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Edited on Tue Aug-17-10 08:18 PM by Steely_Dan
...relating to this subject.
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Part I It isn't complex at all.
I want a Party with "PRINCIPLES." I don't care if you call that Progressive or whatever....I simply want our party to have some fucking balls. I'm pissed.
Our principles are bigger than ANY single individual within the party...including our current President.
I believe with all my soul that WE are on the right side of history. I'm tired of the games people play both here and in the "real" world. We either have principles and live by them or we're nothing better than animals....(wait, isn't that a quote from "The Wild Bunch?")
Seriously...I would rather go down in flames fighting for what is right and DOING the right thing, than trying to "sneak" up on our principles...you know, three steps forward and two steps back. For me at least, that is bullshit. We have no cause to hang our heads at the alter of the Right Wing...we act almost ashamed of our principles. You either believe in them or you don't. There is NO MIDDLE ROAD when it comes to having the courage of our convictions. Let justice reign, though the heavens fall....(wait, isn't that a quote from JFK?).
I have no problem telling my new Dem friends that comfortably ride the center rail, that they are not the Democrats of my father or my father's father. They almost take pride in not upholding the VERY BASICS of our platform. Times have changed? You bet they have. And what I have seen change is that our politicians no longer vote based on their PRINCIPLES. They vote based on some back room deal and then have NO PROBLEM sleeping at night.
This country, our Constitution, everything we have been and everything we will ever be requires that we act on the COURAGE of our CONVICTIONS. Nothing else matters.
Don't get me going....
Part II
Do you know why we keep seeing people here posting the "If By Liberal" speech by JFK or FDR's "Economic Bill of Rights" over and over and over again? People are trying to find what it means to be a Democrat. These speeches are posted in an attempt to convince our friends in the middle that while there are many colors to the spectrum of being a Democrat, there are some things that are NOT negotiable. No matter what "kind" of Democrat you are, you either embrace these principles or you do not.
We are trying to find the soul of our Party. Why are we doing that here? Because it's important. If we cannot agree on the very essence of what it means to be a Democrat then we are swimming upstream at best. At worst, we are swept away in a current of mediocrity...unprincipled and held to the whims of the next sound-bite. This is no way to run a party. We exist for a reason. A very important reason. We exist to balance the scales in favor of human dignity and fair play. We are the first and last defense for the "people" of this country. We need to start acting like it again.
If we decide that the longstanding principles of our party are no longer relevant, that we need to "compromise" to get "anything" done, then we are no longer the party of our fathers. And that's okay, if that's where you want to go. Personally, I won't be sitting next to you. I have too much to do.
Maybe it's a matter of "how" we get there. Isn't that as important a factor as anything? Maybe my new Dem friends agree with our principles but disagree on how to achieve them. That's fair. Let's think about this. I would much rather negotiate from a position of strength than of weakness. Wouldn't we all. Do you think that this country would vote all of the so-called progressives out of office if we boldly moved forward. Perhaps....But so what? Yeah...I said it. So what if they do.
There was a sto...ry not long ago about a politician that voted her conscious and was voted out of office during the next election...largely based on her refusal to COMPROMISE her CONVICTIONS. As it turned out many months later, her principled position turned out to be right. In an interview, she stated that she would vote the same way again...that it was not only her right to do so, but her OBLIGATION. We need more people like this. People that have the courage of their convictions...that are not running scared. Where are these people of principle???
I could not have been prouder of our President on Friday when he upheld the position that America stands for freedom of religion...IT WAS A PRINCIPLED POSITION. I stated in a post here that while I am a critic of the President, I will at every opportunity praise him when he stands up to carry the banner of freedom as it is outlined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And I did...several times. Yet, the very next day, he "seemed" to back off the gas pedal. I will not argue with you on whether he "stepped back." The fact that it was an issue of discussion pretty much confirmed that at least some felt that way. I went from being so proud of him...his principled stance to being so disappointed. I would have rather him not take a stand one way or another than to "appear" to back off a principled position.
I am not perfect...President Obama is not perfect. However, I expect him, at the very least, to embrace the Democratic principles that put people before ANYTHING ELSE. It is the very least that he could do as a Democratic President. If he acted "principled" and failed, I would respect him and sing his praises for the rest of my life. He had a mandate, unlike anything that has happened in my lifetime. He had a rare and unique opportunity to change this country for the better. He may still have that opportunity. However, it will not happen unless he as well as the rest of us stand on principle.
-Paige
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