and economic opportunities but as this years political race shapes up I can't help feeling that with all my commitment, and understanding of our country; when I see Senator Barack Obama defend things that have nothing to do with my concerns economic, security, or healthwise, his battle to defend the "Audacity to Hope" is like me screaming to America I am not strange, I am not a hindrance, I have values, I love my country, I want my children to have wonderful healthy lives, and I want to be safe in my retirement......but my church, and pastor shouldn't overshadow my education, exposure, diversity, and ability to unite the country.
Truthfully, individuals outside of mainstream America answer the same questions that Senator Obama has to answer, just positioned differently. How you might ask? Well by purchasing homes in communities and not knowing if we are welcomed, educating our children in environments where there is one child from India, one from Asia, one from South Side Chicago, and 20 from mainstream America. We do the same thing when we go to college and we have social organization for minorities on campus but decide to join organizations where we are the only African American, Asian, Mexican, Latino, Indian in the club, but we stand firm in our commitment to the organization and friends. When at work we have to prove that we play golf, know which wine is best with certain meals, and prove that we are equally capable of making a profit for the company.
I am not Anti-American, I salute the flag, and I love my country, our freedom, loyalty, and the wonderful neighborhood my family lives in, the school my children attend, and the ability to make choices, but I get heavy when I see a campaign go so sour that Republicans attack a Democratic candidate for his opponent in a nasty degrading way as the race moves to North Carolina.
The television reporters say it is just the fight required for politics, and the Democratic Party will not be divided, the people will come together in November..This simply is not true. For many people like me it starts to feel like for all the commitment I have made to feel equal in the "American Dream", to hope for the vision of Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy we are really starting to show just how much America has stuck it's head in the sand and when it looks too uncomfortable for some of us we will use race, religion, and the media to hurt a person that really just hoped to move the country into the progressive, tolerant, leading country on the Globe!
I will not just vote for any candidate because the candidate that created the negative campaign in the name of politics is not even hopeful for a one nation united working together for America, the candidate is for herself, for women, maybe children, and if it helps only mainstream America, and this I believe is why she thinks at the end of the day Barack Obama can't be elected.
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Super-delegate's: Why Barack Obama?
I am originally from Buffalo, NY, however as a result of losing my mother at the age of 13 years old I relocated to North Carolina where I lived with my grandmother before going to college.
I remember a pivotal moment in politics being Ronald Regan cutting social security for children who were not in college by the spring of 1983. I entered college in the fall of 1983. It always bothered me that I would not have the benefit of my mother’s social security to help me while I attended North Carolina A & T State University. It was at that moment I became a member, in my mind of the Democratic Party. With my mother having left a trust fund I was able to attend NCA&T which did have a great impact because my first opportunity to vote was for my Alumni Jessie Jackson.
To be honest I was not current on the issues, I was voting for my Alumni and was proud to pull the lever so I often attribute Jessie to being involved at the time for my interest in politics. There is a side of me that heard Oprah on her show speaking about voting. She spoke from the perspective because someone died for the right of African Americans to vote we should always be engaged in the process. We should always strive to pull the lever. I appreciate that perspective to this very day. I strayed from the Democratic ticket in 2004 because I felt the issues were out of pattern with who I am as an American.
Let me explain: I pay taxes for public school, but I sacrifice to send my children to private school. I am a firm believer in the power of education and engage my children with activities to improve math, reading, culture, and social graces. I am a Christian but not judgmental, however I hold strong values from a biblical perspective. I believe we have a duty to help ourselves to learn and grow. I did not hear this coming from Kerry, or Edwards, quite frankly had it not been for Barack Obama's speech I would have been totally disappointed.
In an effort to wake up the Democratic Party I voted the antivote, George W. Bush. Not because I agreed with him, not because he was right, but because I believed that if the Republicans, and Democrats got tired enough they would in the next election choose the candidate that was best suited for the position, the candidate that did not care so much about party, but the people of our country.
The candidate that was not judgmental but tolerant. I had already hoped for Barack Obama to be that candidate with no understanding of his interest but with a deeply rooted belief that his time was coming. He is what Nat Irvin would define as a "Thrival", a futurist. The people that truly integrate in their lifestyle, education, spiritual values, and social experiences. People that believe in truly improving our environment, our relationships in the world and our families. I defined Barack and Thrival together. I started writing about them on my website 7weekly.com. I contacted Nat Irvin, I read both of Baracks books, and I read about Hill and Bill Clinton too. At the end of the day I knew that Barack Obama was not playing politics he was fighting for a better America. He was not playing politics he understood me as a middle class American.
I am the American that works smart, provides for my family immediate, and extended. My sisters and I, with our husbands are all striving to provide excellent educations for our children with great sacrifice. We are an invisible middle class, an invisible African American middle class, and invisible women in our commitment to family, work, and community.
We however see the hope, we see the future, we see a change, we see progress, Barack Obama, he is real, he is hopeful, he is experienced, he is a man of noble character, he will bring the country together, and he will reposition our country around the world!
If you are not voting for Obama because of color, in the words from the movie The Great Debaters: “If not now when will it be okay?" If you are not voting for Obama because as seasoned African Americans you fear for his life, we must move in the path God sets ahead of us, if this is the cup God pours for Barack Obama, he will drink from it in obedience, and that is the job of a good and faithful servant. If you are a woman voting to make history for women, I am all for that however there will be another day, and another candidate that is qualified, and does not recreate the same wheel we have seen, we want change, not a dynasty.
I like the Clinton's but I am not voting because I like someone, I am voting for the hope of a new day! If you are a Superdelegate and you cannot understand the error of voting against the masses, the movement sweeping America ask yourself are you standing for the country, or your personal interest. What do you gain from the vote?
I hope my letter is read all across America and makes a difference.
Barack Obama, for change, for hope, for leadership, for education, for environment, for President!
The time is now,
April Smith Coley
Editor in Chief
www.7weekly.com
