Belltown Messenger

I have been a stay at home for the last ten years. It's not a job I ever envisioned myself doing, but a job I have done pretty well and have taken great pride in. Choosing to stay home after my daughter was born was a tough call, and we definitely had to make sacrifices in order to make it work.

Through the Clinton years, we were able to take advantage of government programs that enabled us to claw our way into the middle class, even if it did take 10 years to get there. I was able to go back to college, and by scrimping and saving, we were able to take some of my student loan money and pay for computer classes for my husband so that he could get a job that would support our growing family.

Things were tough back then, but we knew there was a way to make it though. There was even hope that we could come out the other end better off than before.

While I'm thankful that we were able to reach the promised land of middle-class America, I can't help but think of all the families that have had the bad luck to be struggling while George W. Bush is President. Over the last six years, those programs that helped us find our way have been slashed or done away with completely. Hope for a better future is in short supply. Walking a tightrope without a net has a way of wearing you down. The stress of it all can eat you alive. We had a net; young families today are not quite so lucky.

GOP domestic policies have not only made upward mobility virtually impossible, they have also made hanging on to middle class a constant struggle. Like most good Americans, once we had enough money, we moved out of our rented apartment and bought a house of our own. It's great to have a home and a yard for the kids to play in, but holding onto it (again, without a net) is a whole other story. One income is barely enough to get by forget about a college fund for the kids, or luxury of luxuries, a retirement fund. Good thing we've got Social Security, right? Man, the future looks bleak.

So here I am, at the end of my stay-at-home-mom years, at least as a full-time gig. I need to make money, but I also need to do something that I feel makes a difference in this world. I'm struggling with trying to figure out how to make it all work.

I've had to start my own business. Getting a job after being out of the workforce for 10 years, especially in this economy, simply wasn't an option. The amount of money I would have had to make in order to pay for before- and after-school care for my kids and still come out ahead just wasn't going to happen.

Besides, I want to be here when my kids get home. It's hard to stay relevant in their lives as they get older. The best way I know to do that, is to be in their face as much as possible. If they're tripping over me, it's harder for them to forget I'm here.

What I have is a high-class problem; and as much of a struggle as middle class is these days, at least I made it, and all because I had the benefit of a government that worked at a critical time in my life. Without it, I honestly don't know where I'd be.

As much as the GOP likes to trash government, it has a role to play in our lives. When government works properly, and when it works for the people, it can mean the difference between hope and despair.

The Bush administration and the corrupt GOP-controlled Congress have broken our government, just as they intended to. It is bloated, inefficient, and ineffective. This administration has reorganized our government in the most dangerous of ways. George Bush's government has more authority than is legal in monitoring and restricting the rights of the American people while simultaneously giving up authority to regulate business (can you say Enron?), protect the environment, and serve the people of this country.

I hope we never again give the keys to our Capitol and our White House to men and women that have no respect for our government. We've seen the damage they can do. I just hope we've learned from this horrific mistake.