In my near 40 years on this planet, your run for presidency was the first time I had felt hope for our future as a nation. For the first time in my life I dutifully donated monthly to your campaign; which is not easy for someone who lives on about ten thousand dollars a year. Growing up a poor person one becomes aware and then numb to the fact that things won't get better, that elected officials see you as worthless, that you are punished by the system for the simple luck of being born poor.
You changed that for me. For once I had hope that someone was listening. Someone was willing to step up and demand a change. That education, health care, job security, and peace of mind should not be a privilege, but a right for all Americans. That overinflated health care, real estate, and college educations are tools to keep poor Americans in their place with no hope to ever break free from an institutionalized economic slavery.
And just when we needed you most, you abandoned us and became a puppet for the very people who have exploited us and actively worked to derail the revolution you started. I am embarrassed for donating what little I had to your campaign, I am embarrassed for joining your rallies, and most of all I am embarrassed for allowing myself to believe in something I have known my whole life to be true: No one in government cares about us beyond what they can take away from us. And nothing will change for us, unless it gets worse.
In many ways what you have done is worse than the politicians who came before you. To be given hope only for it to be snatched away and thrown back in our face is much worse than not having hope to begin with. In some ways it may be a blessing, for I will never allow myself to become a pawn again for a politician.
The expected life span for someone in my economic demographic is around 60; much less than privileged Americans. I have lived nearly two thirds of my life already. It is just a fact that poor people know. We will live shorter, more stressful lives than someone of your standing. It isn't fair of course, but there is nothing we can do about it. You allowed me to believe that while this might not change for me, it could change for the millions of Americans who will be born after I am gone.
For this, I cannot forgive you. Lower income Americans have to struggle every day of their lives with no hope of refuge. To give millions of Americans hope only to switch sides and try to connivence them to support the very corrupt system you once swore to defeat is deplorable.
The only hope 50 million of us can have is by demanding change. Real change. Not one side or the other of the same coin. Not one of two choices that clearly have no reason to help those at the bottom. But a change for equality. For freedom from economic slavery. Not millionaires and billionaires that represent 1%. It is time for a change Bernie, and you are standing in the way.
Very Truly,
John King
Founder of The Electric Church of the Tambourine.
