The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave
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| Also listed in: Cruel and Illogical Twits: |
It was a dark and stormy night....
A couple of hundred years ago, a bunch of guys had a crazy idea about starting a new kind of government that would be run by representatives chosen from among the common people. They thought that people should be free to live their own lives as they saw best, to make their own choices free from too much government control, to worship in whatever faith they believed - or none at all, and to have the opportunity to pursue whatever education and career the felt called to pursue.
We've improved very little on their original ideas. We've done some work to make sure that ALL people get those same freedoms, and to define and protect a few other things that weren't mentioned in the beginning..... but on the whole, we're their living legacy. And now we have a choice.
On the one hand, we - as a nation - can make the safe choice. We *could* elect an old soldier who will surround himself with people who are willing to chip away at our own freedoms and sacrifice the dreams of our people in order to "protect" us from undefinable dangers and fears. People who are willing to make our choices for us because they KNOW what is better for us, and also what is "right" for us. They know it's better to sacrifice a woman's life than to kill an unborn child. They know it's better to go to war to protect the country's interests than to pursue diplomacy. They know that marriage is between a man and a woman. They know that the more secure future lies in protecting the interests of huge corporations rather than in trusting average people. They seem to know a lot....
On the other hand, we could choose a young guy who is an unknown. We aren't sure who he'll surround himself with, but it's a safe bet they won't be anything like what we've seen before. They'll have *gasp* new ideas. They'll take us in *shudder* new directions. He actually has the audacity (wait for it....) to suggest that the one most powerful, and most important treasure that our heritage has given us is our hope. When my Great-great-great-grandfather stepped off the boat from Ireland as a poor teenage boy, that was ALL he had. The clothes on his back and the hope that in a free country he could build a life and a family. It worked. It turns out that was all he really needed to have. That and the courage needed to head off into an uncertain future and believe in yourself to find the way.
I pray that come November, America is STILL the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
A couple of hundred years ago, a bunch of guys had a crazy idea about starting a new kind of government that would be run by representatives chosen from among the common people. They thought that people should be free to live their own lives as they saw best, to make their own choices free from too much government control, to worship in whatever faith they believed - or none at all, and to have the opportunity to pursue whatever education and career the felt called to pursue.
We've improved very little on their original ideas. We've done some work to make sure that ALL people get those same freedoms, and to define and protect a few other things that weren't mentioned in the beginning..... but on the whole, we're their living legacy. And now we have a choice.
On the one hand, we - as a nation - can make the safe choice. We *could* elect an old soldier who will surround himself with people who are willing to chip away at our own freedoms and sacrifice the dreams of our people in order to "protect" us from undefinable dangers and fears. People who are willing to make our choices for us because they KNOW what is better for us, and also what is "right" for us. They know it's better to sacrifice a woman's life than to kill an unborn child. They know it's better to go to war to protect the country's interests than to pursue diplomacy. They know that marriage is between a man and a woman. They know that the more secure future lies in protecting the interests of huge corporations rather than in trusting average people. They seem to know a lot....
On the other hand, we could choose a young guy who is an unknown. We aren't sure who he'll surround himself with, but it's a safe bet they won't be anything like what we've seen before. They'll have *gasp* new ideas. They'll take us in *shudder* new directions. He actually has the audacity (wait for it....) to suggest that the one most powerful, and most important treasure that our heritage has given us is our hope. When my Great-great-great-grandfather stepped off the boat from Ireland as a poor teenage boy, that was ALL he had. The clothes on his back and the hope that in a free country he could build a life and a family. It worked. It turns out that was all he really needed to have. That and the courage needed to head off into an uncertain future and believe in yourself to find the way.
I pray that come November, America is STILL the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
In the past there has been too much talk and not enough action by both parties.
If we wanted someone doing it for us, we could let the Republicans. Better yet, we could have saved all the trouble and just let King George keep doing it for us in the beginning.
The point of my post is that it's MY country, and yours. The responsibility for the future lies with me, and with my kids, and with you and with your kids. If you see something wrong, fix it. Don't wait for someone else to do it for you. If you see people being discriminated against, do something. Write a letter to the paper, take it to city council or your state rep. or your congressman's office. Run for city council or state rep if that's what it takes to change something. Talk to people. Take the problems in your neighborhood into your own hands and make them right. And if it takes more than just you to fix them, then get some other people who have noticed things are wrong. Organize community action.
Build a homeless shelter in your city. Start a low income daycare so that women who need to get off welfare can afford to go to work. Rally people in your local area to get out and vote on issues.
That's what hope and courage are. Not waiting for someone else to spoonfeed you the answers you need.... but kicking yourself into motion and MAKING solutions for the problems you see.
The Republicans will not make your life easier, they'll just take away a little of the freedom to make your own choices. You'll still be working 60 hours a week and barely getting by.
The Democrats might not be handing you the answers, but at least they'll protect your freedom to create your own solutions.
He thinks Thomas Jefferson was a socialist.
It appears that you have succumb to the propaganda that has been circulated to diminish Obama to merely a good speaker!
In the hundreds of published speeches, fact checking outlets, candidate web pages, previous achievements and accomplishments, and prior state and federal voting records; makes the "He doesn't have substance argument" less creditable. Several national news outlets have taken different families and evaluated the effects of each of the candidates' major policy initiatives on their everyday lives.
Maybe it would help to spend more time researching and listening than regurgitating old primary and recycled Republican propaganda that's meant to plant fear of our nominee.
I just feel completely certain that the BEST chance for us to take in November is on Barack and on the Democratic party and its liberal ideas. Yea, that calls on us to do a lot of the work. And I can't actually tell you the answers, although I saw an interesting article in a Canadian magazine on Barack's plan for the US economy... I'll try to find it and post a link.
I'm SURE that your future and mine will be better in our own hands than in John McCain's.
I'm so glad to see your post!