President's Viewpoint

Vote: This Election Really Matters

(This article first appeared in the September/October 2008 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

Vote in the November elections as though your life and the lives of everyone you care about depends on the outcome, because it does. Do not fool yourself into believing that your vote won’t make a difference. This time is different.

If you are like me, you have voted in many elections and — no matter who won — nothing really changed. So, why bother? Well, Brothers and Sisters, we have exhausted all of the “freebies” and we either get it right in 2008 or we continue the slide into a system of haves and have-nots as if we lived in a Third- World country. This time it is for real.

Throughout history, the magic of the American Dream has been that it was within the reach of every citizen who was lucky enough to stay healthy, and who was willing to work to attain the skills and education necessary for gainful employment. Each successive generation has made incremental steps up the ladder of economic success. But that can change.

America has not always been the Land of Opportunity. It has been, for example, a land of slavery and child labor, where women and Native Americans, among others, have been denied basic equality. There has been an explosion of homelessness, soup kitchens, and cheese giveaways. For many people, over many years, this was a land of hopelessness.

The comfort that has been extended to many is now jeopardized, and if you think that no matter which candidates you support in the November election, tomorrow will be just like yesterday, well, think again.

This Time Is Different

This time you will be voting either for a government that empowers ordinary citizens, or for a government that uses its power and its resources to enrich a few at the expense of many. You will elect a government that reverses the slide of the past eight years or one that continues the decline.

The American Dream has been the objective of successive generations that applied their best efforts to improve their conditions and pass on to their children and grandchildren a promise of more. And notwithstanding the belief of many that their accomplishments were the result of individual achievement, the advances were made possible by a government that leveled the playing field and enabled individuals to share in the bounty of their efforts.

Americans do not work harder, nor do they have a collective intellect superior to the citizens of other countries where opportunities for upward mobility simply do not exist. The American Dream was shaped by laws permitting employees to organize and make collective demands; legislation prohibiting child labor; minimum-wage laws guaranteeing a livable income; protective safety-and-health laws; and legislative checks and balances limiting the authority of individuals prone to dictatorial tendencies.

These checks and balances have set American civilization apart from every other historic effort to organize large numbers of people in a way that could benefit everyone. The result is that the efforts of postal workers, schoolteachers, police officers, sales clerks, doctors, lawyers, engineers, intellectuals, counselors, and hundreds of other occupations all blend together for the individual and common good. The economy is structured such that all can benefit.

But that can change. And it has changed, through government action that separates the rich and powerful from the rest of us.

No Guarantees

Too often, we take it for granted that advances are guaranteed as long as we do our part. We believe that no matter the direction of our government, our lives will continue on an upward trajectory; that our success is our own doing and that government’s role is marginal in our personal lives. It’s the other guy who depends upon government for a handout. Our involvement, if any, in the political process, is based on the extension of our personal values. This view of government has evolved into a theory, perhaps best summed up as: “If a candidate for office believes in principles I share, he or she is worthy of my support.”

As a result of that wrong-headed conception of the role of government, American voters have elected individuals who espouse popular themes, then enact legislation benefiting a few at the expense of many. And they get away with it.

Politicians have learned that the actual affect of legislation is of less importance than the perception of what one stands for. How else can one explain the massive tax cuts for the wealthy in 2002 that turned the budget surplus into a massive deficit; the energy policy written by the energy executives; or the No Child Left Behind program? While our world was changing, the political process focused on “wedge issues,” such as gay marriage, gun control, religion, and other personal issues that have little to do with running the government and serving the citizens.

Our elective process has become so distorted that successful politicians do not even have to demonstrate support of these divisive social issues by writing, amending, and passing legislation. They merely have to express their support by pledging allegiance to the latest issue of social division.

Over the past 40 years, the political process has been dominated by personal issues, which would be relevant if we were electing a king or a Pope instead of a president and members of Congress. Instead, we discuss not whether and how government can be used to benefit all of the people, but rather which candidate expresses conformity with one’s personal views on a range of issues that have little or nothing to do with government. This abrogation of the democratic process has led to a government that controls the resources of many, but serves only a few.

The message of shared values that is delivered to the masses differs dramatically from the message conveyed to the rich and powerful. They demand a clear explanation of how government can be used to further their interests. Average citizens are left with the pablum of value sharing. But do you believe for one moment that ExxonMobil is concerned about gay marriage or faith? The interest of their executives is in the value to the shareholders, which in turn determines their own compensation. And the politicians dutifully deliver.

Social Responsibility

The social legislation of President Franklin Roosevelt that served as the foundation of our prosperity has worn thin over time, while the world has changed dramatically. Globalization, the Internet, technology, and medical breakthroughs have dramatically changed the compact between power and the people, and only government can level the playing field. But while we focused on the personal issues of faith and values, government turned its back on its primary role of providing for the common good.

In every measurable way, government is failing its task of representing the interests of ordinary citizens. The nation’s healthcare system has fallen into such disrepair that it ranks below that of some the world’s poorest countries; job creation that will support the American Dream has been off-shored to foreign lands; the education system is in shambles; the prison population has grown faster than the Gross Domestic Product; the highway system is in disrepair; and budget managers everywhere are drowning in red ink. Meanwhile, an unnecessary war has cost the lives of over 4,000 of America’s young and is consuming a greater cost than would be needed to fix Social Security or the school systems, or provide decent healthcare for every citizen. The rich have grown richer, the poor have grown poorer, and the middle-class is threatened with extinction.

We are running out of fixes and if we don’t select the right government this time, your future and that of your children and grandchildren will be jeopardized. Postal workers are particularly vulnerable. Imagine the job that your union has been protecting being advertised at $15 per hour with no benefits. The number of applicants would be astounding. The only thing between you and other ordinary Americans and the unemployment line is the government. And this time, if you do not get government right, the union will be unable to save you and it will be too late.

This Time

In this election, one candidate promises government for all the people, the other promises a continuation of the past eight years: Government for the few, but by a candidate who supposedly “shares your values.” If you do not feel the urgency to bring back government as a vehicle to benefit all, then you have no one to blame but yourself for $5-per-gallon gasoline; a speedier destruction of the environment; an unending war at tremendous cost; the demise of Social Security; an increased number of home foreclosures; and a host of other assaults on the lives of ordinary people.

The future is now and it is urgent. I ask you to vote for hope and for the future. I ask you to reject fear and to reverse the blunders of the last eight years. Practice and protect your values in the privacy of personal relationships, but elect your leaders based on their potential for using government for people like you. We do not need the experience of those who got us to this fork in the road. We need a fresh look; we need change.

We must reject negative political campaigning that says nothing more than “my opponent is bad so vote for me.”We do not need a repeat of the past; we need a vision for the future. A vision of how we can harness the tremendous energy of the American people into bright and glorious opportunities for all. This is our time. This is our opportunity. Don’t let us down.