Why I'm Voting for Obama

Come on everyone. Throw your stones! Keep perpetuating the sentiment that Plainfield is racist! The fact is, I'm taking a very unpopular local stand by writing this. Plainfield is a very, very white town. And they show their whiteness with thinly veiled racism.

But that's not why I'm voting for Barack Obama. 

I'm voting for Obama because.....Mitt Romney? Really? That's the best you can do, Republican Party? Mitt Romney makes George W. Bush seem like a well-thought-of statesman. He walks like he is desperately trying to not go to the bathroom in his pants. He talks with such a venomous hatred for my tax bracket, that it's an easy choice.

Mitt Romney hates everyone who makes less than $250k per year. This is stunning because most (all) of you reading this make less than that every year. If Mitt could, he'd put all of us into a giant, private-sector funded rocket and shoot us towards the sun.

Mitt Romney's America has no place for me in it. Who am I? I'm a hard-working white guy, someone who grinds out 40 hours per week to get a paycheck that just barely sustains me until the time when the next paycheck comes. I don't cheat my taxes. I don't lie under oath to protect my friend's business interests. I drive an American-made car. A terrible, constant trouble, American car. 

I go out at night with my friends to revel in my own existence. I party like nothing else matters. I drink like I'll never get another chance. I live life because I know I've got to live twice as hard for the people who never got a chance to truly live in the first place. 

I support local businesses. My family, in fact, is a part of the local business scene in Plainfield, and has been for decades. 

My heart genuinely drops into my stomach every time I read or hear about a mass shooting. Every time I hear about a kid caught in gang violence, his life taken away far before the promise of it is realized. Every time a life is senselessly taken away by gun violence, I genuinely hurt for that family. A life lost without reason is a true tragedy.

I love my family, even though I'm writing this instead of helping my sister move into her new house. I love my niece, every moment I spend with her, watching her taking her first steps, grasp the English language, and see life in a way that doesn't see hatred, prejudice, and racism.

I have hope for a better future. I have hope that enviromentalism will continue to take grip within the country. I have hope that we will be able to decrease our need for oil consumption, but will continue to pay for gas for my car, because complaining never got anyone anywhere. But you know what does get people places: cars.

I know global warming exists. I want the people in charge to also know that global warming exists. I know evolution is a real thing. I want the people in charge to also know that evolution is a real thing. I know minorities exist in this country. I want the people in charge to also know they exist.

And you know what, if you want to ask me the question: Are we better now than we were four years ago? The Dow Jones finished at 13093.16 today. When George W. Bush left office, it was at 7,950. 

The auto industry was at death's door. We were fighting concurrent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Things were falling apart. And that's why Barack Obama became president.

And that's why I'm going to vote for him again this year. Things are getting better. The country is in better shape, and if you don't think so, then you are too closed minded to deserve to vote in the first place. If you aren't better off, it's because you don't want to be better off.

But most importantly, I'm voting because Barack Obama gives me something to believe in. He makes me believe that America really is improving and will only continue to get better. 

He makes me believe that there is an America somewhere in the future where racism takes a back seat to actual politics. He makes me think that someday all of my friends who so casually use the N word in reference to him get hit by a meteor, making the world a collectively better place.

Mitt Romney doesn't make me think of a better America. He makes me think of an America that existed four years ago. He makes me think of that person who is so out of touch with reality that he will inevitably submarine all progress, then blame Obama anyway. 

Mitt makes me wish that politics actually mattered. Because if that was the case, Mitt Romney wouldn't be running for president. You used to need actual political stances to run on. Romney has no stances. Romney speaks in vagueries about things that he'd figure out later. Actual politics aren't important to Mitt Romney.  All he cares about is winning, regardless of the cost.

Barack Obama cares about making America a better place. He cares about people my age. He cares about people my grandmother's age. He cares about everyone in between. He cares about people of different races and sexual orientations. 

That's why I'm going to vote for him. Because I have friends who are minorities.  I have friends who are gay.  I'm a white guy. I'll always find a way through life.  I've got a great family and a great girlfriend. 

But for those friends who have it tougher than me, that have to fight even harder for equal rights. I'm voting for them. I'm voting against intolerance. I'm voting against racism. I'm voting against Plainfield.