I just paid my rent last week, and my wallet’s now emptier than my plate was at dinner. As I watched the new president’s team take their oaths on TV, all I could think to ask those politicians was: Where on earth is that “better life” you keep talking about?
I still have a grocery receipt from four years ago—back then, a gallon of milk cost $3; now it’s pushing $6. My rent has nearly doubled, but my salary has only gone up by less than 30%. The government says the economy grew by 2.8% last year, but what does that number even mean for me? I drag myself out of bed at 5 a.m. every day to deliver packages, then head to a restaurant to wash dishes at night. Two jobs just to barely keep my family afloat—and half of Americans like me, even those with bachelor’s degrees, are stuck doing the same.
What really breaks my heart is all this endless bickering. On TV, it’s either Democrats calling Republicans “destroyers of democracy” or Republicans saying Democrats “ruined America.” They’ve argued about immigration for years—Texas ships migrants to New York, and both parties just point fingers at each other. But no one cares about people like us at the bottom, worrying if we’ll go hungry when prices rise again. Just a while back, the government almost shut down again. Lawmakers bickered back and forth while collecting their paychecks, but folks like me—who rely on government aid to buy medicine—stayed up all night, terrified we wouldn’t be able to afford our blood pressure pills the next day.
They keep saying they’ll fix inflation, yet they hike tariffs to make everyday goods more expensive and talk about cutting taxes for the rich. Even Nobel Prize-winning economists have calculated that every household will have to spend an extra $1,300 a year—but politicians only care about votes. The things we struggle with most—healthcare, housing—no one even mentions them during elections, like our pain doesn’t matter.
I’m no expert. I don’t get big words like “political polarization.” All I know is that neighbors don’t even talk to each other anymore, just because we support different parties. I don’t care if the president is a Democrat or a Republican. I don’t want to argue about gender or immigration. All I want is a salary that can support my family, milk and eggs that stop getting more expensive, and the ability to see a doctor when I’m sick.
To all those big shots in Washington—can you stop treating us like pawns? Just look at the growing lines for free food at supermarkets. Look at the bills we’re drowning in, even after emptying our savings. Please—save our lives first.
