For five years, President Bush and his henchmen have been allowed by the American people to ignore the legacies of this country...the legacy of free expression and honest argument; the legacy of defending an opponent's rights to an opinion, as vile as that opinion might seem; the legacy of cherishing diversity and respecting religious freedom. This country was founded on principles of fairness. It was built upon the tenets of democracy and openness and generosity. But for five years, the administration of this American president has turned its back on the very principles that made the country great.
Since well before the 2004 presidential election, I have felt a great sense that something is wrong in this country. I have felt that my opinions, my beliefs, my ideas and my attitudes have been not only at odds with the administration, but with the majority of the American people (if the media's reports of public opinions were any measure). I've felt that I no longer belonged in my own country, the country of my birth. These sensations were awful; they made me feel alone and abandoned by what once was, with all its faults, the world's greatest democracy. I have been feeling that my own country doesn't want someone like me anymore. My own country thinks that, because I hold views that are at odds with the party in power, I am somehow unAmerican, that I am not sufficiently patriotic. We Americans have allowed this to happen. We have permitted ourselves, as a country, to be twisted and bent into something that hardly resembles what we once were.
It is disgraceful that good people is this country are smeared and called traitors, simply because their view of the future of this country is not aligned with that of the current administration, which envisions a future that many of us consider dark and dangerous.
Lately, though, I've begun to have some faint stirrings in my mind that, perhaps, my assessment of the American people was wrong. Maybe my countrymen did not, as a group, view my liberal politics as unAmerican. Maybe, just maybe, they disagreed with me, but aligned themselves with Bush simply because he was the leader of their party. Maybe they are, just now, beginning to see that despite our very different political leanings, we're on the same side. Maybe they're beginning to realize that the one-sided fascist approach fancied by Bush and his compatriots might temporarily put them where they want to be but would, in the long run, eliminate their freedoms just as the administration has eliminated the freedoms of so many others. Maybe they're coming to believe that a healthy democracy should never be of one mind, lest that one mind silence all rational thought.
The more I think about political parties and their frequently malignant ways of growing and building strength, the more I believe they should be abandoned and replaced by societal platform initiatives, each of which would address strategies to address issues relevant to the societal initiative. More about this later, but I think election of people to address limited-scope societal imperatives might eliminate traditional political parties. Instead, voters could more easily express their specific desires on issues such as public health policy, farm subsidies, economic policy, etc. But I digress...back to the point.
I encourage everyone, whether right, left, or centrist in their social and and economic and general political leanings, to express your opinions about social and economic and political issues. I'm not suggesting you should loudly proclaim your positions but, instead, I am suggesting you argue your positions with people who hold differing opinions about the world...but do it dispassionately. Don't use this administration's manipulative tactic of shouting down or silencing those who hold different viewpoints; instead, be rational and reasonable. Recognize that it's your country, too, and it does not belong solely to the Republican Party or Democratic Party or to the Bush Administration. Take our country back. If you're a Republican, take it back for your Republican compatriots who share a sense of reason and obligation to the people of the United States and the world and who fear the Bush administration has twisted your party's history of conservatism into an unreasonable dogma . If you're a Democrat, take it back for your Democratic compatriots who share your sense of obligation and reason. If you're nonpartisan, do the same; take steps to take back your country.
If everyone ...or only a fraction...in the country will recognize that it's your country, too, and you can and should have a voice in it, we can make a difference. We can recognize that others hold differing opinions, but we should never acquiesce to the argument that minority opinions, whatever they are, do not matter.
I'm tired of seeing right-wing nutcases and left-wing lunatics brand me a traitor for my failure to share their beliefs. I'm tired of people at the ends of the political spectrum taking control of the political establishment. I think their views deserve to be heard, but the simple fact that they are on the fringe suggests that we moderate them when putting them into political action.
I'm liberal. I confess that I am much more likely to support liberal ideas than conservative ideas. But I will listen to both of them. I will argue for the position that I believe is best, but I will insist that the other side be given an ear, as well. The more I hear of frenzied screams on both ends of the spectrum, the more moderate I become.
Back to my initial comments, though. We really are living in a time in which the far-right religious zealots are taking control and attempting to demonize those with more rational and less rabid views. Our first step is to step up to speak out against them. Argue for reason. Argue that it's your country, too, and that you, too, are a patriot whose demand for reason and respect for the constitution makes you more of a patriot than those who would abandon the document that gave birth to this country.
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