This election represents a hope I have for my country. After eight years of darkness and a self-serving and destructive administration, I still have hope. That’s what makes me a democrat, a belief that our country can and will reach its full potential.
It hasn’t always been easy, and at times it’s been downright hard and depressing. Especially, since it seems we lost one of the greatest resources for truth this country has ever had… an independent and truthful media.
I took my first journalism class in 1978 as a freshman in high school, became editor of the school paper, and continued to write professionally (as a sideline) as a columnist for a trade journal into the early 00s. I was always taught that journalists have a responsibility to the truth and to their audience.
Today, I am dismayed, and a bit alarmed, at the MSM; but, I still have hope because of you…I’m proud of you....
You, my fellow Kossacks, give me a reason to hope. You’re bright, articulate, and passionate. Your diaries are a voice in the dark world once dominated by the MSM. You inspire me to believe that I am not alone in this desire to see our country reach its full potential. You have changed the world forever and I’m glad to have joined your community.
As someone who had always been active and engaged in the political process, I have become even more emotionally invested in this presidential election… the prize it too great. I have watched one media narrative turn into another with disgust at the pandering for ratings. I have witnessed sound bites turned into a distorted truth for the sole purpose of pushing an agenda. I have witness the one friend of truth that the average citizen had, the press, become nothing more than a propaganda whore for their owner’s enrichment and ratings. Without you, this would go unchallenged, thank you.
The reason I ended up here on Daily Kos is in thanks to Bill O’Reilly. I knew deep in my heart that anyone that he despised would be someone I admired. After watching him rant and rave about how you were Armageddon, I started lurking. After reading more and more of your diaries and the front-page posts, I sign-up up for membership in what I believed to be a kindred on-line spirit. This community is so much more than words and diaries, it is a symbol that we the people will not complacent in having someone else’s narrative shove down our throats, and we will fight back with truth and for that… I am proud of you.
Whether we agree on everything is not the point, diverse opinions on pushing a progressive agenda are expected. We come together with the understanding that after eight years in the darkness, our country must do better and that if we raise our voices collectively, we will restore the greatness that our founders envisioned.
I’m proud of you for standing behind the man that inspired me to believe again… Barack Obama. When it seems that the only thing the media wants to do is build ratings at the expense of his character, and that of his wife’s, you raise your voices and shout… “Not this time!” You get it, you really do, and you make a difference one reader at a time. Thank you.
So as we move forward, let’s not loose sight of the prize. You will not agree with everything he says or does… you will be angry by some of his positions… you might even be enraged, but we have come so far, and still have so far to go. The media, and maybe our own self-righteousness, will distract us sometimes, but never forget… we are the ones we have been waiting for… and our voices can overshadow the fears, anxieties, and insecurities that the media seeks to ingrain.
You have shouted in unison “No, not this time,” and for that, I am proud of you.