Brittany, the 47%, and the American Dream

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The Obama-Biden campaign has a very touching, and very powerful, letter up at its website written by a woman named Brittany, which I reproduce here in full:

Dear President Obama,

Hello! My name is Brittany and I live in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. I am 25 years old (but I will be 26 on October 3rd!). I am a registered Democrat and I have been voting since I was 18. I am one of the 47% of Americans who fall under Mitt Romney's definition of "entitled" and "unable to take responsibility for my life." I have Down syndrome.

I started working part-time in 2004 when I was in high school. I graduated in 2008 and have worked at that job ever since. My employer receives money from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare so that I can work, and the public transportation people receive money from them to take me back and forth to work. My mother applied for Social Security's Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) for me when I was 19. I really want to make lots of money and have a hot tub someday, but SSI subtracts my paychecks from my SSI benefits, so I don't have much to put into a savings account.

I am now working for a store, folding clothes and doing returns. I like my job a lot! I make $4.98 an hour and I am allowed to work 25-30 hours a week (I have paid $542.72 in federal, FICA, state, and city taxes this year as of August 31st). I just got my own apartment and share it with another girl like me. I get to pay rent now ($325 a month) and pay for my telephone and cable because I like the Disney Channel. I was not allowed to take my dog with me, but I can hang all of my Hannah Montana posters on my bedroom wall. My mother still has to help me with my medications and handling my money and stuff.

I have also included my picture, not just because I'm cute, but because I wanted to give you a face of one of the 47% to share with Mr. Romney.

I wish you would come to Pennsylvania because I would really like to meet you.

Please say hello to your wife, Michelle, for me. I wish I could live in the White House, too, and I like your dog, Bo.

—Brittany

P.S. My mom and her friend helped me write this.

Romney has tried to shift, dodge, and lie his way out of his disastrous "47%" remarks, saying he's really "about the 100 percent of America," but it's evident both from his remarks in Boca Raton and, more substantively, from his policies, not to mention from his doubling-down on those remarks, that, not to put too fine a word on it, he doesn't give a shit about people like Brittany.

Oh, sure, he'd say he does, and perhaps he'd treat her as a special case, but he has essentially vilified here, just as most Republicans have, saying, in effect, that she's a lazy, good-for-nothing leech who lives high on the welfare hog and contributes nothing to society.

Look at this beautiful woman. Read her compelling story. She has Down syndrome, yes, but a lot of her story is quite common. She works hard, she gets some help from her family and her government to keep her on her feet (but wants to be self-sufficient), she pays taxes, she loves her country, and she dreams of having a better life.

And to Romney and the Republicans... she is the enemy.