An open letter to voters:

This is what a U.S. President ought to sound like:

I'm a doctor, and I was proud to be governor of Vermont, where we balanced our budgets, where we made sure every single child in our state had health insurance, where we are proud to be stewards of our natural resources, where we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all are created equal, that all are endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And where we, like all Americans, love our country and want our flag to stand for freedom and justice for all. And where our flag is not the property of either party, that flag belongs to every single American.

We seek the Great Restoration Of American Values. I'm tired of being divided. I don't want to listen to the fundamentalist preachers anymore. I want an America that looks like America, where we're all included, hand in hand, black and white, gay and straight, man and woman. America! Stand up for America!

We seek to build a community of millions. And strengthen the voice of our people. And like the founders of the Republic, we seek change. I ask all Americans, regardless of party, to meet with me across this nation to come together in common cause to forge a new American century. Help us in the quest for a return to greatness and a return to high moral purpose to the United States Of America.

The truth is, the future of our country lies in your hands not mine. You have the power to reclaim our nation's destiny. You have the power to rid Washington of the politics of money. You have the power to make right just as important as might. You have the power to give America a reason to vote again. You have the power to restore our nation to fiscal sanity and bring jobs back to our people. You have the power to take back the Democratic party. You have the power to take our country back. And you have the power to take the White House back in 2004. You have the power!

Download the remix. Read the speech. Think. Does that sound like the usual empty rhetoric you usually hear from politicians? Are you happy with what professional politicians have been doing with your money and your country in recent decades?

Listen. Read. Think. Vote. Use your power.

Thank you.

Note: As mentioned below, Musclehead also quoted from this remix in a post yesterday, and I originally saw some of these lyrics printed in a comment on Blog for America.

Posted 06:57 AM | election 2004

From the Frothy Lips

Musclehead, who beat me to the next post about the "Faulkner Remix", has been thinking out loud a little about Howard Dean. It's nice when people acknowledge the quality and value of Dean's message, but it's incredible to hear the news recently with so many people saying things like this: "I like what Dean has to say and the fact that he breathed life back into a Democratic party that seemed to be in something like a terminal coma, but now that all the candidates have adopted his best ideas, I'm supporting Kerry (or Edwards)."

How does that work? Why? Dean's got the best message, but we're going to vote for someone else?

Dean's message is the antidote to the politics of the last 25 or 30 years where citizens have been reduced to passive recipients of a "message" and where the only thing that's asked of them is a check and a vote. Kerry's asking people to be consumers—to consume his campaign, just like they consume their fast food dinner and their new outfit from the mall. A campaign like Kerry's offers absolutely nothing new, nothing that we haven't seen a dozen times before in Democratic campaigns. Dean, on the other hand, is all about making a new start, doing things differently, better. Dean's asking people to stand up, to work for change, to make things happen for themselves. Is that what people are afraid of? Do people support someone like Kerry because he says nice things but asks nothing from them other than for their vote (and maybe some cash)?

I don't know. But I do know that not all of Dean's supporters tend to shoot from the "frothy lips," and neither does Dean (at least not all the time). The Dean tent has never included only "Bush-bashers" or "radicals"; there's always been and there remains an abundance of room for the many moderates and centrists out there. Read the Blog for America comments and you'll see a lot of this, especially recently.

Here's a theory: So long as Democrats shy away from the passion and the vigorous activism that many of Dean's supporters have shown in this campaign, the Democrats will lose to those who have embraced passion and who have far more money and resources than Democrats -- the Republican far right and corporate America.

Just a theory...

Posted 06:53 AM | Comments (2) | election 2004