What are we afraid of? No, really, there must be something we're just deeply afraid of. Or at least our leadership is. Where do our congressmen and especially our leadership stand on the issues? Do we know? And if we do, why not tell everyone else? Why are our representatives not telling the people what they stand for? What we need is conviction in leadership! But it's nowhere to be seen.
That's what I thought until I stumbled upon Dr. David Gill. You probably have never heard of him unless you read his diary a couple of days ago. He's running for Congress against an incumbent Republican in rural Illinois. Conventional Wisdom has it he doesn't stand a chance. And if he really wanted to win he should probably just blast his opponent and play the Reppublican light card as they so often do in red states and districts. So I was surprised when I went to his website looking for the 'issues' link.
What I found instead was his "Prescription for America".
So here's a candidate in rural Illinois who supposedly doesn't stand a chance of winning and he has convictions which he is not afraid to talk about, has a catchy slogan that could even be used for a national campaign and we should just forget about his campaign? I don't think so. It's time for our leadership to stand up for their convictions, to tell the country what they stand for instead of just watching lazily how Republicans screw up and playing the Republican-Light game.
When I stumbled on David Gill's diary there were some heated discussions going on in some diaries about equal rights for gays and whether or not candidates should stand up for gay marriage. So I figured I'd just ask a candidate while he is available. In the meantime I went to his website not expecting much.
But what I saw instead was his "Prescription for America" that actually had a section on Civil Liberties. I was even more surprised to see a statement on GLBT rights. Now, this is an issue I care about but usually you get little to nothing from a candidate on this issue. Especially from one in a red district.
My View on GLBT Rights:
The future of gay marriage in America depends on the choices we make today. Americans must choose between representatives who will make laws based on fear and representatives who will uphold our civil rights.
The gay marriage discussion begins when Americans ask themselves, "What am I afraid of?"
I do not fear gay marriage. I believe that my marriage to my one-and-only wife of 18 years, Polly, will not lose its sanctity if we treat all Americans equally.
It worries me greatly that our government will start using fear-based laws to extinguish personal freedoms laid out in the Bill of Rights. I do not want my children, Louis, Tally, and Holden to grow up in a country where inequality in any manner is acceptable.
Denying equality to any one individual American based on race, creed or sex would undermine personal freedoms, religious freedoms and the basic notion that we have a choice to live our lives as we please.
One thing we can certainly all agree on, regardless of our individual stances on gay marriage, is that every American should have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To deny any citizen over 1,400 legal rights is, in my opinion, an intolerable offense to the advancement of civil liberties.
Congress must uphold the basic freedoms that our constitution guarantees each tax-paying citizen, and at the same time, respect the rights of religious institutions which choose not to recognize the union of same-sex couples.
America has never been a country to live in fear and I am confident that our firm belief in the Bill of Rights will conquer this fear before it is too late.
My vote as your representative will always be in favor of our freedoms.
In a reply to my comment on this issue he said:
We're actually in the process of rewording it to make it even clearer that until we who support gay-rights stand up and defend our beliefs then our country will continue to handicap our national security, court systems, and economy with pointless discrimination.
Now, when was the last time you heard something like this from our leadership? Looking for it I actually went to the websites of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and went to their issues section. But there was nothing, nada, nill on this issue. So, a candidate from rural Illinois isn't afraid to state his convictions but a supposedly liberal Representative from San Francisco doesn't even mention this issue on her website?
Yesterday I happened upon the lovefest Karl Rove is currently engaging in with Senator Clinton and read this sentence:
We should be the party in power because we've got ideas. As opposed to a party that's against everything, we're for things.
And while I feel like puking everytime Karl Rove opens his mouth he's really on to something: Republicans are not afraid to state their convictions, they do it openly, they are oftentimes extreme and way out of the mainstream of what people believe. Yet, they still win.
The issue of abortion is a good example. According to Survey USA there are 32 states where 50% or more of the people are pro-choice. In only 13 states is there a majority of people saying they're pro-life. In the State of Oklahoma where 48% are pro-life and 47% pro-choice Tom Coburn, the most extreme candidate, managed to get elected to the Senate in 2004. And he certainly didn't hide his views.
So, I ask again: Why are we? If we keep playing the cautious game we'll keep losing elections and if we win this fall the only ones we can congratulate are the Republicans for screwing up but not our own candidates because they again failed to stand up for what they believe in. What can go wrong if you play the cautious game is evident when you look at Senator Clinton. The first time I went to daily kos I was amazed at the disgust and sometimes even outright hatred directed towards Hillary Clinton. I had to make sure I was really on a progressive site. Of course it wasn't too hard to figure out where the disgust came from. Hillary's been doing nothing but playing the cautious game. And what happened? Instead of being viewed more favourably in the country she has lost a part of her base without gaining any popularity outside of it.
So I beg you to contact your local candidates for Congress and other offices, tell them to join a smalltown Doctor from Illinois in standing up for their conviction. Because what we really need is a "Prescription for America".
And if you like what you see on Dr. Gill's page, help someone with conviction beat the odds and get him elected to the House of Representatives. If there is a place where we need more people like him, it's Congress.
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