I ride the bus to and from my office each day. It's something I haven't done in years, having been relegated to a job in suburbia. Being back in the city has really been an eye opener, especially since I'm much more politically active and better informed than I was lo, those many years ago.
While I'm riding along with a few dozen other tired office workers on the way home, I'm noticing things I'd never paid any attention to before. And quite frankly, they are the things that our representatives need to be paying attention to as well.
Life in America is about the people who make up this country. We are a collective belief: we believe in our laws, we believe in our system of money, we believe in our collective rights and responsibilities.
Governing America needs to be, before anything else, about the people who are most important. Who would that be?
The young Muslim woman wearing a hijab and a shy smile, standing patiently near a tree while waiting for a bus.
The muttering homeless man with the matted beard who carries around a tattered plastic shopping bag and begs for cigarettes.
The exhausted young African American man sitting beside me on the bus, so tired that as he drifts off his head lolls onto my shoulder.
The older couple with a pair of preschoolers who run around chasing each other in the plaza beside the courthouse.
The wonderful young woman at my favorite coffee house with the bleach-blonde mohawk who remembered my order after only seeing me once.
The elderly woman standing in front of an occult bookstore trying to hand out religious tracts.
The cluster of young men in front of a convenience store, obviously bored and with nothing better to do.
And I find myself thinking that none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes, either because we're foolish or ill informed. We all have moments of accomplishment where we're prouder than we've ever been. We're all tired sometimes, lonely sometimes, content sometimes. But most of all, we're all HERE. We're all a part of this country in one way or another, and it doesn't matter what race or gender or class or religion you are. Above all, we're Americans.
So why is it so damned hard to just say THIS:
We are a free and democratic nation whose first priority is ensuring that every person living here has opportunities to succeed, thrive and prosper.
We collectively believe that this is accomplished by working for the common good of all people with the understanding that no person is greater than or lesser than any other.
We strive to learn about and understand one another, that we may collaborate and compromise in our work to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number.
We exist to be good citizens of the world, to find ways to build bridges across cultures that ensure that our nation forms strong relationships with other nations.
We believe that each person has the right to determine his or her own destiny. Each person in this country is valued and needed in the whole, and has a responsibility not to harm others, infringe upon anyone else's rights, or disrespect another's beliefs.
Our nation is not perfect, nor is anyone who is a part of it. We learn as a result of our imperfections. But we allow ourselves to fail, to make mistakes, as part of that learning, and we join together to grasp the hands of those who stumble and help them to regain their footing.
THAT is my platform.