What is Washboard Express?

Washboard Express is a way for me to express my own opinions, to be a provocative gadfly, by writing a "letter a day" to the President. I may miss a day here and there, because sometimes my family with be my first priority, but my goal is to write a total of 365 letters, representing one full year. To say I have opinions about most things would be to understate the obvious. Those of you that know me, know this is true, those who don't know me, will learn that it's true. The Washboard is a reference to going back to basics and "keeping it clean," so if you would like me to post your comments or opinions on this blog, I only ask that you be respectful. So go ahead, express yourself, and I look forward to an exchange of ideas and opinions.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Letter 108... Dear Mr. President... The real Change and Hope the 99% want.


Letter 108

Dear Mr. President:

You are partly responsible for one of the main reasons that the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement is not going to go away any time soon… because it involves change. As I remember, “change” and “hope” were by and large the central theme to your campaign.

Once that thought got into peoples psyche, whether they knew it or not, it was not going away no matter what. That’s one of the main complaints of all us 99%’ers, we want “change”… real change. Change in the system that keeps pushing us further and further down the drain hole of despair. It’s what you promised and it’s what we want restored after suffering eight years of near collapse after the Bush era.

Some of things that must change if we are to survive this crisis are: Banks must stop foreclosing on homes, people must be able to find and hold quality jobs, young people must be able to attend college without incurring monumental debt, we must hire more quality teachers and fix our crumbling schools, we must invest in our infrastructure all across the country, we must tax the wealthiest Americans, we must STOP the WARS, we must bring our troops home from all around the world… in short, we must focus on “real change” not the “lip service” of change.

We must refocus that change to bring about peace in this country that people are longing for, and the 99% are protesting so passionately about. And I’m not talking just about peace from war, I’m talking about “peace of mind”… the peace of mind that comes from having a job that pays a living wage, peace of mind that comes from having and being able to afford health care for yourself and your family. Peace of mind that your government is still protecting the environment and making sure our water is safe to drink and our food is safe to eat. Peace of mind that all of these things will bring, and the kind of security we will feel, when all of these things are restored to the American people.

I used the word ‘restore’ because there was a time when we had these things and the peace of mind that true security brings. Unfortunately those things have been systematically eroded by corporate greed, by bailing out Wall Street, and by giving a pass to those corporations that shipped our jobs overseas with only one thing in mind… more profits for themselves. And now they want another pass on the taxes they owe if they agree to bring their profits back into this country.

In addition to the “WARS” around the world that we continue to “WASTE” money on, we need to stop the war against the American people… the war that 99% of the people have to fight every day just to survive, and the war that is enslaving this nation in a mountain of debt and despair. The OWS movement is demanding CHANGE, because without it there is no HOPE for the 99% who built this country.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers
Your Gadfly Granny

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