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It contains Hope.
Hope is real. Hope is tangible. Hope has value.
Hope is necessary.
But it's not enough.
Hope is what gets us out bed for another day of working double shifts. Hope is why we tighten our belts another notch to save for college tuition. Hope is what drives us to start our own businesses, go back to college, volunteer in our communities, man the picket lines, lead a Boy Scout Troop, stand up for our rights, join the Peace Corps and so many other things we do each day.
Even if it is unconsciously done, we do these things because we hope for a better tomorrow. A better tomorrow for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, our friends and neighbors, our communities, our Nation and our world. And yes, we even hope for a better world for our opponents and our enemies.
We often don't realize that hope motivates our actions.
Hope is real. Hope is tangible. Hope has value.
Hope is necessary.
But it's not enough.
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Our hope is different than their hope.
When we hope for equal pay for women, they hope for a bigger dividend check.
When we hope for equality in marriage, they hope for a Constitutional Amendment.
When we hope for the right to worship or not worship as we choose, they hope for a Theocracy.
When we hope for better public schools, they hope for private school vouchers.
When we hope for retirement with dignity for everyone, they hope for privatization.
When we hope for peace, they hope for 100 years of war.
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But they aren't just hoping.
They are working. They are taking action. They are motivated. And they have a big head start.
They are working in their think tanks, working on their talk radio shows, working in their churches, working in their local political entities and working on ever more sophisticated weapons, both rhetorical and real, to keep the American Dream all to themselves.
Make no mistake, they really do want it all to themselves. In their selfishness and greed, in their self-righteousness and comfort, they don't see anyone who doesn't look like them, think like them, believe like them, live in their neighborhoods and go to their churches.
For them, hope is something to scorn and mock, something to make fun of and ridicule, because they are motivated by fear. Fear of different, fear of change, fear of new, fear of uncertainty. Fear defines them. It makes them do things as a group that they would never do individually.
And individually, most of them are good and decent people. But they are misled by cynical manipulators who prey upon their fear.
Instinctively, they want to hope for change, but for them it's an empty kind of hope, because deep down, they know they have been lied to over and over again, and they have been taught to fear real hope, real change.
For them, hope has become a cycle of fear and mistrust and disappointment.
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We hope for real change - a fundamental fairness in the economy and wages, in personal relations, in opportunity, in education, in foreign policy, in how we treat one another both here and abroad. We hope for equality and respect for all people and all creeds. We hope for peace and justice. We hope for a more loving world for all humankind. We hope for a better, cleaner, more sustainable world to leave to our children and grandchildren.
Hope is real. Hope is tangible. Hope has value.
Hope is necessary.
But it's not enough.
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Time is running short for you to Volunteer.
If you can't volunteer, Donate.
If you can't donate, Phone Bank.
If you can't phone bank, Write Letters to the Editor.
If you can't write a letter to the editor, Talk with your Friends and Neighbors.
If you can't talk to your friends and neighbors, Talk to your Family Members.
Start a Blog. Call into a talk radio show. Write a blog post. Comment. Promote. Encourage.
Put up a yard sign. Put a bumper sticker on your car. Wear a T-Shirt. Wear a lapel pin.
Let them hear your voice.
It's time to let our hope motivate our actions in a meaningful, mindful and deliberate way.
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The opposite of hope is not certainty, but despair.
The opposite of love is not hate, but fear.
The opposite of faith is fear, not disbelief.
Hope and Love and Faith is a Three-sided Coin. If you toss it in the air, it always lands pointing up.
Let Hope and Love and Faith motivate your Actions.
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Be kind and patient, they want to hope.
Know the facts, they are on our side.
Do not yell and scream, it turns their fear to anger.
Do not scorn and ridicule, it justifies their fear.
Do not yield, they will not respect you.
We are not their doormats. It is time to rise up and actively resist them with our Hope, our Love and our Faith.
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It doesn't end on November 5, it's just the beginning.
They will still be here. They will still be our friends and neighbors and loved ones. We still have to share the world with them. And they will still have their fear.
We have to show them that we can Govern responsibly, that we listen to their concerns, that we respect their right to have a different opinion.
We have to respect their fear the way we respect our children who are afraid of the unknown, afraid of the dark, afraid of their nightmares.
But fear can be mastered, faith can be restored and love is the most powerful thing on the planet.
With love and patience and respect, we can turn their hearts, win their minds and change our world.
We must never yield to their fear. We must never give in to their despair. We must never submit to their cynicism.
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Hope is real. Hope is tangible. Hope has value.
Hope is necessary.
But it's not enough.
Get busy. Time is running short to turn our hope into change.