http://www.tompaine.com/articles/the_flickering_light_of_america.php
Pushes all the liberal buttons; work, work, work vs. wealth.
This is not an accident. It is by design. Our Republican leaders value one thing: wealth. We see it in everything they do: Tax “reforms” that shift more of the burden onto the wages of working people. Health savings accounts that serve as tax shelters for millionaires. And now, Social Security—they want to borrow trillions of dollars, add even more to the deficit and cut benefits for millions of seniors.
And now they admit that private accounts will do nothing to solve the long-term problem. They want to stand with their friends on Wall Street. We want to stand with people who’ve worked hard all of their lives. And we believe that people should have the freedom to grow old with dignity without having to depend on their children. That’s what we believe in.
George Bush likes to talk about an “Ownership Society.” We already have one: CEOs with jets; power companies that get their way even if the health of children and pregnant women suffer. Oil companies who write our energy policy. George Bush’s so-called “Ownership Society” is a secret society that rewards the wealthiest and shuts out those who work hard every day.
What we know and understand in our soul is that hard work built America. Men and women who worked with their hands and their heads—who still do—and just want America to be the land of opportunity again. What we want is an Opportunity Society where everyone who works hard and does right has the chance to get ahead. And you create an Opportunity Society by honoring work.
We want work to pay. We want work to matter. We want a trade policy that gives our workers a fair chance—with environmental and labor standards. And no American company should ever be allowed to leave this country, go overseas and hire children to do their work. When people do right by America, America ought to do right by them.
Maybe Kerry did have him tone it down, I dunno.
You know, this president flies over America and goes to events and stands with his friends. Well, we ought to stand up for people nobody else will. Last week, I went to Little Washington, North Carolina and met privately with a group of men and women who were struggling. One woman had been living in a shelter. She told us how she wanted to work. If she walked into this room tonight, you wouldn’t think anything of it. But when she walked into the local Laundromat to get warm, she said she was told to: “Get out of here. Anybody living in the shelter’s got to be trash.” There but for the grace of God go I.
And then I met Loretta.
You know, I can still feel her hand shake—determined and strong like a truck driver. She spent 14 years working at a wash house—working for the minimum wage—earning a little more that $200 a week. She would always try to do better, but no one would give her a chance.
Well, she kept pushing and pushing. She got her GED and a loan. And now she owns her own pizza franchise. We asked her how many people worked there. She said that there are “eight of us.” Not seven people work for me. There were “eight of us.” She was asked about the cost of her employees and she said that it was an honor to be able to give them their paychecks. You could hear in her voice the respect she has for other people.
There was hope in that room. America was in that room. It was a million miles from that mill in Robbins, but sitting with Loretta and the others—it was a very familiar place. That natural respect for other people. That belief in effort. And that hope that if you just keep going, try some more, things will get better—isn’t this what America’s all about?
So we’re going to let the Republicans stand with their friends on Wall Street and the big oil, big insurance companies and the HMOs. And who are we going to stand with? We’re going to stand with the teachers, nurses, factory workers, tech workers and small business owners. We’re going to stand with Loretta.
Go, 2008. Who knows, maybe we can put together an economic policy for the Democrats that doesn’t whore us to wall street.
So don’t tell me Democrats don’t stand for anything. We do. We stand for work and opportunity. We know when something’s right. And we know when something’s wrong.
It’s wrong when our neighbors work full-time and they still live in poverty. It’s wrong when too many towns are forgotten because the jobs are gone. It’s wrong when our children give up on a dream because our schools are broke. It’s wrong when our men and women return home from a war and have to fight for the health care to recover from their wounds. And it’s wrong when we let a young person in another country thousands of miles away grow up hating us, never knowing or believing in the good of our country.
So don’t tell me we Democrats don’t believe in anything and don’t know where to go. Because we do.