Sometimes we need a personal motto that will awaken us. Like now, whenever I lose my focus and get lost in tiny detail, I need to snap back to the big picture of things. This guiding motto has much meaning for me, and as "show time" nears for the
Murtha Rally, I repeat it every day. Thomas Paine wrote in the American Crisis Papers "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." We have a fight on our hands here in Western Pennsylvania, but I guarantee to the United States that we will be heard, we will stand with our Congressman John Murtha, and we will bring our men and women home from Iraq!
This October 30ths event is not just another political rally that will be held as a fundraiser or moral booster, this is the beginning of the end for the Republican slime machine. Democrats have cowered for years, afraid to take a strong stance on the Iraq war for fear of political repercussion.
John Murtha, a born fighter, put an end to this. A military veteran, a conservative democrat from a conservative district, a war hawk, had the guts to call the president out and say he was wrong. At the time I thought it was political suicide, but now I realize it was political genius.
I thought the conservative
12th districtof Pennsylvania would quickly boot Murtha. Wrong. We in the 12th district of Pennsylvania have listened to our congressman, support our congressman, and want an end to the war. Some
outsiders will paint a distorted picture of how the 12th is full of hate toward the congressman. In reality, the 12th is full of hate toward these swift boaters, we know
where you have come from and we know why you are here, but hell will freeze over before we give into you.
So this Saturday, we will stand as guardians of democracy with John Murtha. We will act as soldiers in this political war, and we will be victorious. On November 7th, we will fight and we will show the country that John Murtha is our voice. President Bush and members of the Republican Party, watch Pennsylvania and the rest of the United States put an end to your war.