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I’m voting for VJ.
He’s going to turn 11 next month. VJ loves science, but his school is so burdened by standardized tests and so overcrowded that they’ve crammed science into a single quarter instead of the 3 times a week they had it before. It really disappointed him, but mom explained why to him and he's beginning to understand why mom is so concerned about politics.
VJ is healthy and very active. He loves basketball and soccer and plays them both well. In VJ’s travels to public facilities to play both, he’s encountered military recruiters speaking with the older kids who arrive without parents. That kind of put the fear of God into VJ’s mother and VJ is no longer simply “dropped off” at the courts or fields—and she’s been known to take a book with her and read it at his games. VJ’s mom knows that the military is welcome to come to his campus in the K-8 school and doesn’t like it one bit.
VJ’s mom has a lifelong chronic health problem. He has mild asthma and has been hospitalized before it. He’s too young to remember, but his mom and dad declared bankruptcy once when his dad’s employer defaulted on paying the group benefit claims and mom’s heart problem wasn’t covered.
His best friend’s family, who lives next door to VJ, are selling their house and moving in with the grandparents because VJ’s best friend had to have kidney surgery and they couldn’t afford insurance. It's breaking his heart, but his best friend is fine now--so far.
His mom and dad are facing Dad’s layoff now. Dad had a good, steady, high paying administrative job with a major shipping company and was pretty secure until December 27th, when he found out his company was reorganizing. I might mention that VJ’s family lives in a new home they bought last year when things looked rosy and that their home has dropped tens of thousands in value already. Fortunately they managed to get a good fixed rate, unlike many of their very nice, hardworking neighbors who may be moving soon thanks to predatory lending policies, a recession, and oh, hell—George W. Bush and his greedy rich fiends.
VJ’s dad was an illegal immigrant. No, not Mexican either—just a college kid from another country who overstayed his student visa. But VJ’s dad understands the world much better than say, oh, George Bush. When he was born, we had a pretty good president, lots of goodwill left overseas, a savvy, proactive Secretary of State, a steady economy, and really, a bright future.
So much has changed, and his parents try to shield him from what’s happened in his short life. But he knows about 9/11, the war in Iraq, and that his parents are pretty pissed off about just about everything.
His mom and dad aren’t thrilled with the choices they are offered this year and even VJ knows that. He hears his political wonk mom mumble as she watches Countdown every night and he even asks about it. He’s a bright kid who knows he’s a fourth generation yellow dog even if he’s not sure entirely what it means.
They may not be thrilled, but they know what VJ faces if we don’t stop the great sucking behemoth that is the Republican stranglehold in business, in the press, and in DC that has stolen our civil liberties, our safety as a country, our goodwill as world travelers, our prosperity, and our promise. ________________________________________________________________________
I’m proudly voting for VJ this year and that means voting Democratic, even if it takes a picture of VJ, a roll of Tums, a Diet Coke, and a lavender sachet to do it—and it looks as if it may.
There really is no other choice for VJ and the millions of other children who need us to set the stage for their promise. I hope that you will consider a vote for VJ (or any of the millions of promises like him) no matter what survival tools it takes for you, too.
Thank you,
Vj's mom
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