[lit-ideas] Re: Need some help...

  • From: "Stan Spiegel" <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 01:20:08 -0400

Hi John - That was beautifully said. You said it better than Kerry could.

Stan Spiegel
nauseous with worry
in Portland, Maine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John McCreery" <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 10:38 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Need some help...


> Marlena,
>
> Not a direct response to your query. But if you want something to send=20=
>
> to your relatives, feel free to use either of the following.
>
> (1-Written by an author in Japan)
>
> What will John Kerry's election mean to Americans living abroad?
>
> The obvious answer is straightforward, a feeling of immense
relief.=A0It=20=
>
> will be simply and truly wonderful not having to cringe every time a=20
> non-US citizen friend mentions the Bush administration and asks about=20
> its arbitrarily walking away from international treaties, the missing=20
> weapons of mass destruction, the missing link between Iraq and Al=20
> Qaeda, the pictures from Abu Ghraib, the memos from administration=20
> lawyers claiming that the President may authorize torture and decide=20
> arbitrarily who is or is not an "enemy combatant," or-from the
business=20=
>
> minded-the fiscal insanity that is putting the whole global economy at=20=
>
> risk.
>
> Along with that relief, there will also be a feeling of hope. John=20
> Kerry is an internationalist and an advocate of free trade. He has
also=20=
>
> been a staunch defender of the natural environment and a vigorous=20
> advocate for ending both US and global dependence on the world's=20
> dwindling petroleum resources. Women will rest assured that this=20
> President will be a staunch defender of reproductive rights and very=20
> unlikely, indeed, to appoint Supreme Court or other Federal judges who=20=
>
> would threaten those rights. Educators will know that this President=20
> will not cynically support a program named "Leave No Child Behind,"=20
> brag about it in his campaign speeches, then deliberately cut the=20
> funding for it, leaving schools facing new demands without the=20
> resources to meet them and forcing school districts to seek increases=20
> in property taxes or cut other programs.
>
> Military personnel will know that John Kerry won't wrap himself in the=20=
>
> flag, waste taxpayers' money on carrier landing publicity stunts to=20
> announce the end of an unended war, accuse his opponents of failing to=20=
>
> support the troops-then turn around and slash veterans' benefits. They=20=
>
> may recognize, too, that here is a genuine hero, who went deliberately=20=
>
> in harm's way to save the life of a soldier for whom he felt=20
> responsible, and a man with the good sense to recognize when a war has=20=
>
> gone wrong and speak out against it. ("Treason!" shout his enemies.=20
> "Tell it to Generals Clark, McPeak, Odom, and Zinni," say his friends.)
>
> Members of the business community will also have reason for optimism.=20
> Instead of an administration with ideological blindfolds and a=20
> President Bush described by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill as=20
> impervious to rational argument, even from members of his own
party-the=20=
>
> deaf leading the blind-they will, instead, be able to work with a=20
> thoughtful pragmatist. President Kerry will know the difference
between=20=
>
> strong convictions tempered by awareness of changing realities and=20
> blind faith in divine election.
>
> Make no mistake about it: the problems that face the world=20
> today-terrorism, ethnic conflict, genocide, epidemic disease,=20
> environmental destruction, depleted resources, and the awful poverty=20
> that affects more than half of humanity-will not go away on the day=20
> that John Kerry is inaugurated as America's forty-fourth president.
But=20=
>
> Americans living in Japan will, like people everywhere, enjoy a=20
> rekindled hope-the hope that America will, indeed, "be America again."
>
> =A0
>
> John L. McCreery
>
> International Vice Chair
>
> Democrats Abroad
>
> (2-Written by an author in Mexico)
>
> Why vote for John Kerry?=A0 What difference will it make?
>
> =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0  By Alexsi Currier
>
> =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0  In one sense the honest answer to that =
> question is that it=20
> will probably not make a lot of difference. If you can envision the=20
> United States of America as a mighty ocean going liner, it is obvious=20
> that we are already underway, on a set course, with a full head of=20
> steam. There is a lot of momentum behind us. Even after the election
we=20=
>
> will still be plowing through the carnage of the Iraq quagmire, the=20
> spiraling deficit, the stagnant economy, and the dwindling=20
> affordability of adequate health care. So in this one sense the=20
> election won=92t make all that much difference. Yet in another sense =
> this=20
> election will make all the difference in the world, because it will=20
> decide who is at the helm, who controls the rudder, and who sets and=20
> steers the course.
>
>   =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0  This contest for command of our Ship of =
> State is not just a=20
> choice between two helmsmen. It is not just a choice of Bush or Kerry.=20=
>
> It is a contest between two crews, two different views, and two=20
> radically differing ideologies. In illustrative simplification it is
at=20=
>
> its root a struggle between the rich and the poor, the powerful and
the=20=
>
> powerless, wealth and the commonwealth. It is the choice between=20
> government of the people, by the rich, and for the rich, or government=20=
>
> of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is a battle=20
> between the rights of wealth and the Bill of Rights, between money as=20
> the entitlement to rule and rule through the entitlement of the=20
> constitution.
>
> =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0  John Kerry is a rich man, but he is more =
> than that, and that=20
> is the difference that makes all the difference. He is an American who=20=
>
> believes in the commonwealth of our country. He volunteered to fight
as=20=
>
> a common man with the common men of this country. When he returned he=20
> had the backbone to call the powerful of his land to recognize the=20
> hell, horror, and hopelessness that the Vietnam War had become.=A0
>
>   =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0  Now he volunteers again to fight for his =
> country. He fights=20
> to restore the American ideal of proportionate taxation.=A0 No longer=20
> shall the rich be given millions in tax cuts, so that they can turn=20
> around and loan the money back again to the government at interest to=20
> cover the deficit caused by the loss of the taxes that they used to=20
> pay. No longer shall the little guy be taxed to pay the interest on
the=20=
>
> national debt created by giving tax cuts to the rich.
>
> =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0  Again today he fights to wrest the helm of =
> the Ship of State=20
> to steer us back into the family of nations, by working with the
United=20=
>
> Nations, joining in the treaties on the environment, and respecting
the=20=
>
>   Geneva Conventions. He offers himself to represent the wishes of all=20=
>
> Americans to see that our service men and women are justly paid and=20
> benefited for their sacrifices. He volunteers to contest the
entrenched=20=
>
> medical and pharmaceutical powers to assure healthcare for all our=20
> citizens.
>
>   =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0  So does a vote for Kerry make any =
> difference? Yes! It does!=20
> It makes a tremendous, dramatic, difference because it turns the wheel=20=
>
> of our great Ship of State toward an international war on terror and=20
> the causes of that evil; poverty, disease, injustice, and
exploitation.=20=
>
> It veers us away from concentrating the wealth among the few and takes=20=
>
> a tack back toward sharing the wealth among all Americans. Simply
said:=20=
>
> It sets a course toward restoring to us a government of the people, by=20=
>
> the people, and for the people.=A0=A0
>
> <end of article>
>
> Cheers,=A0=A0=A0=A0
>
> John
>
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