I was in a rush earlier today and just wrote a brief entry to tell others about an entry that I thought everyone should read. Some of you were upset that my entry was so brief. I apologize for breaking the entry rules yesterday (note that I did delete it), but I still think the entry I talked about should be ready by everyone.
The entry is by John Swords, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Ohio's 12th Congressional District. His district includes half of Franklin County (Columbus) and two rural counties. The district is 51 percent Republican and 49 percent Democrat. However, Pat Tiberi, who has voted 96 percent of the time with Tom Delay and who recently held a fundraiser for Bob Ney, represents the district. Tiberi is an ultra-conservative puppet who represents a moderate district. John Swords offers those of us in Ohio and the 12th district the best hope of recapturing the seat. A seat that Charlie Cook of "The Cook Report" says is vulnerable.
In addition, I think that the speech Mr. Swords gave last night at a Democracy for Ohio meeting sets the right tone for this campaign. I think that too often Democrats lose sight of their values. I go to many Democratic functions and I hear about how we need to reclaim religion. We do not need to reclaim religion; we need to reclaim the Democratic values of hard work, sacrifice, and working for the common good.
I think John Swords is right on message with his post, which includes the text of his speech. It should be noted that I know John Swords personally (see him most days), however, I think even if I did not know him, I would still admire this speech. It is time once again that Democrats get a backbone and fight Republicans.
If you read one thing on Daily Kos tonight, I hope read John Swords post from earlier today at:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
After reading the speech ask yourself what are the true values of the Democratic Party? What are you willing to sacrifice to reclaim this country? Many of our great leaders, such as Woodrow Wilson, risked their health for what they thought was right.
I am really just very tired of people who do not want to fight for their country. Our country was founded by people who fought for what was right. Most of the people I know want to live their lives without a thought to what is right or what it means for the future.
Everyday I get on here and read how people want to change this country. It upsets me when someone like John Swords puts forward a vision on this site and it is quickly shoved off the front page. I guess that maybe everyone wants to read about how the election was stolen. We need to stop looking at our faults and start looking for our message.
In short, we as Democrats need to realize that we lose not because Bush rigged the vote, but because we do not have a message. The people of this country agree with us on issue after issue, even on the so-called wedge issues. However, people vote with their heart, with their values, and we lost that debate a long time ago and have offered no alternative. To win the values debate we need not talk about religion, we need to talk about our values. The same values that got Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson elected. Democrats can continue to try to reinvent the wheel, but the wheel was never broke, and it is time we ride on it again.
In addition, follow this race closely, as I think it is a potential Democratic pick-up. Once again, sorry for yesterday, I was just so exited after reading John Swords post that I forgot about the rules.