I Believe that November Never Happened
Speaking of that sad November, I found this email I wrote after the end of the election. A bit histrionic and bombastic, I'll admit. Who do I think I am, Barack Obama? It was a bad week I usually pretend didn't happen. I like to think Bush was only elected once.
On this rainy day after the day after, I'm reading loads of emails and articles and blogs and talking to my friends and co-workers, trying to sum up how I feel about the election results.I think it's important to remember why we feel the way we do, why we so wanted John Kerry elected that we were willing to give money/time/effort/energy to this campaign.
These are a few things I believe: I believe that our country is great because we allow the guilty a fair trial; because we have the right to shout at the top of our lungs that our elected officials are wrong; because we have the right to be secure in our homes and our bodies; because young men, and not a few women, have gone willingly to countries they had never heard of to fight for some other peoples' freedom; because I am free to worship in any way I choose whatever God I believe in and so do you, in your own way.
I believe that our country is weakened by hunger and homelessness and the helplessness of too many. No nation can call itself great when kids can't go to the doctor when they're sick; when working people can't afford to provide the basic necessities for their families; when people of color are still stung by racism in their jobs, on the highways, in court, at the airport, and in the hearts of others; when we gobble up our natural resources without regard to the rest of the planet's people or our environment; and when we are so willing to give up someone else's rights in order to feel safer ourselves.
I'm proud of my father's service to our country and feel a little guilty when I see young men and women who are willing to join the service when I wouldn't for love or money. I am not a pacifist. Afghanistan, the Balkans, Kuwait were wars we had to fight. Our military has been used to secure the freedom of half the world and to feed its victims after the fighting stopped. But, our commander in chief must ensure that our might does not ever again overwhelm our obligation to ensure that we are right. Our principal duty is to ensure that those who fight our wars are given all the support we can muster; that when they are overseas, their families are able to make ends meet; when they come home, with bodies and minds injured, we take care of them as long as they need us to; and when they tell us we are fighting the wrong war in the wrong way, we listen to them.
I believe that we must never send soldiers to war unless absolutely necessary and that when we do, we send them with every weapon in our arsenal, especially the truth. No less a patriot than Thomas Jefferson said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." I believe that for all our Founding Fathers did wrong, what they did right is still shocking in its genius. They created a system of government that is constantly self-correcting. They called for "a more perfect union." They didn't assume the one they created was finished. They laid out a form of government that doesn't welcome dissent: it demands it. Read the Declaration of Independence. And the first sentence of the Constitution. We the people... We hold these truths... We own this government, like it or not. It's not them doing to us; it's us doing to and for each other. When my representative votes to deny my neighbor his right to live as he pleases or tries to stop my friend from making her own choices about her body, or spends our tax dollars recklessly, I have an obligation to speak out. It's the price we pay for being proud to be Americans. That's why I care enough to fight to change what I believe is wrong.
On this rainy day after the day after, I'm reading loads of emails and articles and blogs and talking to my friends and co-workers, trying to sum up how I feel about the election results.I think it's important to remember why we feel the way we do, why we so wanted John Kerry elected that we were willing to give money/time/effort/energy to this campaign.
These are a few things I believe: I believe that our country is great because we allow the guilty a fair trial; because we have the right to shout at the top of our lungs that our elected officials are wrong; because we have the right to be secure in our homes and our bodies; because young men, and not a few women, have gone willingly to countries they had never heard of to fight for some other peoples' freedom; because I am free to worship in any way I choose whatever God I believe in and so do you, in your own way.
I believe that our country is weakened by hunger and homelessness and the helplessness of too many. No nation can call itself great when kids can't go to the doctor when they're sick; when working people can't afford to provide the basic necessities for their families; when people of color are still stung by racism in their jobs, on the highways, in court, at the airport, and in the hearts of others; when we gobble up our natural resources without regard to the rest of the planet's people or our environment; and when we are so willing to give up someone else's rights in order to feel safer ourselves.
I'm proud of my father's service to our country and feel a little guilty when I see young men and women who are willing to join the service when I wouldn't for love or money. I am not a pacifist. Afghanistan, the Balkans, Kuwait were wars we had to fight. Our military has been used to secure the freedom of half the world and to feed its victims after the fighting stopped. But, our commander in chief must ensure that our might does not ever again overwhelm our obligation to ensure that we are right. Our principal duty is to ensure that those who fight our wars are given all the support we can muster; that when they are overseas, their families are able to make ends meet; when they come home, with bodies and minds injured, we take care of them as long as they need us to; and when they tell us we are fighting the wrong war in the wrong way, we listen to them.
I believe that we must never send soldiers to war unless absolutely necessary and that when we do, we send them with every weapon in our arsenal, especially the truth. No less a patriot than Thomas Jefferson said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." I believe that for all our Founding Fathers did wrong, what they did right is still shocking in its genius. They created a system of government that is constantly self-correcting. They called for "a more perfect union." They didn't assume the one they created was finished. They laid out a form of government that doesn't welcome dissent: it demands it. Read the Declaration of Independence. And the first sentence of the Constitution. We the people... We hold these truths... We own this government, like it or not. It's not them doing to us; it's us doing to and for each other. When my representative votes to deny my neighbor his right to live as he pleases or tries to stop my friend from making her own choices about her body, or spends our tax dollars recklessly, I have an obligation to speak out. It's the price we pay for being proud to be Americans. That's why I care enough to fight to change what I believe is wrong.
posted by Elizabeth at
6:16 PM
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