After 4 weeks of research and meetings with candidates, I've come to some realizations.
1. People tend to get voted in if they have good speaking skills; more so than their qualifications.
2. The quietest, least dramatic candidates tend to get less noticed, but, in my opinion, would be the best leaders.
3. I now hate the word, "conservative." I don't think it actually means anything.
4. All political leaders seem to be less effective, or less motivated on principles, the longer their in office. I suspect that they get comfortable with their salaries and lifestyle. They live in neighborhoods where everyone is living well, and begin to forget that there are penny-pinching Americans that can't make ends meet.
5. My "American Dream" is different from other people. The original dream is one of having opportunity to rise up from poverty into prosperity. My American dream, is that all people who work in skilled trade jobs, or college educated jobs, should be able to comfortably provide for a family - like $60,000-$100,000/ year. They shouldn't have to climb corporate ladders, work 80 hours a week, start a business, get into management or change jobs all the time, just to make ends meet. They should be able to afford insurance, and save for retirement, while paying the monthly bills and raising a family. They should be able to buy a small (about 2,000 sq. ft), modest house, own two cars, and have as many children as they want. They should be able to spend time with their families regularly.
I don't feel like that's the America I live in. I feel like the America I live in is chaos. The America I live in is one where either you're on the top, or you're on the bottom.
-51 percent of all American workers made less than $30,000 last year.
-62 percent of all American workers made less than $40,000 last year.
-71 percent of all American workers made less than $50,000 last year.
"It has been estimated that it takes approximately $50,000 a year to support a middle class lifestyle for a family of four in the U.S. today, and so the fact that 71 percent of all workers make less than that amount shows how difficult it is for families that try to get by with just a single breadwinner." (Oct 2015)
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/10/goodbye-middle-class-51-percent-of-all-american-workers-make-less-than-30000-dollars-a-year.html
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/10/goodbye-middle-class-51-percent-of-all-american-workers-make-less-than-30000-dollars-a-year.html
I agree with these statements and article wholeheartedly. My husband is an IT computer technician. He has a bachelors in Information Systems. Yet, after working for an IT company for 7 years, he makes only $40,000 (Gross). In Utah, which is a state that tends to pay less per cost of living than other states, particularly in the computer industry, but is also currently, in 2016, #2 in the nation, for being in the best economic situation of any state.
The sad part is, according to payscale.com, my husband is making more money than 61% of the other IT Technicians with similar jobs!
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The republican party was asking for donations. I feel like I'm morally against it, but I'm not sure I've figured out why. Maybe because I feel like they've failed us? When they were in office, they didn't do what they promised?
Maybe because I feel more like a Centrist, than a Republican?
