Unqualified Candor

CHICAGO, IL, USA - I’m probably a little bit naive, a tiny bit aloof and a big spoonful of optimistic, but I’ve actually believed until recently that the events shaping the front pages of newspapers and filling the speeches made by politicians didn’t really affect me personally.  While I am a passionate observer of the political process and an ideological, opinionated voter, I have felt somehow outside of the major issues that face Americans.  I know, for example, that there is a housing crisis and that foreclosures are at a historic high.  But I don’t know anyone, personally that has faced foreclosure.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t been empathetic - but I haven’t had the personal/emotional connection to the issue. 

This weekend, I began to take inventory of the issues facing America and the world and thought quite a bit about how they affect me and the people I love - and I realized these issues hit a lot closer to home than I thought.

Gun Control:In my city - within a 10 mile radius of where I live, 20 Chicago Public School children have been killed in the past year.  In the same radius, in the past WEEK, 40 people have been shot, 12 of them fatally.  This is the community in which I plan to raise my own children.  This is the school district my kids will attend.

Housing Crisis: My brother-in-law, probably the hardest working person I know, works in the housing industry supplying materials for new home building.  The company he is working for, a family owned lumber company, was recently purchased and the purchaser, due to the market dynamics, is ending the direct-to-builder supply line that my brother-in-law runs, effectively terminating his job.

Iraq War:  My other brother-in-law is an Iraq War veteran, he spent an entire year in Baghdad during the second year of the war while my sister worked full-time, went to school part time and took care of their 2 year old.  The financial and emotional burden of that year still weighs on them, heavily.

Health Care: Insurance companies have begun to charge percentage based co-pays on some medications that treat incurable diseases - such as multiple sclerosis (MS).  MS drugs can cost up to $100,000 per year and co-pays have been consistent with other medications, at around $10 or $20.  Insurance companies are beginning to apply a 20% - 33% co-pay to these drugs, which means a possible $20,000 - $33,000  annual co-payment.

Gay Rights:An obvious one, E.J. and I would like to have the same rights as other couples regarding power of attorney in medical decisions, estate rights, adoption rights etc…  While we enjoy many of these rights because we live in Illinois, our ability to relocate to other parts of the country are limited because of reduced rights.  Even in Illinois, we’d like to see rights expanded.  Nationally, we’re concerned about the possibility of a Constitutional Amendment that would essentially use the tangible framework of our democracy as a means to discriminate (for those who wish to discriminate, there are plenty of other ways to do so without taking this shameful step).

Jobs Loss: As the economy worsens and more jobs move overseas, there seems to be a general level of anxiety about job security.  I discovered this week that one of my best friends has been laid off after her company’s business closed their doors.  In companies I’ve worked at, I’ve seen hundreds…thousands, of people laid off wondering if I’m next. My mother has been laid off, my sister too, and another good friend of mine has been laid off three times in six years from three different companies.

The Environment: Having lived in Southern China, I have seen the outcome of completely unregulated industrialization.  There were days that it actually hurt to breathe and the tops of buildings could not be seen, on a cloudless day.  I suspect that some day my exposure to that level of pollution will come back to haunt me. 

Terrorism:Terrorism isn’t a war, it’s an evil tactic.  I do think, however, that we’re the ideological enemy of groups and individuals who blame the United States for the sin, the poverty, the imbalance and the injustices in the world, and that these groups and individuals are capable of the worst that we can imagine.  Living in a large American city and traveling often internationally, I live with that concern.

Immigration: My brother-in-law, who served in Iraq, is an immigrant - having immigrated to the United States as a boy.  My nephews, therefore, are first generation Americans and the children of an immigrant to our country, which is now HIS country as much as it is anyone else.  My brother-in-law’s immigration was entirely legal due to his refugee status at the time.  Legal or illegal, we’re a compassionate country and our immigration laws should reflect that, with sensible policy not defined by hate and intolerance. My nephews are the personification, for me, of the greatness of our immigrant nation.  

American Diplomacy:  I’m of the opinion, and I think it is the majority opinion, that world’s belief in America’s core decency and values have been diminished in recent years through the practice of neoconservative foreign policies.  I travel abroad on a monthly basis and I feel the shift, I sense it and I hear it, directly, in conversations with my European or Asian peers who once admired the United States but who now question its ‘moral authority.’ 

Gas Prices: I’m only somewhat sympathetic to this issue.  I understand the larger economic consequences - that gas prices ultimately effect the price of everything that gets moved: food, manufactured goods, air travel…   But America’s inability to act on its “dependence on foreign oil” is frustrating.  With most of our major cities continuing to sprawl, most of them without truly effective public transport systems, most people buying fuel inefficient cars, and an electorate not serious enough about real change to demand it with their vote - I have a hard time with this one. 

Abortion: Like it or not, its the domestic issue of our time with no middle ground and no signs of compromise.  As a gay male, its easy to assume that the issue of abortion may never be of consequence to me.  Well, I’ll just say this.  I’m in the process of adopting a baby - a baby whose mother decided, while pregnant, that she could not raise that child herself.  Short of raising it herself, she had two choices.  I support her right to those two choices - but for the rest of my life I will be grateful for the one that she made.

Public Education: As the product of public education, the one-day parent of a publicly educated child and the uncle to six publicly educated children - public education is a mind-boggling mess.  It isn’t all bad.  There are great schools, great teachers and great curriculum.  Unfortunately, greatness isn’t offered to all kids, in all cities, in all parts of town.  Some kids get mediocre (or less) schools, teachers and curriculum.  The playing field still isn’t level.  I don’t have all the answers, but if we can put a man on the moon…

And the list goes on and on…  This isn’t a ‘platform’ and I’m making no attempt to solve the world’s problems and I know better than to reduce them to a few sentences each.  They’re complex, debatable and serious. Solutions are hard to come by.  My hope, though, in thinking through these was that I would begin to take ownership of these issues and instead of thinking about them ideologically, could put them into the context of my life and the lives of people I love, so that politics wouldn’t become a ’science’, or worse, a spectators sport.