Time to Turn the Tables
With all the rhetoric from right-wing politicians and some of the fringe supporters of the Republican Party on "real Americans" it seems it's time to turn the tables on them on the eve of this historic election. I know for many of you this feels a bit risky, voting for this Obama fellow, even if you ignore the lies against him. I will not mock your fear, I will only try to reassure you.
Regardless of party affiliation, in these trying times, as we stand, or teeter, on what is truly a precipice, what defines a true American?
Is it the people who can't move forward? Who can't do what it takes to make this country great again?
No. It's we the people, all the people who must work together to form a more perfect union -- again.
As Thomas Friedman puts it, the world is now a flat earth, and not in the pre-Gailileo astronomical sense, but in the sense of global interconnectedness. We're all in this together.
Those people who can't move forward to make this country greener, to help us get off oil dependence (and not just foreign oil dependence, but oil altogether), to preserve both the economy and the environment for future generations, those people who cannot look past the color of one's skin or accept that there are people who practice spirituality in a way that may differ from their own -- those people must be left behind.
In my opinion, "bad Americans" are people who not only put their self before country, but put their own hand-me-down fears ahead of progress, hope and their children and grandchildren's future. If that is their choice, we should all be sad by it. But if we cannot get their help nor change their ways, they must be left behind.
Racism and divisiveness must be left behind.
I have never felt as strongly about an election as I do the one on Tuesday. The past two were also critical, of course, and we failed in my opinion (and, I would argue, the election system also failed, but let's not go back there). I remember in 2000, hearing from several people I knew that there wasn't much difference between the two candidates, between Bush and Gore, that they were both products of a corrupt system and so, what does it matter? Well, while I understood then and I understood now what they mean - and feel the Democratic party is not entirely blameless for the situation we're in now financially - is there any doubt in the world now that there would have been the same results and the same messes had Al Gore been properly elected instead? We certainly would've moved faster on global warming. We would have had a better relationship with the rest of the world. We would, I would argue, not have invaded Iraq after 9/11.
Just as Al Gore would not have been our savior in every way, I don't expect that of Barack Obama, either. But we are at one of those critical junctures in American history that happen once in a generation, where we HAVE to make the right decision, the one that moves us forward with a progressive thinker, an open mind. If we chose to go on with a close-minded dinosaur it's not just going to be more of the same. It's going to be a disaster because we simply cannot afford it.
We have to have a leader whom the world will respect. And who will respect the world.
We have to have a leader who will both listen to what those around him say to him, AND who surrounds himself with the brightest of minds in the first place.
We need someone who understands what it will take to revamp our educational system, by understanding what is broken.
We need someone who understands that "going green" is good for the economy, too, i.e., that green = green, that it is not something to be feared but embraced. That energy companies and other big corporations need to get on that train or jump off.
We need someone who knows we have to stop giving tax breaks to American companies who take their jobs overseas.
We need someone who understands what it means to be from a modern, middle-class family, who can
empathize. Obama and Biden empathize because they have literally been there. It is McCain-Palin who are the true "elitists." Just as Bush did not understand nor care about you if you are not a millionaire, you cannot expect a sudden bout of empathy from the GOP. I do not understand how people in the lower and middle-class can be so fearful of someone like Barack Obama and run to the very people who have been screwing them over for years.
We cannot afford to step backwards now because we are facing the wrong direction on a high cliff.
I cannot state this strongly enough. I have never felt as clear-headed about an election in my life. So even if it is hard for you, even if you have doubts, look deep inside yourself, feel excited about the choice, about the chances of being in an amazing time where we can make a difference. When future generations can thank us for taking that chance and making the right choice.
I urge you with all my convictions to vote for Barack Obama on Nov. 4.
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