ONE member Jillian Slater of Minneapolis’s letter to Iowa caucus-goers.

I’m not going to be caucusing on January 3rd. In fact, I don’t live in Iowa and I’ve never met you. I’m not a member of the U.S. government, or being paid to send out a mass letter to a number of people on a list. I’m a hair stylist from Minnesota, a typical 9-5er, so to speak, and I’m taking the time to write to you today because there is an issue that I care deeply about.

I’m not asking you to vote for a particular candidate, or even a party. I’m just hoping you’ll take a few minutes to learn about extreme poverty and global disease and how the presidential candidates plan to put American leadership to work to help millions of people around the world lift themselves out of poverty.

I know it’s hard to involve yourself in such an issue when it doesn’t hit close to home, but it shouldn’t have to! Imagine yourself in their position…no way out. If we find it necessary to get involved with issues in Iraq and the Middle East as a whole, why should we not take concern with the masses of people around the world hurting as a result of poverty and disease? I’m not a saint, or anything close to it, I just have a heart that beats with a passion for those less fortunate. I know you do to. You have an amazing chance to do something about it.
ONE has put together a pretty interesting website called On The Record www.onevote08.org/otr with video from the presidential candidates and a tool that lets you compare their plans to achieve the following goals:

• Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis;
• Eradicating malaria;
• Improving child and maternal health;
• Achieving universal primary education;
• Cutting in half the number of people without clean water or enough food.

Ending extreme poverty and global disease is the right thing to do, will make the world a safer place and is within our power. When you go into your caucus, think about which candidate has the best plan to tackle these issues and to help change our world for the better. Remember, it’s not as far from home as you may think. Please reach inside your heart and take action… It’s up to you!

Sincerely,
Jillian Slater, ONE Member
Minneapolis, IN

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 11:39 am and is filed under ONE to One Letter Campaign, On The Record, Iowa, ONE Vote 08. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.