Friday, February 25, 2005
Battle Cry
Yesterday I received an email from Governor Howard Dean newly made Chairman of the Democratic National Committee asking me to "Join the conversation." Unable to resist... no comments from the peanut gallery... I submitted my comments along with my signature of the online petition. Since the response form would only allow 2,000 characters (including spaces) I had to do a good deal of editing. What follows is the unabridged version.
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I have been disheartened, offended and often outraged by the language associating values with the right wing agenda and morality with church attendance that has saturated the media throughout 2004 and continues to do so with renewed vigor since the November election. Yes, this race was about values and morality; it was about values like equality, economic and social justice, patriotism and human rights; it was about the moral issues of allowing same-sex marriage, stem cell research, the right to abortion, waging preemptive war and telling the truth. This is why I voted. This is why I voted Democrat. We are a split nation not only because we disagree but because there is as much passionate moral outrage on the left as there is on the right. Unfortunately, and despite the impassioned efforts of so many among us, we as a party continue to grease the wheels of the very right wing machine so hell-bent on our destruction. Meanwhile, a small faction of glib and media savvy deceivers pilot that speeding machine over the rent bodies our people, principles and ideals. Powered buy the masses of the misinformed and undereducated they have duped into complicity the machine hurtles onward towards its ghastly destination, a place we once called but would hardly recognize as The United States of America.
As far as most people I know are concerned it is the fundamentalists and evangelicals who are grossly immoral. It is the political and military leaders that allow war crimes and human rights violations to be committed in the name of our great nation who are the threat to America. It is the people willing and eager to write prejudice and bigotry into the Constitution of the United States, those scrambling after every opportunity to nullify its establishment clause and change the nature of our nation from democratic republic to repressive theocracy that are unpatriotic. We as Democrats need to retake the moral high ground that was once so clearly ours. Not by falling into the spiraling trap of "centrism" but by sticking to our principles and feeling the empowerment of our own deep moral convictions. We need to make it clear to our fellow citizens that liberalism is based in deeply held moral, ethical and philosophical convictions. We need to remember that we are the "left"; we are of and for the people; we are the party of compassion, charity, education, equality, diplomacy, justice and above all hope. We need to remember why we are Democrats.
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I have been disheartened, offended and often outraged by the language associating values with the right wing agenda and morality with church attendance that has saturated the media throughout 2004 and continues to do so with renewed vigor since the November election. Yes, this race was about values and morality; it was about values like equality, economic and social justice, patriotism and human rights; it was about the moral issues of allowing same-sex marriage, stem cell research, the right to abortion, waging preemptive war and telling the truth. This is why I voted. This is why I voted Democrat. We are a split nation not only because we disagree but because there is as much passionate moral outrage on the left as there is on the right. Unfortunately, and despite the impassioned efforts of so many among us, we as a party continue to grease the wheels of the very right wing machine so hell-bent on our destruction. Meanwhile, a small faction of glib and media savvy deceivers pilot that speeding machine over the rent bodies our people, principles and ideals. Powered buy the masses of the misinformed and undereducated they have duped into complicity the machine hurtles onward towards its ghastly destination, a place we once called but would hardly recognize as The United States of America.
As far as most people I know are concerned it is the fundamentalists and evangelicals who are grossly immoral. It is the political and military leaders that allow war crimes and human rights violations to be committed in the name of our great nation who are the threat to America. It is the people willing and eager to write prejudice and bigotry into the Constitution of the United States, those scrambling after every opportunity to nullify its establishment clause and change the nature of our nation from democratic republic to repressive theocracy that are unpatriotic. We as Democrats need to retake the moral high ground that was once so clearly ours. Not by falling into the spiraling trap of "centrism" but by sticking to our principles and feeling the empowerment of our own deep moral convictions. We need to make it clear to our fellow citizens that liberalism is based in deeply held moral, ethical and philosophical convictions. We need to remember that we are the "left"; we are of and for the people; we are the party of compassion, charity, education, equality, diplomacy, justice and above all hope. We need to remember why we are Democrats.
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