The Time Of The Haves And Have-Nots: State Of The Union Address and Response

On Tuesday January 24, 2012 Barack Obama held his third state of the union address. While speaking Obama tried to appeal to everyone in America as much as possible. Immediately afterward Republican Mitch Daniels gave the Republican views, which went against President Obama. While speaking Daniels said as of now we are an economy of haves and have-not, but we need to become an economy of haves and soon to have.

At 25 there are a few things that I have. One is a college degree. This college degree represents how important I think education is. Something else that I have is motivation to work hard because that is the only way I can currently survive. After all it costs money to pay bills, it costs money to establish credit, and it costs money to have a place to eat and sleep. I also have the gift of writing. This gift helps me to create words and expose them to the world even when no one is paying attention. The final thing that I have is a dream. This dream allows me to picture where I want to be a year, two years, and even 10 years from now. However, there's more that I don't have.

One is an education that stands out. While everyone is proud of the school they attend, the most memorable schools are always ivy league schools. Have you noticed that people in top positions always went to Harvard or Yale, or were at least able to get accepted into those schools? Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of my education, but realistically Florida A&M University alone doesn't exactly scream future millionaire. Harvard, on the other hand, says so much more.

Something else that I'm lacking is money. Recently Mitt Romney released a statement of how much money he makes and how much money he pays in taxes. The statement showed that he only pays 14% of over $20 million a year that he makes. He's rich, but my taxes look a little different than his. I'm not rich. In fact I've been out of school for almost two years and there's still loans to get paid off. While I'm lucky enough to have help with loans, I'm living in my parents house. These living arrangements weren't planned this way five years ago, but because of lack of money this is what I'm working with.

I'm also lacking in a fantasy life. When you look at people like Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Barack Obama you see that they are living out their dreams. Their dreams are going so well that it is clear they are living in fantasy worlds. However, my life isn't a fantasy. When I wake up every day I see the same room that I slept in during high school. I get up and go to work for eight hours just to be greeted by my brothers and parents at the end of the day. Some people think I'm lucky, but this wasn't where I wanted to be at this age.

President Obama spoke with lots of enthusiasm and encouragement at the state of the union address. A lot of what he said was true, but it takes more than him to get our economy in the state it needs to be in. Mitch Daniels was also right about the haves and have-nots, but Barack Obama also pointed out that he wants us to do better. I see those that have, but I recognize that I am part of the have-nots. The real question is how do we fix this? How do those of us that are just dreamers get to the point of living out of dreams? After all it takes more than one person to go from a have-not to a soon-to-have.