This morning I watched a campaign ad for I believe a Congressional seat in Kentucky. The ad began with a panoramic shot of a trailer park and then the narrator informed me that this candidate grew up in a trailer park and it will always be "home". Wow.
Not too long after that, I saw Obama's new campaign ad that reminds prospective voters that McCain owns seven houses. The ad ends with the shot of a down-trodden couple on the porch of their one and only home, a home that is probably in foreclosure because of our terrible economy.
WARNING: I am about to sound like an elitist jerk. Those commercials make me sick. Who cares if John McCain owns 7 houses? Good for him. Who cares if some dude from KY lived in a trailer park? That doesn't make him more American. Hmm, I don't own a home and I pay my bills, so I guess that makes me un-American? Give me a break.
Every day I am more and more convinced that there does not exist a candidate who truly represents the middle class. (Except maybe Ron Paul, but that never manifested into anything, so there you have it.) Now, when I say middle class, I don't mean dude from trailer park. I consider myself middle class, but if you look at my tax return and the percentage of my income that is taxed, well, shoot, I am RICH! (I guess that's why I drive a sweet Saturn that is missing 2 hubcaps and hasn't had the tires replaced in 2 years.)
It's absolutely absurd that the percentage I pay in taxes on my income is only a few percentage points lower than the percentage taxed on Bill Gates's income. And there is no candidate fighting for me--and the rest of those post-graduate school, working hard to pay off that insurmountable college debt, Americans.
All we ever hear about are the poor and the rich. Tax breaks for the middle class-ha! Tax breaks for those making less than 35K a year maybe. What about those making less than 100K? We are the ones who are struggling. We can't qualify for many tax incentives, or free government handouts because our income is too high. But, we also don't qualify for the tax breaks Republicans like to offer for the super rich. So yeah, we're stuck in the middle--not poor enough, not rich enough. Sounds like "middle" class to me.
Ok, my elitist rant is over. But, seriously, living in a trailer does not make you more American than me.
*As an aside, but still related, I saw on the Today Show a piece on Senator Joe Biden's wife, Jill. They've been married 31 years and she is the mother to his two children from his first marriage (his first wife died in a tragic accident). I liked the news story. It made me like Senator Biden a lot more.
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