A Call for Unity and Peace

[liberalpragmatist]

Tonight will mark a new phase in the race. At 6:30 PM Central Time, the long pre-primary campaign that has engulfed the Democratic Party and DU since last fall will come to an end. Soon will begin the primary season. Hopefully, by March we will have a nominee.

The next few months will be a pivotal time in American history. It is our responsibility to pick the person best able to defeat George W. Bush and take back our country from the Bush cabal's (really, the Cheney cabal's) radical, secretive, neo-Conservative oligarchy. The person who we pick will face the President, and on November 2 of this year, Americans will make their fateful pick.

But we are picking more than just a challenger to Bush. We are picking a man who may well be the 44th President of the United States. We are selecting a man who will be the most powerful person in the world. We are selecting a direction for our country and our generation. The man we select can have an extraordinary effect on the future. One man will influence how the nation lives, who lives, who dies, and how the world will evolve.

History has shown how one man can make a tremendous difference, one way or another. Had Robert F. Kennedy lived and won the Presidency, we would be living in a radically different country than we do today. Had Abraham Lincoln lived, the South would probably be far ahead of where it is today, economically and socially.

But it's also a time to reflect on who we are as a party. The past few months have been torturous on DU. Credit must go to Skinner and the admin for making GD2004 remarkably civil in the last couple of weeks. The next few months will test this civility. Candidates will rise and candidates will fall. Many will be thrilled. Many will be sorely disappointed.

But in the end, I call for us to come together. I know not everybody will rally around the nominee. But I am confident that the vast majority will. We are all Democrats after all. Far more unites us than divides us. At the risk of flaming, I will point out that even Joe Lieberman and Howard Dean have far more in common between each other than either have in common with George W. Bush. Essentially, as Democrats we believe in the same thing: Social Justice, compassion, equal opportunity, civil rights, peace, liberty, and the promise of a better future.

So a toast to the Democratic Party and to liberal values, the same liberal values that motivated our founders to give us our country. Democracy, due process, and the belief that all men are created equal are all the philosophies of liberals, though they too were human, flawed as they were. Remember that had it been for conservatives, we would not have the United States. And a toast to the Democratic Party, home of many of our greatest leaders, the one political instrument of positive social change in this great nation.

Let us root and cheer for our candidate of choice, but let's keep it civil and respectful. And let's remember at the end of the day what unites us, not what divides us. The moment of Bush's reckoning awaits, and we will be ready. Let us let Mary Landrieu's words ring true: "The Democratic Party is alive and well and united!"

Peace Out! :dem:

[Hippo_Tron]

1. Amen, we need unity at this point...

The Republicans are in power now and are playing off of our lack of unity. We stand together and show the aweful things that Bush has done and take back our white house. Once we have control of the white house, we can debate how liberal or conservative the dem party needs to stand on certain issues. But for now we need to get a president who will listen to the democratic party because George Bush sure as hell won't.

[democratreformed]

2. My vote:

:toast:
A toast to all Democrats. Together, we will WIN in November!

[Walt Starr]

3. The hard feelings will be diffciult, if not impossible

to set aside.

There are some people I will always consider mortal enemies after this priamry season. Always.

[cthrumatrix]

4. Amen....competition with class ... they are all winners for trying to

educate and take back America

[Cuban_Liberal]

5. Very well said, and I agree.

I want this party united, come the convention, and I will not condone the Republican tactic of engaging in the politics of personal destruction! I want my guy to win, but what I want even more is a nominee that has not been so savaged by the near-sighted, petty supporters of other candidates that he is unable to beat Bush in November!