If I spoke at this year’s Democratic convention
Good evening, Denver! Thank you for the honor of speaking before you tonight at the Democratic National Convention here in this beautiful city. And thank you for not killing me when you realized I was a registered member of the Green Party.
Anyway, I’m not here to immediately put your party down and sabotage the great work people like Michelle Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Joe Biden and the noble statesman from Ohio, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, have done throughout this convention. I’m not here to spread great praise to your party either, when your party’s leadership has made great mistakes as of late.
The main mission I hope to accomplish in this speech is to remind Democrats, from a delegate in Maine to your nominee Sen. Barack Obama, that just applying yourself to the middle of the political spectrum will not do anything to change the direction of this country. It will only breed more divisiveness between liberals and moderates across the country and fuel the perception that there are no differences between the Democratic nominee and the Republican nominee for president. Moments like your capitulation on the new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amendments last month or Karl Rove thumbing his nose at the authority of the House Judiciary Committee without punishment does not help to alleviate these concerns.
You must show that you will stand up for your beliefs and who you are as you provide people of all stripes a functioning economy and universal health care and help the country on its way to becoming energy independent. We saw it with Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 when he said, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people,” as he campaigned for the presidency. We see it on TV, where broadcasters like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are rewarded with fame and fortune for speaking the honest truth.
Am I saying that you must forego the tool of compromise and disregard trying to find a middle ground with Republicans on crucial pieces of legislation? No. That’s a vital part of governing in this country and getting things done. But why have party names if we always give into the whims of the other party? Too many times, I’ve seen Democrats do exactly this to foolhardy Republican plans like the PATRIOT Act and with banking deregulation legislation in the late 1990s that has fueled our economic hardship today.
Starting tonight, take a stand for the liberal beliefs and get these two great gentlemen, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, to the White House. Four more years of failed Republican policies that have driven this country further and further down the sinkhole are something this country cannot afford. And when your work culminates with the election of the first black president in our nation’s history, don’t forget the energy buzzing through you right now. Fight for truth and justice and never be ashamed to be a liberal.
Thank you, good night!
Brian Ault is a columnist for The Nevada Sagebrush. He can be reached at editor@nevadasagebrush.com
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September 3rd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Green Party, eh? You morons will be responsible for an increase in metal coat hangar sales to teenage girls in the next decade if Nadar doesn’t get his flabby ass out of the race.