Dear Average Republican

[Mythsaje]

There is NO "liberal agenda" but the shared interest of liberals who want to see things get better for everyone. You, your parents, and the guy who bags groceries down at the Piggly-Wiggly.

Liberals want to see you with enough money to buy groceries, pay off your house, and put at least one gas-efficient vehicle in your garage.

It's not an agenda. It's people hoping for the best for other people.

It's about hoping that your Uncle John, who's been farming the same plot of land for the last 40 years, doesn't lose his farm because he falls off his tractor and breaks his leg and can't pay his doctor bill.

It's about hoping that you have some options when your town's biggest employer goes belly-up 'cuz it can't compete with the textile factory in China.

It's about making sure you get paid enough that you don't have to take two or three jobs just to make ends meet. So you can spend more time with your family...so you can play catch with your boys, or take them fishing on weekends, or take your little girl to the local swimming hole and teach her how to swim.

It's not an agenda to want the best for people. It's just humanity. It's about being a good neighbor, even if that neighbor lives half a country away.

Ask a liberal what empathy is...it's about understanding where someone else is coming from. And most of us try very hard, even if we don't agree.

Being a liberal isn't about making fun of God, or your beliefs about him. Most liberals take the Sermon on the Mount to heart. They try to live the teachings of Jesus, even if they aren't sure he's really the Son of God. Thomas Jefferson called him the World's Greatest Moral Philosopher. You'll find very few liberals who'd disagree with that.

It's because of liberals that your ten year olds get to go to school rather than being forced to work in factories for spare change. It's because of liberals that you can trust your workplace to be safe and free of unexpected dangers. It is because of liberals that, should you be injured at work, you can expect fair medical treatment and compensation for your lost work.

That's what we do. We try to look out for everybody. Even the people who hate us.

We don't have an agenda. We don't take marching orders from anyone. We do what we do because we believe in people.

We believe in you.

All we ask is that you begin to believe in us.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. kicked and nominated

[emdee]

2. Very nicely put.

:kick:

[electropop]

29. Clear, simple, and reasonable.

Please send to some of our Dem politicians who seem to have forgotten this stuff.

[steve2470]

3. Great letter nt

[jaysunb]

4. Well Said !

:toast:

[PatrioticLeftie]

5. Excellent

This is a message they need to hear.

[stepnw1f]

6. This Is Why I Come Here

Thank you!

[Pool Hall Ace]

7. Good job.

:applause:

[Talismom]

8. I've been saying it til I'm blue in the face...

but it's still good to see that others are spreading the word.

[slackmaster]

9. Nominated and kicked

:toast:

[annabanana]

10. good for you (us)... an "agenda" is a right wing thing. . . .n/t

[Mythsaje]

11. Which is why they keep accusing us of it...

because they operate that way, they think we do...or WANT people to think we do.

[annabanana]

12. SOP fer shur!. . . . .n/t

[longship]

13. Kick

:kick:

[TomInTib]

14. No way Jack! I got mine...

and screw the rest of you lazy bastards!

Wow, I can't believe that I can type after that massive stroke that destroyed the "left" side of my brain!

Wait a minute - I just found out that my health insurance ran out...HELP!

[Jackpine Radical]

15. Not to worry, not to worry.

Those insurance companies you own all that stock in are making record profits. Your Halliburton stock is going through the ceiling, as are your Exxon and Carlysle holdings. Should be no problem coming up with a measly couple hundred thou for your medical bills & nursing home.

[TomInTib]

17. I know...but what about the inheritance tax...

my slacker kids were going to be multi-millionaires, and now they'll just be half-a-multi-millionaires...and they get to decide what "home" that I live in. It might be one of those awful places that smells of liberal urine...just kill me now!

Plus, I don't think that those attendants from South America that are sending all of their money home to support their families look all that sympathetic. I am so (*&^'ed! I had it all - and more of it than everyone that I ever met - what went wrong? They're telling me now that I can't take it with me...what's THAT all about!!!?

[dweller]

16. for you, Mythsaje

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0815-20.htm

'cause i know you know it.


peace
dp

[Mythsaje]

32. I do...

and thank you.

[converted_democrat]

18. Thought I would pile on another nomination...........

It's wonderfully written, and clearly explains the message we need to get out. This IS what the Democratic party stands for!

[moodforaday]

19. Kick!

:kick:

[wildeyed]

20. Very nice.

Thanks!

[ComerPerro]

21. "Its not an agenda to want what's best for people"

Great line.

[Swamp Rat]

22. Cindy is coming on AAR Morning Sedition in a couple of minutes.

[RandomKoolzip]

23. It's a funny thing how this "agenda" thing got started.....

Way back in the post-WWII period, when the country was going anti-Communist crazy, many RW thinkers and politicians had a skewed, paranoiac view of how the left operated. They were sure we got "marching orders" from some supersecret central HQ, probably located in Moscow. They were amazed at how liberal ideas like FDR's TVA and others thrived and were supported by a majority of Americans....to them, this was impossible unless there was media brainwashing of some sort involved.

Of course, there was no supersecret HQ, there was no brainwashing, and Communism never really had much of an influence on most liberals; in fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a liberal who thinks pogroms are a good idea. WHat the left really was was a majority of people who thought that injustice should be corrected, that wages should increase for all workers, and that civil rights for all beings ought to be put into place. In short, like you said: we just wanted the best for everybody.

What was truly fucking bizarre about all this, however, was that the RW was so intractible in their thinking that they started setting up a media infrastructure to brainwash their followers and supersecret organizations and reclusive billionaires began funding think tanks and lobbying firms in a kind of burlesque of what they thought the left was all about. Their paranoid minds imagined some sinister plot behind the rise in the number of liberals (there was none), so they initiated an ACTUAL sinister plot to increase the number of conservatives. Ain't that a kick in the head?

[ProfessorGAC]

28. Well Stated RKZ

The only real conspirators are the behind the scenes, conservative moneymen.

Let's state this clearly for the lurking dimwits: There is no liberal conspiracy of any kind! We're rebelling against YOUR conspiracies.

Is that clear enough?
The Professor

[slay]

24. So true

I've said this all along, but never this eloquently. Bravo Mythsaje.

[movie_girl99]

25. what a great piece

that pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. I have always said that liberals tend to be so caring and open minded but this says it so much better. Thanks!

[Beam Me Up]

26. Excellent! Thank you. And if I may add:

Those of us who are left of center (and I'm way left) want a better world for all of us. And it isn't as black and white as many of your politicians want you to believe. I may have some radical ideas but at the same time there are many things about which I hold fairly conservative points of view.

The point of the original post is that people CAN WORK TOGETHER to build a better country, a MORE PROSPEROUS AND POWERFUL NATION. For example, I believe that our nation would be much better respected in the global community if we stopped trying to RULE THE WORLD and started acting like GOOD NEIGHBORS that have something of value to offer. Democracy doesn't have to be BOMBED into people!! If it is a good idea, people will WANT it on their own--when they see it makes people happier and more prosperous. Isn't this OBVIOUS? I also believe we need to be less dependant on foreign sources of energy -- this in and of itself would make all of us MUCH SAFER.

I am gay and I don't care about "marriage" as such. I simply want my partner and I to have the same civil rights as you and your partner do. I'm not trying to destroy "the family." I was born and raised in a heterosexual family. I also knew I was gay when I was still very young. I felt guilty and frightened by these feelings, too, which almost led me to suicide when I was a teenager. Gay people are a simple fact, they exist, like so many other kinds of people, so why shouldn't we simply try to get along? You don't have to "accept" me, personally, about that I don't care. But what I do want is what everyone wants and that is simple social respect and equality under the law. What is wrong with that? If you can't see how universal that need is, then YOU have a problem.

Finally I'll say that I think the United States is a great nation and could be even greater. That is what I want. I want us to set a shining example of Democracy for the world. When we do that, we will not have to BOMB people into accepting Democracy! People will want it everywhere because they see it brings freedom and it brings prosperity. Our goal should be to put OUR nation in order, then the rest of the world will follow.

ALso, we should work at becoming independent of energy from other nations. This alone would make all of us -- the whole world -- much safer. People everywhere want to be free to live the way they want and to worship the way they want or to not worship if they so please. That is what freedom is. Being a good global neighbor will be better than trying to FORCE everyone to be what we want them to be. Believe me it will COST MUCH LESS in terms of dollars and blood, too!

[Mythsaje]

33. If we want to change the world

we need to offer them a better carrot, not a bigger stick.

[Beam Me Up]

34. Makes sense to me!

Ah, a person of few words. Thanks!!

:hi:

[corkhead]

27. The best thing I have read to hopefully wake up koolaid drinker

I would love to see a sincere reply from a republican as thoughtful as you. Thanks for this post, it is a keeper.

:applause:

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. Nice!

[LisaLynne]

31. Wonderful post.

I think so many of these people just have knee-jerk reactions to things and never really think about what's going on. They just let the RW propaganda machine tell them what is going on and what certain words mean. This is a great post to explain to them exactly how they're being lied to.

[AuntPatsy]

35. Well stated.. n/t