11/05/06
My Dear Daughter and Son,
You've put up with a lot from me in recent months. You've had to listen to endless news and political commentary on my car radio. You've seen me vanish for hours to do phone banking or put up yard signs. You've had to listen to my grumbling and angered venting about our President and his enablers in the Republican Congress. You're probably too young to understand everything in this letter so I may need to wait a few years before sharing it with you. But someday I'm sure I will.
Every generation is called upon to make sacrifices for the next. My parents' generation was called upon to save the world from facism and they rose to that challenge. They endured hardships not only on the battlefield but at home. And I believe they did this for me and my siblings, even though none of us were born yet. The sacrifices I have made this year are trivial by comparison, but the motivation was the same. We cannot take our freedom and prosperity for granted, and I must do my part to help ensure that you enjoy these as well. I'm fighting for the two of you.
I'm fighting to ensure that, whatever religious beliefs you choose to adopt -- or no beliefs at all -- you will be able to hold and practice those beliefs without fear.
I'm fighting to ensure that you will be able to voice your opinions publically, without fear of being classified an "enemy combatant", pulled off the street, and disappearing.
I'm fighting to ensure that if you fall in love with somebody and want to spend the rest of your life with them, you, and not the government, get to say whether you marry them. And while, like most parents, I hope for grandchildren someday, I want it to be your choice, not theirs, whether and when you have them.
I'm fighting to ensure that you will never be forced to put on a uniform to fight in an illegal war based on lies and greed. If, of your own free will, you do put on a uniform, I want to know that your service will be respected, supported, and valued, not taken for granted and used as a cynical political tool. And if you were to be captured in battle, I would want you to be able to expect decent and humane treatment from your captors.
I'm fighting to ensure that your government will take science seriously, that the real threats which humanity faces will not be labelled a "liberal conspiracy" and buried under a swirling haze of dishonest research.
I'm fighting to ensure that what you are taught in school advances no agenda but that of your ability to succeed in an increasingly dangerous and competitive world. And I want to make sure your opportunities are not snatched away from you by the weight of a crushing national debt, held by a foreign power that's run by the kind of men who attack protesters with tanks.
None of what happens in the next two days is going to guarantee any of this. Indeed, even the most favorable outcome will only be the first victory of many in what will be a long struggle. Our country is bleeding, and before it can heal the bleeding must be staunched.
Today, for the first time in many years, I have more hope than fear for your future. But I've come to realize that hope is vain unless grounded in action. And that's why I do what I do.
Love,
Dad