We talk a lot about the economy, terrorism, and taxes. We all have opinions on character and leadership. But the real reasons I'm voting for the President are these:
My kids.
Their excitement about this Obama fellow was why I started listening to him the last time around. And once I started listening, I started donating and working for him.
My kids are not really kids anymore--they are 25 and 21. I am unabashedly proud of them. They are stepping out into the world and are going to be the people who are responsible for our nation pretty soon. And I want to make sure they have a nation that is good and fair and full of opportunity for all the young people.
I want to make sure they have a nation that leads by example rather than by bullying.
I want to make sure they have a nation that embraces an economy for the future rather than being beholden to dinosaurs of the past.
I want to make sure they have a nation in which equal rights are for everyone, not just for those who are privileged to already have them.
I want to make sure they have a nation in which education and science are accorded the place of distinction they deserve, rather than getting dumped in some back alley.
I want to make sure they have a nation that deals with international relations in a rational, pluralistic way, not an imperial monster that loves the sound of its own saber-rattling.
And I want to make sure they have a nation that uses its resources--human, intellectual, technological, and natural--in an enlightened way, rather than in a mad rush for the profit.
Full disclosure--this is not some dream that just dawned on me. This has been my mission for the last 25 years. It is what all the PTA meetings and school fundraisers and school board meetings and neighborhood activities and town board meetings and downtown revitalization groups have been about. It is what all the networking and community organizing and door-knocking and phone-calling and petition-circulating has been about.
It is about my kids and their future. It is always about my kids and their future.
But I'm not Mr. Altruistic. There must be something in it for me.
There is: I want my kids to be proud of the work I have done--of the work my generation has done. I want them to have happiness and security and a decent place to live and a decent job that pays for it. And I want them to--nah, I just hope they will--sometimes step away from their labors and say, "Thanks, Dad. You did good. You did the right thing."
So I'm voting for the President, and for my Democratic representatives in the House and the Senate, because keeping the reins of government in the responsible hands of these good people is at this moment the best way to ensure that my kids get a nation that is worthy of them.
And that's a legacy worth fighting for.