I only invested about $150, but thanks to that small gamble, I am now set for the next eight years.
I'm getting a big tax break, better health care, a greener planet, enhanced civil rights... all for $150. My children will have better teachers, we stand a better chance of keeping assault weapons out of the wrong hands. We will stop our Treasury from bleeding by cutting the steady flow of cash to the war in Iraq.
All for $150.
That $150 I donated to Barack Obama was the best money I've ever spent.
In my bank account, it would've earned interest, but it wouldn't have changed the world. It wouldn't have secured a better future for myself and my family.
Maybe my $150 went toward a campaign staffer's pay. Maybe it went toward an ad. Perhaps it was used to provide donuts for volunteers or pay the phone bill for an hour of phone banking or toward renting a bus to take canvassers to battleground states. I don't know. I don't need to know. I'm confident it was better spent than any conceivable way I could've spent it.
I love my country more today than I have in eight years. Exhausted and hungover, there was still a spring in my step as I hopped into work four hours late. Even the people behind the counter at Jimmy John's were literally whistling while they worked.
I heard a German guy call into the Ed Schulz show this morning to congratulate and thank America for it's decision. We didn't just do right by our own nation; we did right by the world.
Alone, my $150 would not have done very much toward securing victory. But when pooled into the mutual fund containing $15 from Barbara the teacher, $35 from Bobby the Steel Worker, $5 from Jim the Graphic designer, $100 from Zoe the Concert Cellist and $200 from Jonathan the Product Manager, it multiplied.
Congratulations, Kossack the Kossack... you're rich!