Left in the Heartland

A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

November 14th, 2006

To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,

I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.

Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.

Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:

Dear Conservatives and Republicans,

I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:

1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.

4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.

5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.

6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.

7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.

8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.

9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.

10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.

11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.

12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.

I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.

Signed,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
(Click here to sign the pledge)
www.michaelmoore.com

P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.

 
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Dear Editor,
Representative Gutknecht has shown a consistent pattern of disregard for the interests of his constituents.

I was reading online yesterday and ran across a video clip available at http://www.ifilms.tv/votevets2/VV_Gutknecht.mov. Representative Gutknecht voted to cut funding for health care benefits for disabled veterans while simultaneously voting to increase his own pay. Congressman Gutknecht claims to support the troops yet he received a 23% approval rating from the Disabled American Veterans last year. Does anyone really believe that Command Sergeant Major Tim Walz would have voted for a bill that harms disabled veterans?

He has consistently failed to support efforts to increase the minimum wage. According to the Economic Policy Institute 139,000 workers in Minnesota would directly benefit from an increase in the minimum wage to $7.25. The current minimum wage adjusted for inflation is only 31% of the average private wage. (In 1947 the minimum wage was 35%. http://www.epinet.org/issueguides/minwage/table4.pdf.) Congressman Gutknecht only voted for an increase when it was directly linked to an estate tax repeal that equaled a 71.6 Billion dollar giveaway to the nations 18 richest families. (See http://www.citizen.org/documents/EstateTaxFinal.pdf for a discussion about the estate tax.) A minimum wage increase directly benefits upwards of 25% of working families. Does anyone really believe that Tim Walz would stand by while hard working families sink further into poverty?

Representative Gutknecht voted to decrease funding for student loans last year. Families who borrow on behalf of their children saw the interest rate jump from 6.1% to 8.5% while students saw their interest rates increase from 4.7% to 6.8%. (The student with 20,000 dollars in debt will pay at least an extra $2000 dollars in interest.) Furthermore, Representative Gutknecht has failed to work to increase funding for Pell Grants to students. Access to education gives people the tools to climb and stay out of poverty. Does anyone really believe that an educator like Tim Walz would vote to reduce access to affordable higher education?

Tim Walz is a much better choice to represent our district and its values in Washington.

Here are the reasons to vote the Republicans out this year....
--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

The Cook Report makes a sobering assessment about the R's chances in November. In Minnesota we are seeing the very likely defeat of Mark Kennedy by Amy Klubuchar. Gil Gutknecht is facing a very strong challenge by Tim Walz.

"Republicans are facing a motivation deficit unlike anything they've seen at least since 1982 and probably since 1974, the post-Watergate midterm.
Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial beginning of the fall campaign. And if the political climate remains as it is today -- a very big 'if' -- Republicans will likely lose the House and their dominance of the nation's governorships but hang on to the Senate by a thread. Every sign points to a reappearance of the 'time for a change' dynamic that has hit one or both chambers of Congress in five of the last six midterm 'six-year-itch' elections -- those held during a president's second term.
The latest Cook Political Report/RT Strategies national poll, a survey of 801 registered voters conducted August 25-27, confirms what the vast majority of other surveys have shown for months: The 'change' dynamic is strong, antipathy toward President Bush remains high, and the outlook for the Republican Party is grim.
Just 28 percent of voters said that the country is headed in the right direction, while 64 percent said it is on the wrong track, virtually the same results as the 27 percent 'right-direction,' 63 percent 'wrong-track' split in the Cook/RT poll taken in late July. For the party controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, these numbers should be chilling."

Independent Online Edition > Americas: "Over the past decade, several factors have been responsible for bringing the issue of migration to the boil: the North American Free Trade Agreement has resulted in many Mexican farmers being driven out of business; more than 40 per cent of the population live below the official poverty line; the events of 9/11 resulted in an increase in the number of Border Patrol Agents as well as the increased 'militarisation' of certain parts of the border (with the establishment of long, imposing fences and constantly manned checkpoints)."

Independent Online Edition > World Politics: "Rich countries must deliver more money directly to poor nations to avert a growing health and sanitation crisis spreading across the southern hemisphere, Oxfam will say today.
The global charity said investment in health care, water, sanitation and education must be delivered by governments rather than the private sector.
Belinda Calaguas, the head of policy at WaterAid, which produced the report jointly with Oxfam, added: 'There are more than a billion people living without access to clean, safe water and 2.6 billion people have nowhere to go to the toilet. That leads to the inevitable spread of water-related diseases which claim the lives of 6,000 children every day.'
The report condemned the World Bank for forcing privatisation or inappropriate private sector projects on developing countries, and criticised Western governments for signing up to the so-called Washington agenda."

AlterNet: Has Canada Got the Cure?: "Infant mortality
Infant mortality rates, which reflect the health of the mother and her access to prenatal and postnatal care, are considered one of the most reliable measures of the general health of a population. Today, U.S. government statistics rank Canada's infant mortality rate of 4.7 per thousand 23rd out of 225 countries, in the company of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Australia, and Denmark. The U.S. is 43rd--in the company of Croatia and Lithuania, below Taiwan and Cuba.
All the countries surrounding Canada or above it in the rankings have tax-supported health care systems. The countries surrounding the United States and below have mixed systems or are, in general, extremely poor in comparison to the United States and the other G8 industrial powerhouses.
There are no major industrialized countries near the United States in the rankings. The closest is Italy, at 5.83 infants dying per thousand, but it is still ranked five places higher.
In the United States, infant mortality rates are 7.1 per 1,000, the highest in the industrialized world -- much higher than some of the poorer states in India, for example, which have public health systems in place, at least for mothers and infants. Among the inner-city poor in the United States, more than 8 percent of mothers receive no prenatal care at all before giving birth."

AlterNet: Nine Ways Republicans Are Ruining the Country: "Republicans are unimaginably bad on national security. Say it loud. Say it often, it's the truth, Republicans are bad on national security. "

A West Point cadet wrote a compelling essay arguing for open service of Gay and Lesbian people in the military without reprisal or discrimination. To the credit of USMA he was given the award for outstanding senior thesis.

"Cheney and his crowd are all for free and open elections - as long as they turn out their way. They are all for free speech - provided it supports the administration. They are all for the rule of law - as long as the law does not prevent them from doing whatever they want to do. When elections, speeches or laws are inconvenient, he does not hesitate to declare that they are helping the terrorists. I can think of no graver offense against our democracy.

Ned Lamont's victory in Connecticut scares Cheney for one simple reason: It demonstrates that a free and independent people can and do hold public officials accountable for their words and deeds.

If the terrorists are indeed paying any attention to the Connecticut primary results, they must be worried.

The people of Connecticut spoke out loud and clear in favor of change. Ned Lamont will stand strong for the people of Connecticut, and put tough and smart foreign policies ahead of the politics of fear and more 'stay the course' failures. Republicans will stop at nothing to make sure that the November elections are not a referendum on their misguided policy in Iraq or on the way they have run our country for the past six years. Unfortunately, this time the facts are getting in their way."

I think that Ted Kennedy wrote an effective response to the fear mongerer in chief. Hats off to the Connecticut voters for demanding a change.

Daily Kos: 9/11 United 93 shootdown conspiracy? An insider dishes...: "The most true, and best, story about 9/11 is the heroism that was displayed by the passengers of United 93. That was the first, best, and most honest counterattack in this battle against terrorism. And what's more, Americans should be proud; a somewhat motley group of plain old folks- black, white, gay, straight, young, old- took on the terrorists, paid the ultimate price of their lives, but they dealth the terrorists a big defeat.
There's a lesson in there for the chicken hawks who're running America right now. Direct action aimed at the specific terrorists- works. Attacking a nation (Iraq) that had absolutely zero involvement in 9/11 and who wasn't really part of any group attacking the United States? Didn't work, isn't working, and won't work in the future, either."

Blue Eyed Buddhist effectively debunks the conspiracy theorists about 9/11. I think the lesson was reemphasized with the British stopping the recent terrorist plot through aggressive police work AND responding to a tip from the community. Treating the Muslim minority community with respect paid a dividend of safety for the community as a whole.

'Time is running out for Republicans. Unless something dramatic happens before Election Day, Democrats will take control of the House. And the chances that they�ll seize the Senate are rising toward 50-50.

'The electoral hurricane bearing down on the GOP looks likely to be a Category 4 or 5, strong enough to destroy at least one of the party�s majorities. The political climate feels much as it did before previous elections that produced sizable upheavals, such as in 1994, when Democrats lost 52 House seats, eight Senate seats, and control of both chambers.'"

Roughly four ways to help make this happen in MN. (In other words lets all do our part!)

The People's house:
Elect Patty Wetterling.
Elect Tim Walz to replace Gil Gutknecht.
Elect Colleen Rowley to replace John Kline.

The Senate:
Elect Amy Klobuchar. (This is a 2fer as we retire Mark Kennedy from the house and hold Mark Dayton's seat.)

Has it occurred to anyone else that the latest terrorist threat from toiletries--which are being confiscated at airports--is reminiscent of the Joker's fatal rictus potion in the 1989 Batman movie?

I still remember the scenes with the newscasters looking more and more groady as time went on because no one knew what combination of deodorants, hairspray, toothpaste, cologne, mouthwash, etc., created the fatal rictus potion so they stopped using them all.

In listening to Anderson Cooper just a few minutes ago--my dad always has CNN on--I was struck by how much this latest terrorist threat seems like it came straight out of the Joker's playbook in Batman. Even Cooper's description sounded just like the newscasters in the movie.

I really gotta wonder if this isn't just a sick joke being played on people as the situation in the Middle East melts down and the Republican reptiles need something to bolster them up after Ned Lamont beat No-mentum Loserman.

I fail to see how torture will ever advance the legitimate interests of the world in attaining peace and security.

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I heartily endorse these broad social goals. For more information see A Covenant for a New America.

Work must work and provide for family economic success and security. Those who work responsibly should have a living family income in which a combination of a family's earnings, and supports for transportation, health care, nutrition, child care, education, housing, and other basic needs provide a decent standard of living. Those unable to work should be supported with dignity.
Children should not be poor. We also need specific and concrete commitments to brighter futures for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens. We will never end the cycle of poverty if we continue to allow lack of opportunity to be the formative aspect of a child's life. Our nation should develop and commit to a plan that cuts child in 10 years.
Extreme global poverty must end. The U.S. should support effective aid, good governance, just trade policies, and debt cancellation in order to lift billions of people out of extreme poverty. U.S. international development assistance should be increased by an additional one percent of the federal budget to honor our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, designed to cut global poverty in half by the year 2015.

Visit here to sign the covenant.

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