This post is a response to an RGJ LTE from Ernie Baltar of Sun Valley…
I will support my president and hope he succeeds. For the last eight years American values, morals and faith were betrayed by false prophets with words of doom and gloom. That’s not my America. I want my country back.
I don’t believe helping those less fortunate than me is “socialism.” I believe it is my duty as an American to help those in need. If I must pay higher taxes to help my country and my countrymen out of this shit-storm, then so be it.
During the tenure of the last pResident, the federal government grew bigger than at any time in the country’s history. Handed a multi-billion dollar surplus, he squandered it into the biggest deficit America has ever faced. Warrantless wiretapping, suspension of habeas corpus, rendition, torture and indefinite incarceration without charges have become the norm. That is not my America. I want my country back.
I believe the Constitution when it says all men are created equal. I denounce political hacks who say their job is to protect the American people. No. You swore an oath to protect the Constitution. I’m an American…I don’t need you to protect me from terrorism, or from gay marriage, or from the evils of drugs, or from people who weren’t born in this country but come here to live the American dream.
I figure if there’s 12 billion dollars a month to spend on an unnecessary war in Iraq, there’s enough money to rebuild infrastructure, give our kids a good education and our parents’ security in their retirement. Every American is guaranteed “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” That is my America.
But, success will be slow. It took eight long years to get us into this mess, it’ll take time to get us out of it. Success will be bringing our troops home. Success will be restoring America’s moral standing in the world. Success will be talking to those who don’t agree with us to better understand their plight. Success is my America.
I will not succumb to fear-mongering right-wingers. I am not afraid of black people, or brown people, or yellow people. I am not afraid of Muslims or Jews or Christians or Atheists. I will continue to fight the xenophobic, racist, narrow-minded, rednecks who would give up their freedoms for the illusion of safety. I will not go quietly into that good night. I want my country back and I’m prepared to fight to the death for her. I’m an American and this is my America.
(8.-)
