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An Open Letter to our Electorate
By Nancy Greggs
In the stunned shock that followed the attacks on September 11, 2001, George W. Bush took to the podium and made his famous statement: “You’re either with us, or you’re against us.”
Meant to be taken as a challenge to the world-at-large, the tin-foil hat wearers among us wondered if he was addressing not terrorists and the nations that harboured them, but we, the American people. As things have turned out, we so-called conspiracy theorists were sporting the appropriate head-gear.
It has now become abundantly clear that you are either with George Bush, or you’re against him. That’s how he views the citizens he has sworn to lead; that is how he views you, the elected officials who have sworn to represent us. If you support his policies, you’re with him. If you criticize his decisions, you’re against him. It’s a simple test of loyalty, designed by a simple-minded man.
With or against, take it or leave it, you’re in or you’re out –end of discussion.
This president has declared himself above the Constitution, beyond the law of the land, a power unto himself that brooks no dissent. You’re either with him or against him. So which is it? As an American citizen, I demand to know.
Let me be so bold as to adopt the President’s own litmus test for determining loyalty. You are either with the people you have been elected to represent, or you are against us. You either stand to protect the democracy you have sworn to uphold, or you stand to destroy it. With us or against us; it is time to make your position clear.
As this Administration has waged war on innocent Iraqis, so it has waged war on our own people. They have ‘honoured the troops’ by pouring billions of dollars into the pockets of their corporate cronies, but haven’t provided the body armour and other equipment necessary to keep our military safe from harm. Are you with this Administration, or are you with our own soldiers?
This Administration has gutted the social programs that have traditionally fed the poor, sheltered the homeless, and provided assistance to those whose lives have been ravaged by disasters beyond their control. Are you with this Administration, or are you with the victims of Katrina, the victims of disease, the victims of poverty?
This Administration has created laws that favour the wealthy and the bottom-line profits of corporations to the detriment of hard working Americans. Are you with this Administration, or are you with the millions of Americans who have seen their jobs, their way of life, their very survival tossed aside for the enrichment of the few?
This Administration has not only condoned, but encouraged torture. It has declared our long-held values of morality and humanity as ‘quaint’; it has declared our Constitution null and void, a document that holds no sway in the face of the whims of a President whose arrogance knows no bounds. Are you with this Administration, or are you with those of us who revere the very cornerstones of American democracy?
Now is the time to make the ultimate choice – and choose wisely, because the future of our American democracy is at stake. The concept is a simple one: Are you with us, the people of the United States of America, or against us? With or against, take it or leave it, you’re in or you’re out – end of discussion.
It is too late to consult your PR staff, your legal consultants; too late to spin the facts, too late to make grandiose speeches couched in nebulous terms that reduce the facts to polit-speak parading as the truth.
It is time to stand up and be counted, time to make your position crystal clear, time to choose sides. The American people deserve to know, without any room for even a scintilla of doubt, who is with us and who is against us. We have a right to know who stands for the tenets of the Constitution of the United States of America, and who stands with those who would marginalize it, modify it, and search for legal loopholes in order to circumvent it.
Will you stand with this Administration and continue to allow a handful of money-driven, power-mad charlatans to bring down the greatest nation on the face of the earth? Or will you stand with the people who still believe in the America our founding fathers risked their lives to create and sustain?
The choice is yours. There is no gray area here, no valley of shadows, no can-I-get-back-to-you-later procrastination of political convenience. You are either with us, or against us – and we will cast our votes accordingly.
For those of you who think my words have been too strong, and my tone too vitriolic, I offer only one apology. In view of what you have allowed to be done to my beloved country, I beg your pardon for the fact that my language has been unforgivably polite.
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