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They call me an ideological purist.
It doesn't matter that it is extremely rare that I find a candidate that I agree with on everything, yet still always end up voting for someone. Just the fact that I will speak out against any candidate who supports war makes me an ideological purist in the eyes of some. Because I believe it is more important to put health care for all before campaign donations from insurance industry lobbyists I am an ideological purist. Because I believe criminal members of our government should be impeached and imprisoned I am an ideological purist. Never mind the fact that I have often voted for candidates who I viewed as being no better than merely the lesser of two evils, just the fact that I hold positions that are consistently on the left end of the political spectrum I am told I am an ideological purist.
Those of us on the left have been continually marginalized by a Democratic leadership that has always told us that we needed to move towards the middle. Where is the middle though, and who decided it where it is? Well whoever it was that made the decision as to what represented the middle they always seemed to side with Republicans on nasty pieces of legislation as they bragged about reaching across the aisle in bipartisan fashion.
Their bipartisan work did not help the average Americans though, it helped the big corporations. It was bipartisanship that gave us the Iraq war, it was bipartisanship that gave us NAFTA, it was bipartisanship that gave us the Patriot Act, it was bipartisanship that gave legal backing to the Bush Administration's illegal warrantless wiretapping of innocent Americans. It was bipartisanship that took the concept of impeaching those who commit high crimes and misdemeanors off the table.
We keep being told that this moving towards the center and working with the other side is good for America, yet we are continuously watching America being destroyed by policies that existed with bipartisan support.
I am not about ideological purity, I am about speaking out on what I believe in and not remaining silent about what I see as injustice. I refuse to sit by silently while hundreds of thousands are being slaughtered in an illegal military occupation in Iraq. I refuse to sit by silently while my Constitutional rights are being trampled by an out of control executive and a complacent Congress. I refuse to sit by silently while the voices of corporate lobbyists are viewed as more important than the voices of ordinary Americans. You can call that ideological purity all you want, but I am not about to sell out my values just so people don't have to worry about hearing me criticize their candidate.
I am tired of being told I need to compromise by people who themselves are unwilling to compromise. Their idea of compromise is telling us to move to what they call the center, and which just happens to be exactly where they sit. It is pretty rare to hear those who call on us to compromise to compromise one bit themselves, and so we continuously get stuck with watching them vote with the Republicans and give us more war, more corporate contracts, and more assaults on our civil liberties.
I am not willing to accept any illegal wars though. I am not willing to accept any children going without health care. I am not willing to accept our government torturing anybody. I am not willing to accept our government tapping our phones without a warrant. I will not compromise on these issues, it doesn't necessarily mean I won't ever vote for a candidate who disagrees with me under any circumstances, but it does mean that the candidate better not think I am going to be silent and not criticize them.
It is easy for the so called centrists who seem to get what they want more often than not demand that the rest of us "compromise" by just accepting their position, it is not so easy for them to listen to us and give us a voice in the party. We are tired of having our agenda taken "off the table" time and time again, we are tired of being constantly dismissed, we are tired of seeing the party we voted for enable the illegal war in Iraq continue and allowing those who lied us into war to continue their role in creating government policy without consequence.
I am tired of seeing people killed, our environment destroyed, our economy ruined, and our reputation in tatters and I refuse to accept the notion that we need to take baby steps to get things accomplished. We don't have time for baby steps, we are in a time of crisis and we need to act now. It is not about ideological purity, it is about saving our nation.
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