What Did You Vote For?

By the time anyone reads this, most of you will have voted. Some of you may have voted days ago. I’d like for you to pause a few seconds and think about what you voted for. If I can talk you into it, I’d like for you to write it down and put it away for safekeeping.

I’m voting for higher taxes -- at least for people as comfortable as I am and better off.

I’m voting for a government that makes its citizen’s lives better -- healthier, safer and stable.

I’m voting for a government that provides a level playing field for businesses, both big and small. A government that will allow the best parts of capitalism to flourish while regulating the worst parts. A government that says yes to innovation, service and research and no to pollution, worker exploitation and usury.

Some of you think you’re voting for smaller government and less taxes. I hope you understand that means you’re voting for fewer teachers, longer response times from emergency services and a social safety net with holes so large that many people will fall through.

To give you an idea of what I’m aiming at, let’s think about a subject I don’t think I’ve touched yet -- tort reform. The message corporations would like you to hear is frivolous lawsuits filed by unscrupulous lawyers for clients gambling on a sort of legal-system lotto. I’m sure there are cases out there to prove the point. Just as I am sure there are cases out there that show callous corporations that have done real harm to employees and/or customers and are trying to limit citizens access to redress through the courts.

Which side do you think has the big money behind it, selling its message? I think it would be the same side spending all the money trying to convince you that labor unions are bad for the U.S.

Please, write down what you voted for. Let’s check it against reality in two years when it’s time to vote again.

Don Brown
November 2, 2010