Hope and Despair

Despair first  

I registered a young woman at the fair today.  She was accompanied by her child and her husband, and she was obviously not in the top 1%.  When I came to the question of Party, she said, “What is Obama?”  I said, “He’s a Democrat.”  She said, “Then you better put me down for the other party.”  Trying to make the best of a bad situation I pointed out that there is a category for “no party.”  She said, “Ok, put be down for that.”

Here is a woman whose taxes will go up if Romney wins.  She probably won’t have health care.  She will be subsidizing the richest people in America.  I did give her some literature on Obama’s accomplishments, but I couldn’t help feeling dejected.

Hope

The Detroit Institute of Arts, one of the premier museums in the country, faced a budget shortfall and devastating cutbacks.  On Tuesday voters in three surrounding Michigan counties agreed to a property tax increase earmarked for the museum.  The tax will raise $23 million a year and put the museum on sound financial footing.  I couldn’t help feeling uplifted.