An open letter to President-Elect Obama

To President-Elect Barack Obama

Dear Sir,

Congratulations on your election as our 44th President.

I will be up front by saying that I did not vote for you. Bearing that in mind, I will not turn this into some ill conceived mantra about parties or experience. At this point, that is a moot discussion. You have won the election, so it is time to look forward.

I am writing, because I think that government officials are there to serve the people they govern, not the other way around. I believe that I have a right for my voice to be heard; my concerns addressed. I believe I have the right to speak, man to man, to my president.

I am no 'Joe the Plumber.' I am 47, live in the Midwest and manage my family's business. I am an average citizen. I have traditionally voted with a conservative republican slant. I have to say, at this point, I feel betrayed by both parties. To the point that I am giving up my party affiliations and am becoming a declared Independent.

President-Elect Obama, I am also a parent. I have a 19 year old son that will be graduating from recruit training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma this weekend. My son will be spending three years serving in an army that will look to you for leadership. I would ask that you always remember that the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines under your command are not just id numbers or numbers to be used to fill force readiness reports. They are husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers. They are all volunteers. Use those men and women to safeguard our national good. Please do not waste their lives. I am putting my son's life in your hands. I expect you to give him back. If fate determines that you cannot, search your soul and make sure that he and his brothers and sisters have not died in vain.

As a veteran of Reagan's military, I understand that conflicts happen. They happen and sometimes, you just can't walk away from them. Fight those conflicts. Fight them intelligently and well. Then bring my son home to me.

As I said earlier, I manage my family's business. A small family run grocery store that serves a community of less than 1500 people. Over the past few months, I have listened to captains of industry come and beg for money, because it's "Just too expensive to do business in this economic climate." It strikes me that there has been a vast amount of fiscal irresponsibility and downright greed. I have heard automakers complain they can't do business. It has been a hallmark of American business to be flexible and responsive to the economic climate and the wants of it's customers. The automakers have seen and chosen to ignore new technology that would have made them far more competitive, yet instead, they flooded the market with vehicles that people increasingly didn't want. Now they want American tax dollars to bail them out. I ask you, Sir, would the government be willing to bail out my grocery store? No, and they would be correct not to do so, because it is my job to make good decisions for my business. Are we any more correct to do so for bigger businesses because they employ more people? They are still called to make the same kinds of choices that I am. They still need to be good businessmen. You, as our President, must ask yourself "Are we rewarding bad choices? Greedy behavior?" So I ask you, Sir, think hard before putting my tax dollars to such use. Once done, it sets a precedence that can't be undone.

Finally, President-Elect Obama, I would ask you to consider the repercussions to our country before speaking for amnesty for illegal immigrants. I keep hearing that unemployment could rise to 8%. How can amnesty help that number? President Bush has said that there are some jobs Americans just will not do. If that is the case, we should be ashamed of ourselves. If such work needs to be done cheaply, wouldn't it be more reasonable to use prison inmates for things like agricultural fieldwork? As most of the illegal immigrants are Mexican, is it not the responsibility of the Mexican government to improve conditions for their own people and not leave it to America? What would the world say if we were to engage in that kind of behavior?

There is also a need to control our boarders to keep out those that would try to use the US/Mexican boarder as an avenue to enter the United States and do us ill. 9/11 was a wake up call for the United States, but it is a call that we have forgotten. Please, Sir, keep my countrymen safe.

Sir, as I've said, I did not vote for you, and I see dark times ahead for our country. Man to man, I ask you to consider carefully your actions over the next four years. I didn't like a lot of the things you had to say over the course of the campaign. Please, Sir, prove me wrong.