let me start out by saying that i have never voted for you. i was 17 when you ran for president in 2000, and could only watch in dismay as you made all the mistakes necessary to ruin what would have otherwise been a successful campaign. my dismay turned to disgust as i watched harris and the rest steal the position that was rightfully yours. it was this controversy that turned me into the voter i am today... i have yet to miss an election.
but this diary isn't about me.
it's about my best friend paul. he is the son of cuban and guatemalan immigrants, wonderful people who came to this country in extreme circumstances and have built a family that, to me, defines the american dream.
paul applied for west point when he got out of highschool. he did so because, like you, he felt a sense of civic duty, and wanted to support the country that had given him so many opportunities. after getting through west point's prep school, he finished and became a sgt. and blackhawk helicopter pilot. he first served in afghanistan, and is now serving in iraq.
he could have avoided iraq service by joining a special ops force, because he has an impeccable record of service. but paul couldn't leave behind the group of pilots he trained. he told me that his sense of duty and loyalty is too strong to let them go into war with another leader. his life is not valued by the current administration, and his sense of duty and loyalty to those who respect him is being manipulated and exploited in a way that leaves me angry and disillusioned with government altogether.
mr. vice president, i have read that you served in vietnam despite the fact you were given several opportunities to avoid your duty. you did this because you felt a sense of civic duty. well let me tell you this:
your country needs you again.
now, more than ever, you are needed to restore peace and honor to this country that we both love so much. i understand what you have gone through, the torturous path that will probably haunt you, how you have been slandered and cheated and slandered again. but it is time for you to put the boots back on, and go to battle once more for the sake of the republic. i can see no other way.
the challenges we will face over the next few years include more than wars. they are economic and environmental crises, foreign and domestic. the widening of economic class, the demagnetization of the economic moral compass. the wanton environmental destruction you so eloquently described in earth in the balance.
i am convinced that you are the one for the job, and i am not alone. there are so many in the democratic party willing to parlay our fundamental beliefs for political capital that it is grossly apparent that someone who has transcended the political system is needed. this person is you.
please, al. we need you.