Dear Politicians,

I voted today.

But the answer to everything else?

Today, the answer is no.

I won’t write another letter today.

I won’t call another five friends today.

I won’t stand on the corner with a sign today.

I won’t update my Facebook status for you today.

I won’t call my senator today.

I won’t send you another $25 today, because I don’t know what you did with the first $25.

I could have bought a lot of juiceboxes and kids’ socks for $25. 

Earn it. Don’t milk me dry.

You write me every damn day with another “emergency,” another “critical juncture,” another “crucial moment.” Hundreds of emails from your offices, your organizations, flood my inbox.

I could flood your inboxes just as easily, with my own Top Three requests:

1) Stop your bickering.

2) Pick a family in a part of the U.S. you know little about. Visit for a week. Pitch in. Shut up and listen. Come live with us, watch us try to make ends meet. Would you think about money differently?

3) Live in a homeless shelter for a week. There are plenty to go around, for you and your colleagues. Again: Listen to the stories. I think it should be a prerequisite for anyone working on Capitol Hill. Would you begin to define “emergency” differently, use it more carefully in your constant barrage of emails?

It seems to me the real emergencies are getting lost in your politically motivated usage of the word.

Politicians in my inbox, you are officially the Boys Who Cried Wolf, and I am tired of it. I am tired of your emails. I am tired of YOU asking ME to give more, more, more, daily. More time. More money. More effort.

Today? YOU give more. You went into politics to make a difference.

Today? YOU go make that difference.

Today, I want to know when YOU will write a letter of recommendation for my friend who just got laid off. She has four children, her husband is out of work, and they may lose their house. 

Today, I want to know when YOU will call five of your worst political enemies and have them over for a potluck, during which the six of you actually make some progress on your own. Which is what we hired you to do.

Today, I want to know when YOU will stand on a corner in my town with a sign listing the concrete action that you will be taking to address the lack of good health insurance and good medical care and good schools and good jobs.

Today, I want to know when YOU will call on yourselves to get the damn job done.

Today, I want to know when a decent life and a decent wage became such a gamble. If my friend and her husband and I and the millions of others who are unemployed and “underemployed” can’t find work by 2011, can I have back that $25 I sent you?

Sincerely,

Single Mom Not at Work