A blast from the past

[Mythsaje]

Everybody Matters...

From the tiny child laying in its crib, burbling in happiness, or wailing with hunger, to the arthritic fellow making his way to his mailbox to look for a letter from his grandchildren--from the young woman on the bus taking her from her childhood home to a dream of greatness in the city to the old woman sitting on her porch, cat in her lap, calling cheerfully to the neighbors tending their garden. From the homeless child sleeping on the school steps to the woman walking down the university steps, diploma in her hand.

From the guy standing in the unemployment line, trying to find another job after his was eliminated or outsourced, to the CEO who gave the order. From the long haired, bearded busker playing guitar at the market, voice raised in a song of hope or despair, to the slick haired concert promoter hob-knobbing with the stars.

Everybody matters.

We are all participants in what was once considered a grand experiment, a society in which we, the people, were all considered equal before the law, that insisted that each of our voices could be heard by those we elected to represent us.

It wasn't always true, of course, but it was a work in progress. One by one, the barriers were torn down and each segment of society became yet another to join their voices in the song of freedom. We believed that by working hard we could make a better world and a better life for our children.

When we stood and opposed the robber barons, fighting for the right to workplace safety, and the right to see our children to go to school rather than being forced to work alongside us, we did it for everyone. We did it for our children, and the children of our neighbors, and the children that would be born to them as well.

When we went off to fight the tyrant who tried to consume Europe, we did it for those who were dying, and those who were not yet born, because the hope of the future deserved it.

When we stood up against the war in southeast Asia, it wasn't just for ourselves, but for the children of all Americans, and the people there who also deserved to live in peace, to try to determine their own fate. We didn't do it because we don't believe in America, and what it's supposed to represent, but because we do.

When we protested the dumping of toxic wastes into the earth, the rivers, and the sea, it wasn't just to protect ourselves, or our own children, but to protect ALL of us, and all our children. When we fought for clean air, it wasn't to ensure our own breaths, but to ensure that all of us could continue to breathe air that didn't make us sick. When we stood up against the decimation of forest land, it was so all our children could enjoy the wonders of nature as we had. As our ancestors had.

America is more than a land mass, more than a nation of people. America is an idea. The idea that everybody matters, from the lowest to the highest, that everyone has a right to a decent life, and has a right to watch their children grow up in a world better yet than the one that they themselves remember.

Isn't that what everyone wants? That their children inherit a world in which more things are possible, in which they have every chance to succeed no matter where they were born and into which walk of life?

That's the one thing we liberals have been trying to say all along. That the farmer's daughter in Ohio, or Kentucky, is just as deserving of a chance to succeed in life as the CEO's son in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles. That's why we stand and fight against those practices and policies that make it that much harder for them. Because if we didn't, who would?

We believe everybody matters.

Don't you?

[Faux pas]

1. Yes I do. I want you to know that I l-o-v-e the stuff you write.

Thanks for sharing this. ;)

[Mythsaje]

8. Thanks for the positive feedback...

It's worth more than you know.

[Random_Australian]

2. kickskarooniski, worthy subject.

[JDPriestly]

3. So true.

The media has been selling us on hero worship -- of movie stars, the wealthy, even serial killers. We are encouraged constantly to seek escape in consumption focused on -- movie stars, the wealthy, horrible crimes. Forget about hero worship. Forget about the mainstream media. Celebrate reality. Celebrate life -- your community, your neighbors, your friends, your family. You are so right.

[hfojvt]

4. "It's money that matters, in the USA"

"when our president proposes policies that
yank the ladder of opportunity out from under
those who are working to make it, in order to
give wads of cash to those who've already
got it made, we have a duty to call it what it is:
class warfare." Paul Begala "It's Still the Economy, Stupid"

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

5. Everybody?

Would you be outraged if you knew my Constitutional rights were being violated daily, hourly, for the past 8 years? Would you allow your outrage to move you or would you do nothing? Would you be outraged that even the ACLU does nothing? Would it matter to you that I'm unable to get an attorney to even hear my story?


Is this an inappropriate post/response? Truth to Power is what I hear so many talk about. How many that come and post at this site have actually told truth to power? How many have the courage to? I have, many times.

There are many people in very powerful positions both inside government and outside government--Senators, Congressmen/Women, media personalities, newspaper editors, journalists.....who know about the violations of both my Constitutional rights,
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
and violations of the Universal Declaration of Humanitarian Rights.
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
They do nothing.

Do you think it's an outrage that the NSA has perhaps intercepted your email, your phone call? You have no idea what government intrusion is! You are, I'm sure, waiting for me to get to the violations, what exactly they are. It's not going to happen. Why would all the people I've named including the ACLU do nothing? The government would do nothing because they are the ones responsible. All the others because they are guilty of being involved and because the method of intrusion is what would be considered 'Science Fiction.' Because it's so science fiction-y I'm not credibile (crazy) and they can get away with, doing nothing.

You, all you opened-minded, suspicious of government, knowledgeable, educated in the ways of government lies and intrusion, with Bush wiping his ass on our Constitution, would blow me off and file me under tin foil hat. It has already happened on this site.

Bill Clinton was president 8 years ago. This happened under his watch. This, because the method is a, this.

I am so disgusted with this country. Our government has abused me, used me, and lied to me personally. The other people mentioned are willing to live their lives--knowing the cost I have paid so they can continue to live free, and do nothing because it isn't their rights or their bodies being abused.
I've said enough but believe me, I would love to tell you everything. I am already going to suffer greatly for what I've told you. YES, torture and humiliation are in the tool bag....and so many know.

:eyes: :crazy: :tinfoilhat:

[Mind_your_head]

6. self-delete

[Time for change]

7. Yes, that's the main thing that separates us from today's

Republican Party.