Tuesday, May 22, 2007

This Is How We Do It #8- Moral Imperatives and Responsibilities

This is the last of the "This is how we do it" posts. Again, if anybody has any questions about anything seen in these posts, please contact me at matthewcarnold@gmail.com.

#8- Responsibility

The Republican Party represents bad values. They have the most effective campaign mechanisms ever known and I am openly jealous of that. But they govern atrociously, and that’s what affects lives. Conservative values hurt people. Governor Barbour has tried to take away healthcare for the sick and the infirm, he stopped legislation that would have made milk cheaper for children, and he has continually engaged in nepotism, feathering the nests of those who share his last name at the expense of the Mississippi family. There is no better example of what Republicans do when they are given the opportunity to govern.

As standard bearers for the Democratic party, which at this point is the only opposition to these incredible forces of greed, you have an obligation to win. You owe it to the staff and volunteers that invest themselves in you. You owe it to the party, from Gov. Dean to your local county chair, that invests its resources in you. You owe it to yourself to leave it on the field. You owe it to the tax payers of Mississippi, for whom you are probably the only reliable hope. Our party is on a precipice. If we falter here, we’ll suffer through two, maybe three election cycles of bad policy and corrupt government. Twelve years in the woods- an entire public education. You have a responsibility to win. Go do it.

Much love to Gene O for reposting, linking, and commenting on these at Sociable Loner .

4 comments:

  1. This is wonderful stuff. Democratic candidates really must "leave it on the field" because our very future is at stake this election cycle. No half measures allowed.

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  2. So true. Also it is where we meet people and make those connections that build loyalty and more importantly hope and change.

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  3. Well said. I would only alter it by replacing "Republican Party" with "conservative". The whole point of conservative governance is to:
    Maintain the power and priveleges of traditional aristocrats/elites
    Reduce the power of everyone else, especially where it impinges on the power of aristocracs/elites
    Use the press and the pulpit to portray aristocratic/elite privilege and power as the "natural order" and "divine right"

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  4. Jon Wright is a friend of mine who lectured me pretty extensively today on the following idea concerning what HOC said:

    " There's a reason these people (southerners) fall in line, and it's completely genetic. The people who settled New England were people who were sick of the old rules and the old social order. They came to the new world to make a better way. They had town hall meetings and direct democracies going back to the 1600s. The people who settled the south, particularly in Virginia and Georgia were displaced nobility. They had been low on the food chain in England, but they received estates increased their wealth in exchange for coming to govern in the territories. The original settlers were people who fell in line and it's been run like a plantation ever since. And the rest of the country has had to drag them kicking and screaming for 300 years. "

    And given that I have a tendency to buy anything that makes sense in an evolutionary context, I like this idea a lot.

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