I'm turning 30 this year. The first presidential election in which I had the opportunity to vote was in 2000, when the gods considered our nation's political shenanigans of the previous half decade--government shutdowns, impeachment, and the general decline of cooperative representative democracy as a means to fix America's problems--and decided to sprinkle a heavy dose of mishigas on the proceedings. Since that moment of hanging chads and valid-one-time-only Supreme Court rulings almost 12 years ago, the circumstances of my life have have been directly affected by almost every issue and event that has shaped the political narrative of our country. I've grown into an adult in the midst of constitutional crises, the worst terrorist attack our nation has ever seen, one of the worst recessions its ever endured, and the most frozen and polarized legislative machinery in generations. For many Americans, the ways in which our government's actions affect their daily lives are ambiguous, or uncertain, or insignificant; for me, they have been of central importance.
But with nearly 30 years of life under my belt, I've also gained a small measure of perspective on where our nation's been in its grand and gaudy history, where it sits at this unique moment of strife and turmoil, and where all of it might lead. All that I've lived and known as a man and a political animal has been colored with something deeper and essential: the struggles and triumphs, the choices made and the gifts given by my family and those I love, all of which has contributed to the person I am at this very moment.
As the nation hitches up its proverbial breeches for another slog through the mud of presidential electioneering, I've come up with the best reason to vote for my candidate in 2012, my president, Barack Obama:
It's me.
I am a second-generation American, the grandson of immigrants from Poland. My mother's mother entered the U.S. illegally, from Canada, after her journey from Eastern Europe. She met my grandfather, a legal immigrant, in 1926 at a night school English class in New York City, and when they fell in love he took her back to Canada to marry her and ensure her legal return to the U.S. I wouldn't be here if my grandmother hadn't taken a risk for the reward of a new life of opportunity.
Because he supports efforts like the DREAM act and broader immigration reform to bring fairness and sense to the immigration system, and because he believes in immigration as a core strength of America's values, I'm voting for Barack Obama for president.
I am the son of parents who grew up with little spare money in their lives. My mother's parents ran a linoleum flooring store in the Bronx; my father's dad drove a pie delivery truck to restaurants around Los Angeles, while his mom was a bookkeeper. My mom and dad are, respectively, the products of NYC's best public high schools and California's much-vaunted university system. My parents met and fell in love while pursuing their PhD's. The public education they received paved the way for the higher education they pursued and the well-paying jobs they eventually snagged, and led directly to the life of relative privilege I've led, the easy access to education (regardless of price) I've enjoyed, and the fiercely intellectual environment in which I grew up.
My president has shown a deep commitment to ensuring the strength of our nation's education system, through the Race to the Top program, student loan reform, Pell grants, and a new GI bill for our returning veterans. He's made my own graduate student loan repayment affordable, thanks to Income Based Repayment. For shoring up and fighting for a public education system that is under assault by conservatives daily, and for making the cost of higher education manageable, Barack Obama deserves my vote.
I am the son of a mother with a pre-existing condition. She was born with a severe case of scoliosis, and her parents were unable to afford the corrective surgery on their own. When she was 14, at New York City's old Hospital for Joint Diseases, my mom received some "socialized medicine" in the form of subsidized surgeries to correct her spinal curvature. During a surgery, she received a blood transfusion laced with Hepatitis C; nobody knew about her illness until the virus was identified more than 20 years later. Although I'm lucky enough to not have it, I could have been born with Hep C through the simple fact that I was in my mother's womb. If it happened, I would've been born with a pre-existing condition myself.
Because Barack Obama fought tooth and nail for health care reform that ensures I cannot be denied health coverage because of a pre-existing condition, and because he believes that the strength of our people is inextricably linked to the health of our people and our access to health care, I'll vote for him.
I am the son of two government bureaucrats, those much-maligned creatures. My father works for a quasi-governmental company that contracts with the federal government to provide technology for government programs; his work deals with homeland security and border security. My mother retired after 32 years working to regulate pesticides and rodenticides for the EPA. The work they do and have done for our nation is amazing, the commitment they and their colleagues show to their work is admirable, and they've been amply rewarded with good-paying jobs and great employee benefits for their entire adult lives. The work they do is smart. It's necessary. They are not what's wrong with "big government", they're what's right with intelligent government. Their government jobs put food on our table, gas in our cars, and a comfortable, middle-class life within our grasp. Their belief in the work they've done, and how much work is yet to be done, makes me want to serve the public good as well.
I'm voting for Barack Obama because he believes that government can and should work for its citizens, and that investing in government can lead to tangible improvements in my life.
I grew up outside of Washington, DC, in Arlington, Virginia. I went to college in New York City. On 9/11, both my homes were attacked. I watched from a safe distance on the roof of a university building in Manhattan as the Twin Towers fell; I then spent a harrowing half hour locating my family in DC. I learned from that nightmare day that the emotions surrounding such a tragedy can obscure the larger meaning of the event. What elicited anger, vitriol, and misdirected blame from many of our nation's leaders, the leaders who sent our military boys and girls into Iraq when we should have been focusing on the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, made me crave calculated justice for our nation's enemies and uncompromising care for our nation's victims.
Barack Obama's military found and killed bin Laden. He signed legislation improving care for 9/11 first responders. He ended the "dumb war" in Iraq. He's done more for veterans than any president in generations. I'll vote for that.
I'm a gay American. I've been with my mate for more than 4 years now; we got legally married in Massachusetts last September. Gay marriage is recognized in my home state, New York, and in DC, where my husband attends graduate school. Because of DOMA, we filed our taxes as "married jointly" in New York, and as single filers for the IRS. Because of DOMA, my husband was ineligible for a $2,000 federal lifetime learners tax credit to offset the cost of his education. Because of DOMA, and its legislative equivalents in many states, there are so many places in this country where I would not be guaranteed the right to visit my husband in the hospital, or to inherit his assets should he die, or to receive the benefits that are afforded to straight couples of equivalent legal marital status. Until 6 months ago, I couldn't have openly served in the military had I been compelled to by patriotic duty or otherwise.
Obama's Justice Department refuses to defend DOMA. Obama got DADT repealed. And for all the hubbub otherwise, I know where he stands on gay marriage. I want a president who believes I deserve equal rights under the law, and who works, however methodically, to remove the impediments to equality. That's why I'll vote for Obama.
Finally, I am human. I am flawed. My life is pock-marked with mistakes and regrets, disappointments and thoughtlessness. With time, I think I've learned and grown from these harder times, to become a better reflection of the person I want to be. I see in Obama's eyes; his fast-graying hair; the stoop when he visits Arlington Cemetary; the sternness of his delivery when he remarks on our enemies; the softness of his voice when he talks about Trayvon Martin; in all of those things, I see in my president that same struggle to be better, as a man, a head of government, and a leader of the nation and the world.
That's why, when this year's election gets especially noxious, as it surely will, and when I feel like tuning out, walking away, and ignoring the news until 2013, I'll look in the mirror. Then, with any luck, I'll remember all the things I'm working for, giving money to, advocating and defending. Then, on November 6, I'll vote for Barack Obama.