I really hope that you will send a loud, clear message to the mainstream media and the Democratic establishment that seems to mostly think that Democrats in this country want to watch them capitulate. We fought hard for them in 06, and despite that, they refuse to fight for us. They are still sold on the 90s notion that we cannot fight for the ideals this party was founded on and win. In fact, many of them call us the "looney left" just like the Republicans do.
I was born in 1970. I can remember a lot of the Carter years, and I can well remember the wave of voters that sent Ronald Reagan to consecutive terms in the White House. Although some Democrats think that we should remember this fondly, I disagree. It has caused consequences that ripple through our party even today, almost twenty years after Reagan left office.
I remember well the horrible consequences of the Reagan years. Unions were singled out for destruction, and the middle-class was sent on its long, lonely walk to extinction. A government that responds to its constituents was demonized. We began a long painful process of excellerating military spending at the expense of our middle-class, and our citizens in need. This mentality continues today as we are repeatedly told by even the leaders of our own party that we can spend what will be over a trillion dollars on a needless war in Iraq, but that any program that helps our own people is "needless spending".
But the most horrible consequences of this time was not only the damage done to our country, but the damage done our party. We were pistol-whipped, and we have never recovered. This time ushered in the era of the Democratic Party, year after year, election after election trying to make itself more Republican, and offering the voters no real choice in our elections between the two parties. While that worked in the 90s because of the political winds, nowadays the winds have shifted. Independent voters look upon this watering down of our ideals and making them more Republican as sheer cowardice. I don't think I have to tell any Democratic activist that this stereotype of our party as weak and afraid to fight for what they believe in is alive and well.
Now, we are making the same mistake. When you listen to the frontrunners for our nomination speak, it seems that many times they are asking for votes of Republicans, not Democrats. They seem to have bought into the false notion started by Reagan and constantly spouted by the media as gospel that Democrats can't run on our own ideals and fight for them and win. You need only to hear Democratic frontrunners praising such men as Ronald Reagan to know that this is true. They have bought into this notion hook, line and sinker.
Except for one. One candidate in the Democratic primary still standing has been on the side that carried that misguided notion. One candidate tried to do it their way and was defeated and instead of stubbornly refusing to admit he was wrong learned the correct lesson from it. We cannot run a campaign in the new century trying to pander to the right, and watering down our beliefs. We simply must stand for what we believe in and fight for it proudly once more. We must show the same courage of conviction in our beliefs and fight for them as the Republicans do. Compromise is fine, but we must do it from a postion of strength, not with ideas that are already watered down with centerism, and offer no real choice for the American people. If we do this, by the time it makes it through the snake-pit in Washington, all the things we believe in are negotiated out, and once again our party looks spineless and our members are highly disappointed.
It is time that we fight for the ideals of our party once more. John Edwards has seen the mistake and terrible damage of centerism in our party. He has had the courage to admit he was wrong and explain why. He has outlined a bold, Progressive vision for our country that insures that the middle-class will once again rise, and that those of us striving to make the middle-class actually do so. He has led the way proposing a bold, new, and best of all SMART way to make our government accountable to the American people once more. On important issues such as healthcare, combatting terrorism, jump-starting the economy, dealing with the mortgage crisis, ensuring the right to unionize, ensuring trade is fair and not just free, and making our government accountable he has led the way in this primary. He has not sought to water our ideals down with the centerism that stabs us all in the back, but he has proudly used the ideals of our party to shape bold new policies that will indeed ensure the hope and promise of One America once more.
I proudly stand with John Edwards and the values and ideals that our party stands for. I know the media has flooded the airwaves with endless fawning over our two celebrity, hundred million dollar candidates, but I respectfully ask you to look past that at the hope of progress that John Edwards offers for ALL Americans and not just the priviledged few. With that in mind I respectfully ask, no BEG you to stand with me and stand with the ideals Democrats are supposed to fight for and Caucus for John Edwards and the hope and inspiration building One America for us all will provide. Nothing is more important than winning our country, and our party back for us all.
Thank you.
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