A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives
A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives
November 14th, 2006
To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,
I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.
Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.
Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:
Dear Conservatives and Republicans,
I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:
1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.
2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.
3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.
4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.
5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.
6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.
7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.
8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.
9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.
10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.
11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.
12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.
I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.
Signed,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
(Click here to sign the pledge)
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.
posted by The Inside Dope @ 11/14/2006
9 comments
9 Comments:
just dont cut my taxes and give it to the needy. support the arts or something cultral.
And when your reign falls apart due to entitlements just like the Aztecs, Romans and ancient Greeks, we will share the Koran we were forced to buy with you, our brothers and sisters.
We liberals also promise that should we decide that taxes need to be raised we will not ask conservatives to pay any more than their fair share nor liberals any less. And rich liberals whom you so despise -- movie stars, network anchors, the Kennedys and the Kerrys -- will continue to pay a lot more taxes than most Americans because to whom much has been given much is expected. That is only fair.
Dave,
Well said.
It was reported today that among those making $500,000 a year or more, about 55% voted Democratic this year.
This tends to show what I've believed all along, that it's not the wealthy in general that are crying out for tax relief, but rather right wing million and billionaires.
Two of the most vocal opponents to the right wing wanting to eliminate the inheritance tax (wrongly termed the death tax) are billionaire Warren Buffett and the richest man on the planet's father, Bill Gates Sr.
DemGorilla,
I'd caution you about being so convinced that "conservative" dems carried the day.
Here's some of Tester's positions on many issues. They're not particularly "conservative".
-Supporting renewable and alternative energy sources
-Raising automobile mileage
-Pro-choice
-Protecting public lands
-Country of origin labels for food imports
-Affordable health care
-Enforcing immigration laws for immigrants and employers
-gun rights
-A plan to end the war in Iraq
-Increasing the minimum wage
-Repealing the Patriot Act
-Changing Medicare D to allow price negotiation with drug companies
-No to social security privatization
-Pro stem cell research
-Middle class tax relief
Evan Bayh, the candidate of docker wearing, turkey on white bread dudes everywhere. What is it with these charismatically challenged Dem prospects? Is dull the thing that gets party guys hot or something?
Start thinking now DemG.
You're not talking about running Bayh in his locked up state of Indiana, you're talking about the guy running for president.... of the whole country.
Let him win with the conservatives in Indiana. What makes you think the entire damn country is as conservative as Indiana, for heaven's sake?
Evan Bayh won elections by pleasing Republicans and THAT is why you think he's really a hot prospect?
That disturbs me.
The guy does nothing for me. Sorry.
He's no portrait in courage, that's for sure, and he'd likely be a worse chameleon than Kerry ever could.
He's a blank slate. Mr. Safe.
I guess if that's what you feel is what people want, then fine. If you liked Jerry Ford, you'd love Bayh.
I can see him really lighting up the vast number of minority voters with his presense. The guy is as whitebread as it gets. He's not as geeky as Gore or as patrician and out of it as Kerry, but he's like the chair of the chamber of commerce in Muncie basically.
Nice guy, was probably born wearing khakis, can't relate very well to non-whites, and whose big selling point is that he won't do much of anything but fuzz around down the middle, thus being seen as a jellyfish by both Dems and Republicans alike.
Dems don't have to "overreach", and I'm sure after all this time in the wilderness, they'll in general not get too carried away.
But the opportunity is there now with the media and the control of congress to actually get the message out and show those who self-identify as conservatives or Republicans that they're really Dems, once they realize that they agree with much more of Dem positions than those that they've been TOLD they believe by a small minority of Theocons and Neocons.
The idea that the country is conservative is a delusion created by the right, by pollsters, and by political operatives and tea leave readers.
I firmly believe that the country is NOT conservative at all, and that they'd enthusiastically embrace a return to Democratic policies and principles, as they share them to a large degree.
They're not all greedy bigots as you might be mislead to believe. They're just people who want a square deal for themselves and their neighbors, and who want to get along in peace, want a level playing field, and don't want to let the rich and super-rich prosper at the expense of the middle-class.
They want good public schools and a strong military, and they don't want to be lied to and treated like chumps. They also don't want someone telling them how to live their lives and what to believe and what to do or not do in their own bedrooms.
That's liberal values. And we have to make people realize that that's what they are, and get them to stop fearing "liberalism" as if it's worse than communism and will destroy the country.
Hell, THEY'RE liberals, once they realize it.
But by refusing to stand up and take some lumps in standing up for those ideals, and by being a weeny and running for cover under conservatives coattails, the average person will continue to lack respect for Dems.
They already perceive them as being finger in the wind wimps who get pushed around by the plain talking "principled" right wingers.
It's time to turn that around, not continue the same "me too!" strategy.
If you'd stop to think about it, what I'm advocating isn't any different than what you want. It's just that you want to try to climb inside the conservative costume somehow in order to achieve the same goals, and I want to instead proudly wear the Dem mantle and get people to realize that all the crap they've been fed for years isn't so, and that they can again return to being proud Democrats without having to be completely confused about what the hell that means.
You're out there my friend.
YOU use labels yourself! You can't discuss politics without using labels, and you certainly can't discuss this issue without it.
Again, for the third of forth time, I have no idea what it is you're arguing for that is any differnt than what I've said repeatedly.
Where in anything I've written do I advocate "partisanship" or loyalty to party over country? It doesnt' exist!!
Yes, I think the Dems absolutely must vigorously investigate vital issues that have occured during the past 6 years. That's not for the sake of the party, but for the sake of the country itself!
If letting the embezzlement of billions of tax dollars, or only one example, go unexamined and unpunished is your idea of "bipartisanship", then we definitely do disagree.
Again, you continue to respond with arguments that don't differ from mine as far as I can tell. So I'm baffled as to what your differences are.
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