If you were writing a letter to the American people, telling them why voting Dem is essential....

[wyldwolf]

... how would your letter read?

I'm going to blast a message to about 10,000 myspace users...

[Pragmatic Pilgrim]

1. Read my post just above yours.

Bush would seem to have no options other than reinstating the draft. It's an argument that's impossible to refute, and it draws an absolutely visceral reaction from young & old alike.

[wyldwolf]

2. nice!

[bumblebee1]

3. I got aome ideas from some signs posted along the road.

Dear Voter:

Tired of the Iraq war that has no end in sight?

Does War for Oil make your blood boil?

Tired of a deficit so high that your children/grandchildren will have to pay it off?

Do you have decent affordable healthcare?

Are you tired of the incompetence and arrogance in Washington, D.C.?

If you can answer yes to some or all of these questions, it's time to take this country in a new direction. Your vote can keep this ship from running aground and sinking. Vote for a Democrat!!!

[gratuitous]

4. Let's see how simply I can say this . . .

Remember 2004? Maybe you gave the Republicans the benefit of the doubt. Sure, George W. Bush hadn't really done a very good job, but you liked the guy for whatever reason. Besides, the media made John Kerry and the Democrats sound like bull goose loonies.

And what happened? Were the Republicans chastened by their narrow victories, and did they work harder to include all points of view in the pursuit of their policies? No. No, they didn't at all. In fact, they treated every vote cast in their favor as a ringing, 100% endorsement of what they had done for the past four years.

In the two years since, the disturbing trends you saw taking shape in 2004 have become downright alarming. Iraq is nearly hopeless, Afghanistan is crumbling, the economy stinks (unless you're a multimillionaire), our environment has gotten noticeably worse, and the Bush administration and its Republican cronies continue to wear rose-colored glasses and pretend that everything is fine.

But worse than the pretense is their scorn for anyone who sees things differently. If you point out the chaos in Iraq, you're accused of wanting the terrorists to win. The president and his media mouthpieces have darkly warned that a vote for Democrats is a vote to destroy America. But our country can't afford another two years of the GOP running wild. Ask the survivors of Katrina; or the wounded at Walter Reed. And it's not going to get any better if the Bush administration isn't reined in, and now.

This may be your last chance for quite some time to stop this madness. Is the America you grew up in and the America you believed in a purveyor of torture? No, it's not. Does America stand for freedom, or does it stand for secret wiretaps and hidden prisons? Under George W. Bush, the tactics pioneered by the Gestapo and Stalin's Secret Police are being refined and reinstituted for a new century.

Don't be fooled, don't be scared. On November 7, go into the voting booth, and vote Democratic. Because if we don't try to wash away the horrid stain of the Bush administration now, in 2006, we might just have to burn it away later. Too many lives have already been lost; too much money has already been squandered; and too much of America's heritage, stature and prestige has disappeared under George W. Bush. But you can stop it.

[wyldwolf]

5. excellent!

[ClassWarrior]

6. ...they wouldn't read it.

That's why we need to write fewer letters and craft more sound bites. Our county party says (with props to George Lakoff), "Democrats value broad prosperity, mutual responsibility, effective government, a better future, and a stronger America."

By the way, read Lakoff's new manual for Progressives, "Thinking Points." Essential reading. Pick it up from your favorite independent bookseller, or get it online at http://www.RockridgeInstitute.org/ThinkingPoints.

NGU.

[Demit]

7. "American government was not designed for one-party rule"

"...American government was not designed for one-party rule but for rule by consensus -- so this current batch of Republicans has found a way to work around that product design. They have scuttled both the spirit and the letter of congressional procedure, turning the lawmaking process into a backroom deal, with power concentrated in the hands of a few chiefs behind the scenes.

...

One could go on and on about the scandals and failures of the past six years; to document them all would take . . . well, it would take more than ninety-three fucking days, that's for sure. But you can boil the whole sordid mess down to a few basic concepts. Sloth. Greed. Abuse of power. Hatred of democracy. Government as a cheap backroom deal, finished in time for thirty-six holes of the world's best golf. And brains too stupid to be ashamed of any of it. If we have learned nothing else in the Bush years, it's that this Congress cannot be reformed. The only way to change it is to get rid of it."


—This is from Matt Taibbi's excellent cover story in Rolling Stone, "Inside the Worst Congress Ever." The article is breathtaking in scope.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever/8sten

[Pragmatic Pilgrim]

8. Remember the Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave?

Just knocked this off. Don't know your audience, but you might be able to use some of it:

* * * * *

We used to be the Home of the Brave. Now the steady drum-beat of "Terrorists! Terrorists! Terrorists!" has turned us into a nation of cowards. We're urged to surrender our wills to a cynical, power-hungry leader who claims he'll save us from disaster.

We also used to be the Land of the Free. But it takes bravery to sustain freedom. In our trembling fear, we've eagerly cast aside the very freedoms that have always distinguished our nation.

Who would ever have thought that the Congress of the United States would hold serious deliberations about how much torture should be used on prisoners who are held without trial? Worse yet, who'd have guessed it would be the President himself who would be pressing for MORE torture? Clearly, we've been scared into descending into the same mindless authoritarianism we despise in our opponents.

That means they're winning and we're losing.

Let's restore our nation to its historic greatness. Let's stand tall and proud against our adversaries. Let's be brave enough to work on peaceful solutions first--we all know it's cowards who act like bullies. Americans aren't cowards.

We can return to being the Land of the Free. But it won't happen unless we first return to being the Home of the Brave.