http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/07/con04305.htmlDoing Right By America
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Senator Tom Daschle
In just over 100 days, the American people will make an historic and fateful decision.
They will decide whether we stay the course we’re on, or move our country in a new and better direction.
As I’ve traveled around South Dakota and the nation, I’ve heard a lot about the hopes and dreams
Americans have for their families. I’ve listened to ranchers and farmers, teachers and mothers, police
officers and firefighters.
I am always humbled by the honesty of their message. Families in South Dakota and across our nation
aren’t asking for special deals or special advantage. All they want is a fair opportunity on a level playing
field. They want to know that there’s only one set of rules, and that the game isn’t rigged against them.
Most of all, they want to know that as we make decisions affecting the future of our country, our first priority
is Doing Right by America.
If a policy isn’t going to make us stronger and safer, if it’s not going to expand opportunity and put
common sense ahead of ideology, then it’s not doing right by America.
Doing Right by America rejects the defeatist view that we have enough money to rebuild Iraq, but not
enough resources to take care of America.
At its heart, Doing Right by America means fulfilling our moral responsibility – together – to create a better
future for our children and grandchildren.
It’s a simple value that Americans have always lived by, but it’s been pushed aside these last four years.
Boardroom priorities have crowded out kitchen-table needs, and special interests – like Enron, Halliburton,
and the giant oil companies – have undermined our common purpose. Years of progress in spreading
opportunity for regular Americans has been turned on its head.
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