... is a vote for turning the whole of America into a labor union.  You will be required to pay dues and those dues will be transferred at his discretion to other members of the union.  You have no choice, you must join.   If you don't want to join, you will be called selfish and intimidated into compliance.  Instead of working to support your family, you will be working to support your government and your government will promise to take care of you (wink, wink) if you fail (and they hope you do!).

After all, a person who does not need their government to take care of them is a dangerous person.  One who can't be held on the bottom rung and told they will never amount to anything without the help of the government and the pocketbooks of the evil rich.

Eight years ago, while Bill Clinton was busy taking credit for an unprecedented boom in our economy due to technology which had nothing at all to do with him, I was formulating a plan.  My husband earned a respectable salary, but we were certainly not wealthy.  We decided to have a baby.  Five months later, the tech bubble burst and both my husband and I found ourselves out of work.  My husband, laid off by his company as they consolidated departments and moved cross country and me, losing my freelance web marketing clients due to a drop in "frivolous" spending.

Suddenly we were out of work with a baby on the way.  Certainly not the time to take risks.... but I had faith in the American dream.  I still believed that risk and hard work could pay off.   My husband found a new job and I started my own business, building it through trial and lots of error, rebuilding it when I lost every penny of my investment -- not once but twice. 

Then last year as I was finally starting to reap the rewards of my hard work and sacrifice, the unthinkable happened.   What could possibly be so terrible?  My husband got a new job and his salary doubled.  A new job that comes with stressful demands, lots of travel, and lots of sacrifice for our family.  More sacrifice than many are willing to make.

Well, it wasn't so terrible... until now.  Until now, when we consider that if Obama is elected, the business I have poured my heart and soul into building for 8 years may put us over the ever-shrinking threshold for crushing taxation.  My choice isn't so simple, is it?  Continue to build my business and work toward raising our household income to a tax level that would actually cost us more in the end... or give up.

Obama's tax plan creates an environment where women are forced to either stay home and not advance their skills and make their own money or risk pushing their household income over a threshold that would harm their family.  This isn't good for small business, it isn't good for women, and it isn't good for America.

Obama, what do you say to those of us who want to work but can't because we simply can't afford a jump in tax bracket only to have the product of our risk and sacrifice sent directly to those who have never known the demands of being solely responsible for a small business.  I am not denying that other Americans work hard, but some work hard by showing up, working their 8 hours, collecting a paycheck and never risking anything,  never agonizing over the whole of running a business and being completely responsible for a company's success or failure. 

You wouldn't understand because you've never been fully responsible for much of anything, so take my word for it the way you ask me to take yours.  I earned every penny and risked it all -- I deserve to keep just as much of my money as everyone else.  And I don't deserve to be minimized and asked to stay at home to prevent my family from being gutted by your redistributionist plans.