Moving forward

[abburdlen]

I met a remarkable young Marine when Edwards spoke in Wilmington, NC. We had been comparing how we coping with the events of the week and how we had both come to same conclusion. His words are far better than mine so I'll use his:

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Well guys & gals,



This is it. This is how it feels a day after our efforts and hopes dissipated to the reality of four more years of George W. Bush's America. I say his America, because it certainly is not the America that I enlisted in the Marine Corps to defend. No that was for my America. An America that stood for justice, unity, thoughtfulness, and served as a beacon of light, a shining example to the world of how democracy should work.



So what now? Do we continue to wallow in the mire of depression? Do we allow ourselves to succumb to the feelings of fear and despair over the future of our Party, our ideology, our Nation? I've been searching for answers the past 36 hours. I click on the DNC's homepage and am greeted with only the concession letter Senator Kerry provided for his supporters. Even the ever outspoken Michael Moore has but a photo of George W. compiled with images of the fallen in Iraq. Our so-called liberal pundits are filling the airwaves with talk of reconciliation with the Republicans and the necessity of restructuring our party so as to appeal to "real" Americans. So here we are. Leaderless, without direction. Alone.



Alone? Well that's what the talk shows, AM radio, and the pundits would have you believe. But it seems to me that 56,000,000 of my fellow Americans voted the same way I did on November 2nd. That's nearly 4 million more votes than any Democratic presidential candidate has ever received. Alone? Hardly. 56,000,000 of us chose truth over lies and deception. We chose workers over the exporters of jobs. We chose the middle class and working poor over the wealthiest of the wealthy. We chose choice over the suppression of women. We chose healthcare for all Americans over the profits of the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. We chose blood over oil. We chose compassion and intellect over ignorance and stubbornness. We chose PEACE over War! We chose change.



Well, where do we go from here? As powerful as we were, we came up short, true. Do we now lay down and sacrifice our morale convictions to appease the right? Do we scamper off to lick our wounds? Or do we follow the example of the prize fighter that hits the mat, his head aching, ears ringing, face bloodied, but his will remains unbroken, and he climbs back onto his feet to continue the fight?



See, unlike George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Condoleeza Rice, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, etc., etc., I know a little bit about war. And that knowledge reminds me that one battle does not win a war. Nor does it spell defeat for those that narrowly lost, lest they surrender. And I will not surrender this fight today or any other day. I will not cede OUR America to George W. Bush. We are 56,000,000 strong and OUR ideas are better. They're just plain better. They're worth getting up off of the mat.



God Bless you all and God Bless America!

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