An Open Letter to the Next President

Amanda has it tough and she knows it.

She doesn't live in a fantasy world where she's allowed to deflect the issues facing her. She doesn't rely on polls and caucuses to inform her about what she needs to do and whom she needs to verbally attack to prove her own points. She doesn't have the luxury to tweet pithy sayings about how 'tremendous' her ideas are. Instead, Amanda is attempting to survive in a country where poverty is too often just a talking point every 4 years.

Her 3 little boys struggle with a long list of issues—ADHD, seizures, bipolar, and more. Her single-parent status changed last year when she married "Jake,” by all accounts a good husband and father. But he’s out of work. So is she, and the practical considerations of getting a job are as remote as walking from Kalispell to the Antarctic.

They’ve been homeless for almost a year and are, according to the US Department of Education, still homeless. Five people living in 2 small rooms isn’t anything but homelessness. They’re swirling in the desperate storm of medical issues, mental health crises, and abject cramped poverty. And they have a lot to lose if things get worse.

Stress begets stress. The family’s dire day-to-day reality has caused their resolve to crumble. The boys acted out in school, and are now “home” schooled. If you can imagine home-schooling 3 little guys filled with anxiety squeezed into a closet-sized space…not an ideal learning environment.

They have no choice but to fall behind on rent, utilities, and other bills because they have to take their youngest to multitudes of doctors. Amanda fears no one will hire either of them because they are continually taking off work to take Joey to the doctor. And she’s right. They’ve made the right choice, but still pay the price.

These stalwart parents are trying their best to hang on as the slope gets unimaginably steeper. I wouldn’t be able to handle their life for 5 minutes. Nor would Hillary, Bernie, or I suspect Ted and Marco. Their situation would render any politician speechless... at a loss of words.

So what would our next commander in chief propose? Sometimes it feels like we’ve discarded our moral responsibility for those who struggle; they’re not our problem. But they are. Letting families like this collapse—they love each other and are willing to fight to survive—will cost us all in the long run. Absent a mammoth miracle, they’re caught in an endless cycle.

In my dreams I see a presidential candidate debate solely on the issue of poverty. Amanda will ask the tough questions. And the candidates would be forced actually answer the questions without grandstanding or ignoring the parts they don't want to address. We can only hope the winners don’t make it even tougher on families like Amanda and Jake’s.

But I’m not holding my breath; there's plenty of hot air already being dispensed.