Open letter to Politicians and Their Fundraisers:
For the past two years, I have been at work writing my memoir, The Fourth Moment, during which time my email inbox has been inundated with hyperbolic, bogus, unscientific surveys and the inevitable request for money. We need you! Please donate! Respond to Senator ______’s (fill in the blank) request. Please donate! Send a message to . . . Please donate! Would you vote for . . .? Please donate. Fight gerrymandering. Protect entitlements. Rid the planet of “the other party.” Please, we beg you, please donate.
While I was engaged in seeking insight and truth about what it means to live a purposeful life, not one of these gazillion emails provided any opportunity to reflect, to respond, to query, to suggest. They only let me DONATE. AMAZING. Both political parties claim to be fighting for the middle class, the poor, and the disenfranchised. But one party seems interested only in exploiting Americans, and America, to line the pockets of the rich and powerful. The other party wants to win back power . . . to do what? No clue? Its leaders certainly have their own history of lining the pockets of the rich.
Although writing a book published by a small independent publisher will not provide riches, I am not impoverished. Still, why would I give my hard-earned little bit of money to either of these parties, both of which have failed miserably to protect us? Since Kennedy, we have been involved in bogus wars, seen our young men and women die, and watched our bridges crumble, our schools go unfunded, and the separation of Church and State eroded while the rich get richer and the poor—poorer. Both parties legislate for the campaign and fundraising cycle without any genuine regard for future realities and human costs.
A pox on both their houses, Republican and Democrat. Our party system is broken, our system of government is broken, and we are saddled with the most heinous president and executive branch ever elected in my lifetime.
My advice to those politicians: Don’t ask me for money, and don’t ask me what I can do for you. Tell me what you are doing for me and the 90 percent of Americans looking to you for a future. And, maybe, read my book.
Carole J. Garrison 