Dear Mitt Romney:
When I took my tax forms down to H&R Block for a second
opinion—the number that came up on the screen when I’d finished all the steps
for Turbo Tax had sent me into mild shock—a calm, soft-spoken man named Upjeet
explained to me why I owed the federal government more money. “It’s because you
have more than one W-2,” he said. “Try to work for only one employer, if you
can. Oh, and also, you are filing in two different states.”
So, let me get this straight: I’m being punished because I
work more? I realize this isn’t your
fault, Mitt, but the point is that you’re wrong about people like me, people
who didn’t have to pay income taxes for a long time. The point is this: Upjeet explained
that I was in the 15% tax bracket and that, well, the payroll taxes that had been
taken out did not cover that 15%. You, however, pay 13% of taxes—“never less
than 13%,” you’ve claimed. Tell me, Mitt: in what version of reality is this a
fair deal? A man who has a dressage horse and several houses pays 13% in taxes,
while a girl who has sometimes worked four jobs at once and finally got herself
into graduate school (and therefore had to move and file in two states) pays
15%?
So here’s what it comes down to, Mitt: I am the 53%. I am
one of those people you think you need to work hard to win over for this
election. I am the person who has (so, so clearly, in my mind) “taken personal
responsibility” for myself, and I am here to tell you right now: I will never,
not in a million years, never ever vote for you. And here’s why.
You want to defund Planned Parenthood and effectively wipe
out the only resource that a lot of young and low-income women have for safe,
affordable, accessible health care. When I lived in California, I was always
working. Only once, for about 7 months, did I have one job. The rest of my four
years, I had at least two, and at the max, I had four: writing web content, working
as an assistant for an entertainment attorney, and working for two different
nightclubs. I was busy as hell, Mitt, but you know what? I still could not
afford health care. With all the expenses (rent, car, you know how it goes), I
could not purchase my own insurance policy. The only doctors I saw for most of
my time in California were the doctors at Planned Parenthood, and thank God for
them; if it weren’t for them, I would not have known that I was at risk for
cervical cancer. So, now that I have health insurance, I will not allow some
schmuck to defund the only way a lot of smart, bright, hardworking (yes, Mitt, hardworking!) women and men get STD
screenings, preventative care, and birth control. Remember, Mitt, “federal”
money doesn’t come from the federal government: it comes from us, the
taxpayers, even if it’s “only” payroll taxes. I know exactly where I want my
tax money to go: to helping the sick, the poor, and at-risk.
Another reason I would never ever vote for you: you clearly
don’t understand how the world works. While you lambast President Obama’s
foreign policy, you were the one who lumbered across Europe and insulted
everyone from the British to the Palestinians—who must be a part of any peace
process that involves, you know, them. I don’t agree with bombing Iran because
I think it would kick-start another war in a region that’s already bleeding out. I think President Obama is too smart to get all blustery
in the face of enemies who operate in a completely different (read: highly
reactionary) way. I know you might not suspect someone who was in the 47% for a
while to be interested in policy, but there you have it: you were wrong again.
I could go on and on Mitt: your stance on “family values” is
pathetic and laughable (if your grandfather moved to Mexico because Utah was
cracking down on polygamy, shouldn’t you have some sympathy for
non-traditional, non-hegemonous marriages?); your desire to overturn—not amend or fix, but completely
annihilate—the Affordable Care Act shows disdain for the millions of people who
were denied coverage whether they could afford it or not, and for the people
who couldn’t afford it, especially;
you have absolutely no idea what it’s like to be raised in a family that is not successful, not wealthy, but to see yourself and your siblings make something
of yourselves. You, in short, are not a man who sees all of America. I
understand what lay beneath your remarks: you see numbers and figures, you see
risk and equations. What we need, Mitt, is a man who sees people. Who sees faces
and real, actual lives. You’re a fine
businessman, Mitt, but you’re not a President—not to this part of the 53%.
Regards,
D.K. Price
D.K. Price is an MFA Candidate at George Mason University, where she
teaches Composition and works as the Assistant Poetry Editor for Phoebe. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Southeast Review and Eclipse.
