In politics, we often lose track of who is truly losing.
We often get wrapped up in vile attacks (Reince Preibus comparing the “War on Women” to “War on Caterpillars”), proposed bills (“transvaginal” probing) and elected officials who rather stand in the way than get out of it.
In the midst of all these things, I often see myself getting wrapped up in trying to make the next clever tweet or calling my parents to see if they have heard about the more recent controversy.
Yet I forget that there are real victims of these horrific attacks on a majority of the people in our country. There are true victims in these bills who are passed and a fear that is gripping new potential victims.
The GOP’s attack on Americans is no longer political, it is no personal.
I recently read former Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone’s biography “The Conscience of a Liberal” and was inspired to start making more of myself. It’s a fascinating read on a fascinating person whose life ended far too soon. I think what would happen if he were still alive today.
But my tribute to Wellstone will not be in words but in actions. I want to create a blueprint for success in which Democrats fight for what is right. It’s not economic, nor is it completely social; but it’s The Policy of Compassion.
People get passionate about a cause if it’s related to them. They want to fight for improvement of their lives, not the lives of others. The Democratic Party has a lot of great people running for office and great people who are in office. Yet there are still others that put their own re-election or future in front of the people they serve.
It’s disgusting when the so-called “liberal” party doesn’t always take the side of the people or nation. I understand that to campaign, you need money, but you can not win an election simply based on demographics & campaign ads. You need to engage the people.
I am no fan of Scott Brown’s policies, beliefs or really anything. But he ran an amazing campaign against Martha Coakley and turned a historically blue seat, red. Granted, he ran against an overconfident opponent but he still got the people excited. As phony as his usage of his truck seemed to me, it sure clicked with other people.
But we, the Democrats, can secure the confidence of the people by engaging them. We must bring people into the party, not keep the same groups in. We have to capitalize on the current mood of this country and make it for the best.
So how do we do that? We must first stand with:
Women & Planned Parenthood
I disagree with Reince Priebus, there is a War on Women and it’s far more sadistic than anything that’s happened to caterpillars. Women’s rights have been under assault and it would literally take me three blogs to write about all the attacks. Thankfully Krystal Ball of MSNBC did a summary of sexism that you can click on right there at Shoq Value.
But we must stand with Planned Parenthood because of the good it does. One out of five women use PP and it actually provides health care, not just rooms full of abortions. It’s disgusting that something that does so much good is being under attack because the GOP tried to swing it into an abortion agency.
Being against PP doesn’t mean you are pro-life, in fact I can make the argument that it means that you are anti-living. We must show the public the good of Planned Parenthood and I encourage all Democrats to donate to PP or at least stand by it. Democrats should be there every day and giving the media access to these facilities and show how it helps the less fortunate.
It’s easy to pick on PP though. The GOP has made no mistake what it feels about abortions and poor people. Now it’s making no mistake on how they feel about women.
We must capitalize on this by showing to the people what PP means. It gives women who are poor medicine! How can you be anti-medicine? This issue can not get away from us because we are no longer fighting against the GOP.
We are fighting for women, the less fortunate and the needy.
Child Care & Education
The GOP cares a lot about children, providing they are not born yet. But when that baby comes out of the womb to a poor mother and family, we often disregard them.
How does crime start in poor communities? Sometimes it’s due to children who are left home alone because their family members are doing everything they can to keep their house and the child is left unattended.
A child left alone can be susceptible to crime and are always the victims. Yet what do we do for children in need? We strip funding from schools, one of the few safe havens for children and literally let them go without educations.
Poor families need to have their children in school because the only way to create a better tomorrow is if the next generation is prepared. I’d love to see Democrats go to these affected areas (such as Chicago) and fight for the people who need the help the most. The people who have been long ignored and whose votes are rarely fought for.
We must open in an investigation on what happens to children who lose school funding. All children, when they are younger, dream big. They are the one demographic who aren’t fazed by war, the economy or politics. I support bringing in families who have been affected by school budget cuts to appear before Congress so the nation can learn of their plight.
The speech of Fannie Lou Hamer showed the evils of voter suppression towards blacks in the South. We must be made aware of the plights in our own cities. By engaging the voiceless, we continue to make our future brighter.
Voter Suppression
All across the nation we are seeing Voter ID laws that make it harder for people to have the simple right to vote. To me, that’s as “socialist” as you can get. How can you be the party of small government but want the government to interfere with people voting?
This is sickening. We must fight against these measures and keep the people who still have voices, voiced.
Our country is slipping back into a social atmosphere of the 1960s in which we choose who can and who can’t vote. This is not the direction our country is to be headed in. We must make voting a process, regardless of party, that people can do to create change or the same. Their voices must be heard.
If we silence potential voters, we are no longer a full democracy.
College
Somehow the GOP has come out against college. Rick Santorum blamed it for its evil indoctrinations and Mitt Romney is obsessed with bashing the President for going to Harvard.
I wish those were lies. All across the country, budget cuts to college has made it harder to afford for people such as myself.
I am going to be a senior in college and it was hard for me to afford. I would hate to see it continue to go down that road and deny students the ability to learn and equally as importantly, shape into the people they could become.
I understand some people elect to bypass college to make money first and that’s not an evil decision. However, for those who wish to go to college; they need to have that opportunity. The last thing we should cut is education. That’s how we create a future. We have drifted into an environment where we are more concerned about the Census of 2050 than higher education prices in 2020.
We must go to these colleges and fight for education. Young voters can make the difference in any election and showing compassion for the struggles of them is of an upmost importance.
If the present is having trouble, what will the future hold?
This is our nation and we all love it. But we want it to get better. We have the opportunity to do that daily but we must improve the lives of those who are voiceless or the politically attacked to insure that.
The people can do amazing things when united for a cause. Let’s continue that.