Dear Future President,

First and foremost, I want to congratulate you for getting in office. I can't wait to see how you better our country, our economy, and our decisions. 

I've been told at a young age, that the government doesn't care for my opinion. I've been told that the one-percenters are the only people who matter in this country. I don't believe this at all. I'm extremely motivated that we can better our country, heal the economy, help the middle class finally stand up, and make poverty rates start to diminish. I want to just talk about what's hurting us.

I wanted to talk to you about an issue the middle class has that we say a lot, but never truly talk to the right people. Being a middle class person in this country is difficult. There are jokes and expectations and social norms that the middle class holds up this country, and suffers because of it. There are decisions that you, as well at the entire governmental system, will make that will greatly affect the middle class or "working" class.

It's an issue when the people in high tax brackets are able to get whatever they want, and the people on welfare and monitory assistance get all of the benefits the middle class gets, only without cost, and the middle class works for what it can get, but still can't do anything they want because our rates and prices of living go through the roof, due to how many people are now on our services (and some for free).

Take healthcare, as an example. The Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare", benefited the people who couldn't normally afford health insurance. The wealthy didn't really care because they had enough money to pay for whatever they needed to, and probably already had health insurance anyways. But the MIDDLE class' health insurance increased around 50%-100% more (and some more than others.)

Another example is unemployment and welfare. I'm a fast food worker, and I don't get paid as much as many people. I realistically live from paycheck-to-paycheck, so I truly need my paycheck. The wealthy don't really need to care about welfare and income taxes, because they make millions and millions of dollars. The people on welfare get monetary assistance and love it. But the middle class is truly screwed for it. ~14.3% of my income taxes goes to paying for welfare and taxes, which increases how many taxes I pay in total. 

I understand that some people need monetary assistance for specific issues, and I'm all for helping them. But here, in NM, I've been told countless times, "Why should I care? I'm on welfare, the working man is a sucker." Here, tons of capable-of-working Americans rely on their government to supply them with money and houses, because they're too LAZY to work and simply don't want to try. Then they teach their kids they can do that, and then we have another generation on welfare, creating more participants, making taxes going up, making me pay more and struggle ten-times harder. WE SHOULD NOT get rid of welfare, but truly make it more difficult to get on it.

See, it's simple stuff, little tweaks. The country will still stand on the shoulders of the working man, but at least give us a rug to stand on instead of the wooden floor we have now. Please, be the first president in a long time to somewhat prioritize the dying middle class than the poor or the wealthy. I've heard it time and time again. "The government doesn't listen to what you have to say unless it benefits them. They want to be successful and will do whatever they need to to achieve that." I don't wanna believe that. I want to believe that our government isn't corrupt. I want to believe that you people in the highest position in the free world DO care about the people in it. I refuse to listen to the people and to society, and I want to believe our government still has US and OUR VOICES incorporated into it. Please, allow me to believe that. 

Lastly, I want to thank you for reading my letter. I hope you truly did read it. This sounds pretty dumb for a 16-year-old-boy, but my goal would be to run for president when I'm older. Everyone seems to have this mentality that goals that big are impossible, and that you're not suppose to think like that because it's not realistic. But hey, you did it! What's stopping me, right? I wish that someday you'd write back, and make a kid's dream come true. But I'll be honored if you simply read this, and I could know that my ambitions and my dreams aren't useless.

“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Thank you so much, God bless you, and God bless America,

~George R. M.