A Holiday Message

[Mythsaje]

Dear Average Republican,

There is NO "liberal agenda" but the shared interest of liberals who want to see things get better for everyone. You, your parents, and the guy who bags groceries down at the corner market. Liberals want to see you with enough money to buy groceries, pay off your house, and put at least one fuel-efficient vehicle in your garage.

It's not an agenda. It's people hoping for the best for other people.

It's about hoping that your Uncle John, who's been farming the same plot of land for the last 40 years, doesn't lose his farm because he falls off his tractor and breaks his leg and can't pay his doctor bill. It's about hoping that you have some options when your town's biggest employer goes belly-up because it can't compete with that textile factory in China.

It's about making sure you get paid enough that you don't have to take two or three jobs just to make ends meet. So you can spend more time with your family...so you can play catch with your kids, or take them fishing on weekends, or take them to the local swimming hole or municipal pool to teach them how to swim.

It's not an agenda to want the best for people. It's just humanity. It's about being a good neighbor, even if that neighbor lives half a country away.

Ask a liberal what empathy is...it's about understanding where someone else is coming from. And most of us try very hard, even if we don't agree.

Being a liberal isn't about making fun of God, or your beliefs about him. Most liberals take the Sermon on the Mount to heart. They try to live the teachings of Jesus, even if some aren't sure he's really the Son of God. Thomas Jefferson called him the World's Greatest Moral Philosopher. You'll find very few liberals who'd disagree with that.

It's because of liberals that your ten year olds get to go to school rather than being forced to work in factories for spare change. It's because of liberals that you can trust your workplace to be safe and free of unexpected dangers. It is because of liberals that, should you be injured at work, you can expect fair medical treatment and compensation for your lost work, and have money coming in if you’re laid off. It’s also because of liberals that you have reasonably clean water to drink and bathe in, and that the local swimming hole isn’t completely polluted.

That's what we do. We try to look out for everybody. Even the people who hate us. We don't have an agenda. We don't take marching orders from anyone. We do what we do because we believe in people. We believe in you.

All we ask is that you begin to believe in us.

[Breeze54]

1. Nice 'reach out'... Happy Holiday! K & R'd! n/t

:kick:

[Alamom]

2. Well done. eom

[emanymton]

3. I Do Have An Agenda... And I Am Liberal!

I did not write this. It does capture my honest hope for the world!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/06/03/04_neighbors.html

And I am not ashamed to stand up for it.

[NJmaverick]

5. Basically the same message

Just worded a bit differently. I like this thread's idea of reaching out to Republican. Tie to welcome them in...

[NJmaverick]

4. Good stuff!

We need to start reaching out for the good Republicans. The ones that are disgusted by what the Republican party has become.

[itzamirakul]

6. I, for one, do not mind reaching out to anyone, including Republicans, as

long as it doesn't lead us back into that middle-of-the-road, go nowhere, centrist, wimpy DLC postion that we have been in for the past decade. I simply cannot stand the mealy-mouthed, unsuccessful route the Democratic Party has taken.

[NJmaverick]

7. For the Democrats to be successful

We need to have both moderates and liberals. We need to appeal to a large enough portion of the population to achieve power. That's what they have done. THey have appealled to the moderates while maintaining a hard core right wing stance that only 10 or 20 percent of the population agrees with.

[itzamirakul]

8. Afraid I have to disagree with you regarding the Republicans having

anything near the wimpy, middle-of-the-road type of party that the Democrats have been subjected to. They have not subjected themselves to this humiliating posture.

First, IMHO, a lot of "closeted" bigots allowed themselves to become "outed" political bigots by listening to and being influenced by such rabid racists as Limbaugh and some of the other "local radio country boys" who managed to blame all American problems on African Americans. I remember when all you could hear on Limbaugh were rants about "lazy, whining blacks," who according to Limbaugh, did nothing but live on welfare. Not even once did he mention that far more whites relied on welfare than ever did blacks. By preaching this lie, he got more and more middle-class whites who had once been Democrats to believe his bullshit and divide this country back up ala the Civil War.

So, I cannot believe that by continuously trying to attract some mythical undecideds and Republican moderates (if there really is such a thing) is the answer to the Democratic Party's problem. I think that we need to take a hard left stand just as the GOP has taken a hard right stand and let people know that we have confidence in our beliefs and not that we have to be wimpy and wishy-washy just to get their votes. I know that I would not be attracted to any party that did that so why would I believe the Republicans would fall for that weak scheme?

We've been trying that middle-of-the-road thing for nearly a decade now and it hasn't worked. Sorry, time for a new strategy.

[hootinholler]

9. All I ask is that if you can't help us,

stay the F out of the way.

Nice message.
-Hoot