Dear Candidates,

• I have spent the better part of a year worried about my career vanishing along with the housing market.
• I have spent the past month wondering if I’d find gas–not out of “panic,” but out of a need to get to work, while the job’s still there.
• I have spent the last two weeks watching the value of my 401k shrink by 25%
• I have spent the last two hours completing open enrollment, trying to make choices that protect my health and my pocketbook, but still ended up costing me more money.

I am an Average American in that I care about the price of milk, the price of medicine, the price of gas.  I worry about paying my rent and staying employed.  I worry about people who make less than I do, who can’t go to their minimum wage jobs because they can’t afford to get there.  I worry that I may need to pick up another job just to make ends meet but won’t make much money at it because those lower-paying jobs require consumers to actually consume things.

Candidates, what do you worry about?

I’ll tell you what you should worry about.  You should worry about whether or not you can afford to lose my vote.

I don’t care all that much about what happened 20 years ago.  I don’t care about what some guy did 40 years ago.  I want to know what you’re going to do to keep my job from being sent overseas.  I want to know what you’re going to do to make sure I can heat my home this winter.

I want to know, can you afford to piss the American people off by slinging mud?

Sincerely,

A. Voter