Tuesday Night's Shining Lights

In addition to Rep. Dennis Kucinich's wake-up call to America, many other amazing speeches were delivered during Tuesday Night's Democratic National Convention. And for the most part, the brightest lights of the evening came not from the stars of the party like Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) or Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) but from everyday people like:

• Katherine Marcano, the flood victim from Cedar Rapids who told the moving story of her struggles with getting an education while working, taking care of a disabled sister and an ill mother.
• Robin Golden the Michigan auto worker who will lose his job in two weeks when it is shipped to Mexico. He was recently diagnosed with diabetes and will lose his healthcare coverage when he loses his job.
• Gloria Craven the recently laid off textile mill worker from North Carolina who spoke of her pride in her husband who, after also losing his job, is going back to school at the age of 62; and,
• Lily Ledbetter the grandmother from Alabama whose gender discrimination case went all the way to the Supreme Court only to be dismissed.

Sadly, if you only watched the network coverage of the convention you probably did not see or hear, Katherine, Robin, Gloria or Lily. Fortunately you can still see them by visiting the C-SPAN video library. (And No, I do not work for C-SPAN)

These are the voices that the disenchanted Democrats, the Independents, the Soccer Moms and the members of NASCAR Nation need to hear. Unfortunately, these voices are usually not scheduled during primetime and when they are, the networks cut away from them or the pundits talk over them. If the swing voters could actually hear real people explain their reasons for voting for Obama then maybe people like my friend John P., (a retired investment banker from FL)., would not feel this way when I forwarded the recent Joe Biden video his way.

John sent me the following reply:

Pam,

No offense, but I can’t support Obama & Biden… With me it is country first and party last. Reckless spending on more social programs is not what the country needs today. We live in very dangerous times. The world is a cruel place and other countries look for signs of weakness to take territorial advantage. We have been at war with Islam for a very long time, but now it is an organized war. A war with a mindset that we westerners do not understand. There are literally thousands of people out there waiting in line to kill themselves to kill us. You cannot negotiate with those people. You kill them before they kill you.

If Condi Rice or Colin Powell was running, I’d be backing them to the hilt, but not someone with zero international experience and a history of poor choices where personal and professional relationships are concerned.

I believe in opportunity – not entitlement.

I believe in equality – not supremacy.

I believe in right and wrong – not “it’s OK if I make money or don’t hurt anybody too bad…”

I believe in something for my grandkids – not live for today and to hell with tomorrow.

I believe in the vision of our founding fathers – a strong country – free – with opportunity for anyone that wants it – and little government interference.

While there are many who say that this is not a race issue – it most certainly is a race issue. Many of my friends are voting for Obama because he is black and not because he is the best man for the job.

Think about where we are today with respect to our social progress… in my lifetime, I have seen segregation and the end of segregation.. I have seen women and blacks of every description and ability rise to the top of every single thing you can name – except the presidency of the country – Yes, sports.. remember Jackie Robinson? When he broke into baseball, there were no blacks in ANY sport… How about business? Some of the richest and most successful people in the country are women and blacks (Oprah ring a bell?)… Carli Forino – pres of Hewlitt Packard… Xerox.. another lady… and then there is Wall Street – look around you and see what has happened in the last 50 years – think about the FACT that the vast majority of WHITE people in this country are leading the charge to encourage people of all races, sexes, and abilities to succeed – or at least try!

Over the next 50 years – where will we be? Mired in government disasters? Up to our armpits in government debt (that we will never be able to repay)? Will out dollar be strong or weak because our government has debased the value of our currency?

What will our legacy be for our children and grandchildren?... Losses of freedoms to more and more government programs telling us what we can and can’t do? (Look at the mess that government interference has made of our schools… lack of discipline, teachers loss of authority, loss of decision on what will or can be taught… I may be wrong, but it seems to me that almost every time the government gets involved in some part of our lives, we pay a price for their “assistance” AND money! The money comes with strings.. you can’t do this, you can’t do that, you have to bus children to hell and back for whatever reason… any of that make any sense? How about just making EVERY school a good school and not allowing the lawyers and nuts to run a program that is so important to our children?

For what we are spending in busing, we could build and staff new schools and new programs for students with problems AND special abilities… But, the inmates DO NOT get to run the asylum… disruptive students DO NOT get to stay… DO NOT get to threaten teachers (or other pupils), DO NOT bring their gang crap to school…. You get the picture? When I went to school (in Philadelphia for starters) the worst possible situation was to be sent home (never mind suspended etc.) Parents did not look kindly on children that were not respectful and courteous to their teachers… “once upon a time”… We need that time back…

Teachers teach. Teachers are held to standards. Students are held to standards. This is the future of our country and you get out what you put in… or as we say in accounting, “garbage in – garbage out”.

Please – President of the United States is far too important a job to vote for someone on the basis of weather he (or she) is a nice person or not. Certainly not because he or she is white or black. And most certainly not because he or she is republican or democrat.

We live in dangerous times and you can’t look back and say, “Gee, I wish I hadn’t done that” after a terrorist nuclear bomb blows up New York city or Philadelphia… That is reality – not wishful thinking.

Finally, we are not talking about George Bush – he is out of the office in January next year. That is the end of his mess. Bad decisions, bad judgment, bad economics, and bad policy where our dependence on foreign oil and money is concerned. Yes, that is George Bush’s legacy.

Now, we must – MUST – carefully and thoughtfully examine each candidate. We must carefully consider each candidate’s position on matters of extreme importance to our country’s future. “Change” without specifics of what kind of change is dangerous. Do we need “change”? Damn right we do. We need to stop deficit spending, we need to tell the Russians and Iranians that we will blow their silly asses off if they continue to threaten the US and the rest of the world. We need to stop supporting dictators and other despots. We need to tell Hugo Chavez and others of his like that if they threaten their neighbors, they are toast. We need to tell the worthless UN that we are out of there and they can support their own anti US programs with somebody else’s money…

Hard? Yep, any time you make a decision, it is hard. Nothing is black and white – everything is shades of gray….

What about the environment? My thought is a program like JFK’s back in the 60’s… we WILL be energy independent by 2015 – period. A national program that involves all of us. Our leaders, our industry, our scientists, and each of us individually… National purpose… what is our national purpose now? Grab everything you can get for yourself and to hell with everybody else? Seems that way in Congress… Do we need to drill everywhere there is oil… absolutely – Do we need alternative sources of energy – absolutely. Do we need conservation – absolutely. Do we need more wind, nuclear, and solar sources of energy – absolutely.

Do we need clean beaches, clean air, clean water… absolutely.

Do we need the government telling us or doing the whole job for us? – not in this lifetime.

The role of government – and the leaders in government – is to “LEAD”… outline the goals, supply incentives, mobilize the people and monitor progress – reporting to the people on progress as time goes on so that you and I can feel that our efforts are making a difference.

Well Pam, got on my soapbox again… sorry about that… just that I care deeply about this country and its future. No offense about Sen. Obama, but he is not the person for the job right now.

As always, please feel free to disagree with me or argue your views… and yes, before you ask, you can use this in your blog etc. if you want to…lol…you know me, I get passionate about the country and politics.

John

I'm not giving up on John but I doubt that any speech by a Democratic politician is going to get his attention. John needs to hear from everyday, working people who share his concerns but recognize that the answers are not coming from the GOP.

Back to the convention. One of the speeches that really got the crowd going was delivered by Governor Brian Schweitzer (D-MT). Who is this guy? He's great. Can you saw "petro-dictators"?






Finally, no one, not even her detractors, can deny that last night Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered the best speech of her political career. Now THAT was Hillary's voice.

And yes, I did cry again.