Two America's
by Matt Ellis

Dear Senator Edwards:

Let me start by saying that I respect your position as Senator and Vice Presidential nominee and how you came to achieve so much. You truly are in a position to influence a large percentage of Americans. With that said, you are also in a unique position to empower and inspire your constituency by encouraging personal responsibility and accountability rather than blaming one's shortcomings and misfortunes on class warfare and societal ineptitudes. This letter will be my expression to you of why I believe that America's heartland will refuse to buy your "Two Americas" ticket.

"Hope is on the way"

However appealing this may sound to someone who may be down and out, what does it really mean? Where is the hope coming from? The Federal government? Who is it that is coming to the rescue? You? Senator Kerry? How are you going to instill hope in someone with no sense of self-actualization and desire for personal gain? I didn't hear you explain how you would deliver this ambiguous "hope".

You certainly understand, as a son of a mill worker, the value of a dollar bill and the honor in earning one. You surely understand that America is free to choose a path, as you chose yours. You chose to educate yourself and advance your career with hard work and intensive study. You made yourself a success. I know that you understood that nobody was going to do it for you and that you ultimately were the only one who could determine your own fate. So it is with that understanding of American society that you made yourself a success.

I'm sure you would be insulted if I claimed that you had help or undue assistance from an outside intermediary such as the Federal government. Why then is it your intention to suggest that Americans are so divided in class that the impoverished are irreparably beaten down by an aristocracy; a group or class considered superior to others. I don't believe there to be an aristocracy in this country. I believe that everyone has the chance to become who they want to become. The problem is that most of us aren't willing to go get it like you did, and we simply want people like yourself to tell us we've been wronged and subjugated by a ruling class. That argument is weak, and intellectually lazy. If hope is on the way, it needs to come from within the soul and not from the government.

On taxation: We need to understand the value of macro-economic stimulus. It is convenient for your party to simply say that 43% of the recent tax cut went to the top 1% of Americans. It is also convenient from my side to counterpoint with the fact that the top 2% pay 40% of the burden. So let's not look at things from this micro-view. By slashing capital gains taxes, double taxation of dividends, and eliminating the death tax as proposed, we are promoting class mobilization and not the class warfare that you speak about. When the middle class is free from excessive tax burdens on investment, we are free to attempt ascension to the next bracket in our progressive code. Simply put, if we tax less, we promote greater investment. Greater investment leads to a more robust economy, larger savings, less waste, and more ownership. I believe this is the foundation of the American Dream, and the foundation of American enterprise. Capitalism over socialism; the American way.

Let the people be free, let us decide how and if we will succeed. Personal responsibility and accountability are the only ways to advance, we should not be advocating to the less fortunate that somehow the government will save the day. We should help the misfortuned by promoting personal choices and education. Let's listen to what Bill Cosby is saying, and stop blaming all of our problems on something other than ourselves. If I choose to not feed my brain with knowledge, choose to never pick up a book, choose to make excuses for unemployment, choose to speak and live ignorantly, then I don't expect Uncle Sam to step in and help me with anything. Life is about choice, and I believe that we all have the equal opportunity to do whatever we want. Ask Condoleeza Rice why she has made herself a successful American and I'm sure she won't attribute her success to anything other than personal choice, her American freedom.

As a consequence of handouts, reparations, and inequitable taxation, we face a decadence of the societal values that we were founded upon. Free enterprise, limited government, economic stimulus through investment-tax reductions, and promoting education to those less fortunate are the only ways to merge your "Two Americas" into one. Please hear me as a middle class tax payer. I support the recent tax package because it works for broad economic expansion and stimulus. The macro economy is what needs to be focused upon in stimulus, not our personal bank accounts.

In conclusion, I have explained to you why I think we are a free country with unalienable rights to chart our own course, why I believe in the recent tax package, and why I believe that the "Heartland" won't be buying a ticket to your party in November.

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