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Contemplating it as I lay in bed last night trying to go to sleep, I realize the fundamental difference between republicans and progressives. It's evident from whom we choose as our heroes.
REPUBLICANS:
Look to whom republicans choose as their heroes and WHY. As an example, I'll pick Tom Delay. There are others I could choose, but I need to make a specific point:
-- republicans make heroes of leaders who can cheat, steal or lie, AND GET AWAY WITH IT. They don't lionize anyone who doesn't act aggressively on their own self-interests. They applaud that Delay was able to cheat, and change the rules so that he WOULDN'T GET CAUGHT. To republicans, not getting caught is their "virtue".
Karl Rove is another example: republicans KNOW he lies and even know on some level he committed a felony, possibly treason....but they support him in droves. Why? Because they applaud what they view as his ability to weasel out of punishment, to strike with impugnity.
Republicans honor criminals, who ultimately get away with it....even criminals that hurt or endanger republicans. They look on it as "you go, Delay, show those liberals you can't get caught".
Being dishonest is a badge of rank for republicans.
If you think I am wrong, consider: is there ANY republican "hero" who has become such for acting altruistically? Is there ANY republican "hero" who has become such for being honest? Is there ANY republican "hero" who has become such for being human, or down to earth? Nay, I say. Republicans choose their heroes as men who put themselves ABOVE accountability, ABOVE the law, ABOVE even other republicans, and they are adulated as demigods.
And then there's Cindy Sheean. She is the progressive heroine. WHY?
Because she has a truth and an honesty that is evident to anyone who comes in contact with her. Because she values the integrity her son exemplified and strives to emulate it in his honor. Because she, in her grief, is reaching beyond her own circumstances in the name of other mothers, to same them the same grief. Because she wants to hold those who created the war accountable. Because she wants the lying to stop.
Sheean is a true american hero...strike that, a true progessive american hero. Because instead of getting away with a crime, she is pursuing those who would make crime policy.
Because she puts herself on the line for others she never met, to protect them from someone who never put himself on the line, even for people he knew.
She is a hero because she sees what is right, and without thinking, DOES THE RIGHT THING.
This is no small difference, my friends. Whom we choose as heroes says a lot about our own characters.
Cindy Sheean, although she would never think of herself as such, is my hero.
Lets all of us make her and others like her our heroes. But instead of exalting them above us like demigods, Lets grab her hand and pull OURSELVES up to stand beside her.
We are ALL heroes. We can be. Let's pull ourselves up.
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