My Whole Expanse I Cannot See…

I once wrote about how Florida Governor Jeb Bush and a bunch of legislators got together a bunch of years ago to legislate my independence, and the independence of other people with disabilities. I wrote about the importance of politics, how the people we elect really do write laws and policies that change peoples’ lives, for the better. I was writing from the perspective of life being made better, and being thankful, I wasn’t really thinking about how we could elect a bunch of people who would write new laws and new policies that turn everything around, that would make life out and out bad. I wasn’t REALLY thinking about that stuff, but now I think I should have been.

When Rick Scott and Alex Sink were running to be the Governor of Florida, I wasn’t really thinking about how the outcome of some election would change my life to where I can barely leave my house, to where I’m being driven to “medically necessary” appointments in ambulances. I knew that Alex Sink was kind of milk-toast, and that Rick Scott was a multi-millionaire right-wing Tea Party nut-bag whose health care company was fined billions of dollars for Medicare fraud. Scott got out before he could be criminally prosecuted, but the general consensus was (and is) that his resignation wasn’t just dumb luck. Sink ran on social issues and the fact that Rick Scott had absolutely zero political experience. Scott ran on jobs, budgets, numbers. His campaign slogan was “Let’s Get to Work.” Given Scott’s shady past and total lack of experience, I didn’t put much thought into the election, though I definitely didn’t see Alex Sink losing. Even if she did lose, so what? I mean, what could Rick Scott do that could affect me? Little tiny, nobody me?

Well, Alex Sink lost, Rick Scott won, and as it turns out, a Republican Governor matched with a Republican Legislature can affect little me, and lots of other people. He slashed education funding, he almost made it so folks employed by the Government could be drug tested for absolutely no reason, he refuses to implement the Affordable Care Act, he slashed Medicaid funding. He took away the funding that allowed people with disabilities levels of independence, allowed them to be productive members of society, contributors to the economy. So, all that stuff I didn’t think about happened, and now I think about that stuff every single day.

Rick Scott has one of the lowest approval ratings in the nation, people here hate him. He won the election, but only because just a fraction of the population actually voted. Most of the people who hate him now didn’t vote for him, they didn’t vote at all. Unemployment is down in Florida since Scott was elected in 2010, from 10.2% to 8.4%, but National Unemployment is down too. So, our economic improvement could easily be a sign of our overall economic recovery, and not necessarily Scott’s business acumen.  He guaranteed 700,000 jobs in 7 years, a figure we absolutely will not meet. Mostly he just pisses people off, destroys the work of his predecessors. Former Republican Governor Jeb Bush got disabled people out of hospitals and institutions, Rick Scott is putting us back. Why? Because it’s good for business, Rick Scott’s former business.

Mitt Romney’s a businessman too, he’s promising tons of jobs. He’s good with numbers and profits, but we have to consider that many of his business decisions have made him and his partners astonishingly wealthy, while putting other people out of business. He has greatly helped himself by hurting others. That’s business, business is cold. Some people have to lose so others can win. People who go into business know this up-front, they know that to get ahead, some people have to get left behind. That’s business. The thing is, Government isn’t a business, being President isn’t like being CEO of the country. The Government exists to protect its citizens, every single citizen. A president can’t, or at least shouldn’t, make ice cold, by the numbers, decisions. Being President involves making decisions that can’t hurt anybody, no matter how many other people that decision might help.

When I look at President Barack Obama, I see a man who has worked his way up from absolutely nothing. He grew up like most of the citizens he now governs, single-parent family, worked his way through school, buried under student loans, with goals and ambitions focused on helping other people to have lives easier than his. He met a nice girl, courted her, driving around Chicago in his shitty, rusted out car. Has two kids, girls who haven’t had automatic perfect Christmases, whose parents had to work to get presents under that tree. I see a man who has gone gray worrying about the citizens of this country, worrying over every choice he makes because he doesn’t want to make a choice that makes life worse for people after he makes it. He worries about the men and women he sends into war, worries about getting them home safely. He feels responsible for their care when they’re injured, and even more responsible when they’re killed. He’s just a normal, honest guy, who signed up for a shit-job with more responsibility and consequences than it has benefits. He has dedicated his entire life to public services, not personal gain. When I look at President Barack Obama I see a smart man, a kind man.

When I look at Mitt Romney, I kind of see Rick Scott. I see a guy who could hurt people and not think twice about it, so long as it makes “good business sense.” I’m not going to be politically correct here, “I’m sure Mitt Romney’s a good person” and all that bullshit. I don’t see a good person when I look at Mitt Romney. When I look at Mitt Romney I see a guy who has made his fortune by cutting other peoples’ throats. He looks out for his family, his friends, himself. He does good things because you’re “supposed to,” all very public, very grand. He’s not a good person at night, in the dark, when nobody but God is watching. I just don’t see good in him. I see a guy who, if elected, could hurt me. I think about all that stuff I didn’t used to think about, back before we elected a “businessman” to be the Governor of Florida.

Tomorrow, when you vote, think about these things.