Organizing for America | Tameka Lewis's Blog: I Don't Want to be Sick....I Can't Afford to Be

I Don't Want to be Sick....I Can't Afford to Be

By Tameka D. Lewis, J.D. - Oct 4th, 2008 at 12:23 am EDT

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Tags: change, Dallas, Dubya, Obama, Sicko

There are two pieces of bad news I could receive the first week of November that could bring me to my knees, break my spirit, and force me to succomb to a babbling coma of despair. First: Bar exam results come out that week, so if I failed it, that could be the 2nd worst thing that's ever happened to me. Second: If the news reports on Nov. 5th that John McCain will be our new President, then that would the THE worst thing that's ever happened to me. At least I could retake the Bar exam, but my dear friends, there is no coming back from another four years of this regime's rule.

I don't want to come across as melodramatic or pessimistic. But, sadly and truly, I predicted the dark doldrums that is America's current economic horror and international perception. And I predicted this right around the time Bush, Jr. got re-elected.

What is fun to know is that I felt like I was screaming in a room of crowded strangers, and no one could hear me. I told my sister, whose son is severely autistic, I said, "Sister, (of course I don't call her 'Sister,' but for the purpose of this internet blog, her name is 'Sister') people who have children with disabilities and who may need social programs, such as SSI, are the ones who need to be out there voting right now. Because, I have to tell you, if you don't go out there and assert your right to have a candidate who represents your interests (aka NOT George W. Bush), then you are going to lose your assistance." And you know what...didn't take a year for it to be lost.

And I told my friend, I said, "Friend, people like us [minorities] need to get out there and vote. We have to assert our rights and use our voices. And yes, I understand that we live in Texas and Texas is a Red State. But that can't change unless we get out there. And even if we don't win this time, at least the majority will have to address our issues, because they'll know that we are voting too." Friend, and many like her...like me, didn't vote. Ang guess what? I cannot think of a time where minorities' issues and needs have been as blatantly ignored since the pre-Civil Right era.

We have a President now, who proudly refused to attend a NAACP convention. Why? Oh...well, because he can. Because he doesn't think that we vote. He probably thinks we're too lazy to vote. So, why should he even bother? We didn't.

I told yet another friend about 4 years ago. I said, "Friend, middle class people have NO business voting for Republican candidates right now. They are not for us. They do not care about our needs. They are for the top 1%, so unless you're in that upper eschelon. You cannot vote for them. Not right now - not under George W." I'm not sure if Friend listened, but I do know that under George W. Bush, property taxes for the middle-class skyrocketed. And that combined with the current mortgage crisis (another Republican debacle) caused middle-class people to lose their homes.

How giving tax breaks to the very wealthy and the corporate giants makes sense to Repubicans and to people who vote for them, I'll never know. But, after a recent conversation with a school buddy of mine, I think I may understand.

To be brief, the conversation went a bit like this, "The trickle-down economic policy has NEVER worked. In fact, to get us out of the Depression created by trickle-down economics, Roosevelt created the New Deal, which put tax dollars into social programs that created jobs, and rebuilt the economy. The economy thrives on a cycle of money flowing in from the bottom to the top. The economy can never be anything other than unstable if it's not built on the backs of the middle class. This is Economics 101! Why doesn't everyone know this?!?"

To that my friend calmly replied, "Maybe it's because everyone didn't take Economics 101 in college." And I said, "Ohhhh." I suppose that is a possibility. My fault.

So, I will solve the world's problems right now. Today. Listen up. For the skeptics who haven't taken Economics 101 and preferably 102, please do some research. Research Black Monday and the Great Depression. Research how the economy was booming for the very rich just before that dark Monday (sort of like it is now). And research what Roosevelt enacted to dissipate the economic dustcloud that selfishness, greed, and deregulation brought about (the New Deal).

However, these are busy times. And I fully understand that not everyone has the time to do this research. So, please use this blog as your guide. The predictions I made under the current regime were frighteningly accurate. And I predict that the next four years under McCain would be even worse. Not necessarily because McCain would be a worse president than George W., I'm not even sure if that's possible. But because McCain's administration has expressed a desire to continue the policies that the nightmare that is George W. Bush concocted up.

McCain believes that the economy can work itself out. He states matter-of-factly that we will be in Iraq for another 100 years if he deems it necessary. But, my fellow Americans, we cannot afford to sit back and watch the economy unravel the mess that G.W. Bush has made. And we can't afford to sit back and sustain a war in which we cannot afford, and in which we have no real allies to back us.

My fellow Democrats, Liberals, Moderates, and Open-minded voters, we cannot be asleep at the wheel while our country is crumbling around us. And we certainly cannot allow a person to be elected President who is adamant that we do so.

Vote. Get involved. Make our Change Happen.

Best regards,

T.D. Lewis

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