Hello, my name is Liz, I’m 41 years old and this year I made my first ever contributions to a political campaign. And once I started, I couldn’t stop!
I started with a small donation to the Obama campaign a few weeks ago. Then last week I made a slightly larger donation to Obama. And then yesterday I made a significantly larger – for me, at least – donation to several candidates and causes through the Act Blue campaign right here at Daily Kos.
I really resisted donating for most of this year. I am in the process of adopting, and at some point in the next year I am going to be a single mother. I have a relatively good job at a non-profit and lead a comfortable life, but having a child is going to stretch me pretty thin financially. Probably thinner than I can even imagine at this point, but I’m willing to be stretched that thin to experience the joys and challenges of parenthood. For most of this year I have been ruthlessly cutting unnecessary expenses and saving every penny I can in preparation for motherhood, and making a political donation was just not in my budget.
But then I realized, what good will it be to have money in the bank if my country has gone down the tubes? How can I raise a child in a world of "more of the same"? When I looked at it from that perspective, I had to give as much as I possibly could to make sure my child-to-be has a future.
One of the reasons I support Democrats instead of Republicans is because I do believe we’re all in this together. I understand that my life is infinitely better when the people all around me are successful and productive in their lives, and I’m willing to pay a little more in taxes to support programs that help make that happen. During this election, I’ve started to see that this also applies to what happens politically in other parts of the country. I am lucky enough to live in Massachusetts, where universal health care and same-sex marriage and the right to choose an abortion are secure. But what about the women in South Dakota who might lose the right to choose? What about the countless couples in California who might have their equal rights stripped away? What about all the people in this country who can’t afford health care and will be left out unless and until there is enough political courage in Washington to address this issue head on?
Yesterday I made my donation for all of those people, so I can honestly say that I did everything I could to leave this world a better place than I found it. I can’t think of a better example than that to set for my future child.