I am one of many Americans who hope that President Obama will offer real job creating solutions when he speaks to the nation after Labor Day. I am hoping for ideas that will inspire enough Americans to demand action from Congress that Congress will have to listen. I want the President to succeed, because I want the country to succeed. For the country to succeed, everyone has to be included in the plan for prosperity, and everyone has to have a stake in its outcome.
People who merely are looking for more tax cuts are missing the opportunity this moment offers to rally Americans around a bold vision of what our country can be. Incentivizing the market with tax breaks and weakened public health protections is not going to create the jobs needed to fix the economy. We need a huge investment in public works that puts skilled workers back to work at a living wage and trains others to compete in a robust labor market.
I am hoping that President Obama will propose that we make every public school in America state-of-the-art, with the best technology and best physical plants that money can buy. I want to hear that we can upgrade every public utility to operate at peak efficiency. I want to know that every neighborhood has safe, accessible, and inviting parks and recreation facilities. And I want him to promise that every single, last person in the United States, including the very poorest, has a decent, stable home in a welcoming community.
I, for one, would gladly pay more taxes to help bring prosperity to every family in every corner of the country, rather than enriching Beltway bandits and big campaign contributors. Please raise the taxes on my gasoline to put people to work fixing bridges and expanding public transit. I would be happy to give up my federal housing subsidy, the deduction on my mortgage interest, if it were used to end homelessness in the United States. I am ready for shared sacrifice. Sign me up.
For those who say we cannot afford to invest in big projects, I say we cannot afford not to. For those who say government cannot be a force for good, I say we get the government we vote for. Now is the time to demand that Members of Congress put the good of the nation ahead of politics and ideology.
President Obama, I will be listening to you this week. I hope you are listening to all the people like me.