American Casualties
Revolutionary War: 50,000
War of 1812: 7,800
World War I: 360,000
World War II: 970,000
Other wars, including Iraq and Afghanistan: Uncounted but not forgotten
This country was different. When we sent our citizens into battle, it never was for a king, an emperor, a fuhrer or any other person. We fought for an idea: that ordinary people, entrusted with certain inalienable rights, could govern a country, providing for the common defense, while still aspiring for liberty and justice for all. Lord knows we never got there, but we never quit trying, and generations of Americans put their lives on the line in defense of those ideals.
Today, the Republican Party and twelve current or former Democrats colluded to insult the service of every American ever to don a uniform to prove that Our Way was better than that of any tyrant. They have thrown Our Way away. Never did our veterans imagine that some future Congress would throw away our most treasured principles and rights to complete a cheap political stunt. That nearly one third of the opposition party would cave in to that stunt themselves would have seemed especially unimaginable. But that has come to pass. Our Congress, middle finger fully extended, today sent a message to our war dead that their sacrifices were in vain, that our very own government would destroy everything they fought for, no foreign tyrant needed.
As for me... I had family in each of the wars enumerated above. I have family serving today. This Congress has sold my family's investment in this country out. May God have mercy on whatever souls they may have left.
We must oust these people. We must oust them in November, we must oust them in 2008, we must systematically and without fail oust all of them from public service until they are all removed from any position of public trust. We must resurrect our democratic heritage, our claim to the highest moral ground, and the idealism of our people if we ever are to understand again the pride our ancestors felt to be and become Americans. We must not let the cowards in our own party divide us or distract us from this task. We will prevail. We shall overcome.
Whether this is the beginning or end is our choosing. I choose beginning. If this country is to recover, folks like you must choose to join me. Do we fight or do we despair? I say fight! Fight! Our forefathers demand it, we must fight!