Dignity Lost

I want to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Smith of Tumwater. I promised to keep them anonymous but everything you read here is absolutely true. The 25 minutes I spent with them in their living room was moving to the point of tears.

Mrs. Smith was recently let go by the State and the family budget is in shambles. Unfortunately, this is a story I’ve heard too often at the doors, but this one was particularly wrenching. You see, Mrs. Smith is a breast cancer survivor and she suffers from side-effects following chemo-therapy. It gets worse; Mr. Smith was let go by the County just prior to his wife losing her job. Now imagine you are trying to put a daughter through college and battling side-effects from cancer treatment; both you and your spouse have lost your jobs and your family income is 1/3rd what it used to be with the possibility of losing it all after unemployment benefits run out; you now have to pick up your health care costs; and your house payment is a painful reminder of how close you are to losing everything.

Mrs. Smith feels an enormous loss of dignity because she isn’t working. Her self confidence is shaken, and at 59 years old, she faces the absolute fact of age discrimination (and the tears began to flow). Mr. Smith is also 59 years old and he is so committed to working that he’s taken a temporary job FOR LESS MONEY THAN UNEMPLOYMENT WOULD PAY HIM because of the sheer dignity of having any job.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith now face some sobering realities: They are almost sixty years old, the job options are slim to none, and they’ve gone from a clear path to retirement to the likely reality of depleting their own savings just to make it to retirement eligibility. Mind you, if they do retire early, they will take penalties on the money they have rightfully earned. If they start to draw Social Security early, they will receive a reduced benefit. None of these scenarios include a feasible way to pick up their own health insurance. They are committed to finding work, but they are scared! Scared that they will wipe out their savings; scared that they will have to cut their daughter free and ask her to take on an even bigger loan burden to finish college; scared that unemployment benefits will run out before they find work; and scared that, at the age of 59, nobody in the workplace wants them.

Sixty years of combined public service to the citizens of the State and this County and in a year or two it will all be wiped away. Confidence shattered and dignity lost.

How did we get here? Greedy bankers created a housing bubble (and burst) that has plunged us into an eighty year low in the economy. Thirty years of vilifying government to the point that State and Local government in Washington has shrunk from 12% of state GDP to less than 10% of State GDP. And key “leaders” in both parties balanced the budget by addressing 92% of the State deficit with program cuts and 8% of with new revenue. Government is not the enemy! While state services and state employees have been cut over the last two years, the number of millionaires grew by 16%. While the unemployment rate topped 10% this last year, and layoffs continue in the private and public sector, both the NASDAQ and the Dow are up over 15% and CEO bonuses have increased by 17%! Once more, workers are being crushed, Wall Street is back in control, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith are on the verge of crisis.

By now you understand why I want to fight for working families and why all 24 unions who have made official endorsements in this race have backed my campaign (one dual and 23 sole endorsements)! You don’t have to be a fan of unions to appreciate that middle-class working families are being systematically eliminated in this nation, in this state, and in this county.

We’ve spent 200 years in our history meeting shocks to our economy by asking those who have a little more to pay a little more: a civil war, a depression, two world wars, and natural disasters – all dealt with, in part, with higher marginal tax rates on the very wealthy. Now we cut taxes in what can only be described as the living legacy of trick-down economics. Leaders in both political parties have convinced themselves that top down prosperity is still possible – it is not! You stabilize the economy with a healthy public sector, viable small businesses, and confident consumers. You stimulate the economy by putting money in the hands of those who spend it, not those who bury their money in foreign investments.

I have not stopped thinking about Mr. and Mrs. Smith! I still hold back a tear when I think back to that conversation and reflect on one giant, sad piece of irony. Mrs. Smith was wearing a t-shirt that night; a navy blue shirt with big white letters that read U.S.A. I can’t stop but wonder what has happened to our country. I want the Smiths to have a chance to gain back the hope they had for the future. I want the chance to reform our tax code and fight for jobs (public and private) for Mrs. and Mr. Smith. Put simply, I want my country and my state to honor hard work and government service again. Please join me in the fight of my lifetime. Please cast one courageous vote for a passionate economic progressive who will put the Smith’s ahead of himself.