Samantha Says: SUPPORT YOUR POLITICIANS

Fund Each Other!

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been front page news for over a year. Now that Barack is the Democratic candidate, the two took great pains to meet in “Unity” to 1) present a united front, and 2) ask for help in paying down/off Clinton’s financial debt load from campaigning. Hillary’s debt load is around $10 million dollars. What I find amusing here is that the Clinton’s publicly released their tax returns since 2001during her campaign. Together they have grossed over $109 million dollars, $52 million of those dollars were reportedly from speaking engagements. Am I the only one who sees the irony in this situation?? Let me explain something. I believe in the American dream. I believe that if I work hard enough, long enough I will make my dreams come true. What I don’t believe is that people who already have millions of dollars need help paying down their debt.

I will admit that I started late in life, and I don’t expect to ever see a million dollars (at least until I retire). Ten years ago I didn’t care what the issues were or why I needed to vote. Now, after getting my life on track and having a son, I am concerned. I am concerned about family values, abortion, education, taxes, the war, and gay marriage like most young adults. However, I am also equally concerned about my own personal debt load. I am a married lesbian with a young son and I am about to complete my Bachelors degree. I go to school, take care of our son, run a house, and still manage to find time to work yet when I graduate yet I will still be nearly $100,000 in debt in school loans. I know what you are thinking… can she not manage money? To the contrary, we have no credit card debt, we do not rent- we own, one car is paid for and we only have a year to go on the second. Literally, our ONLY debt is college. Now, issues aside, why would I want to send my hard earned dollars to Hillary Clinton in order to help pay off a debt that she is fully capable of paying off herself? Or the other question…Why would Hillary keep campaigning if she knew she could not pay for it?

I propose a solution to this problem. There are hundreds if not thousands of young GLBT people who could use the money instead. Go buy some groceries for a student in college and show that you really care that they get an education instead of sending your money to a politician who probably won’t change a thing. Send your donations to college students who need it. Help young GLBT members of your community to achieve their potential and become productive members of the GLBT community. It is a circle. If we all just help individuals, those individuals will prosper and help other individuals. In the end we could end up with a large and successful enough community to actually pay off the lobbyists to make sure that we get the changes we need in this country. What the GLBT community needs is to help itself, not politicians. Now I am not saying “don’t vote”, I am not saying “don’t volunteer to help with the campaign”, what I am saying is that there are enough large businesses helping to support politicians that your money is being misspent. Spend it where it counts.