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November
3, 2008
Dr. Tiffany B. Twain, a
Concerned American
(The original Personal
Plea of Nov. 4, 2006 is appended below)
A Personal Plea for Voter Sanity
My fellow Americans,
President Abraham Lincoln said in his famous
Gettysburg Address that our Founding Fathers “brought forth, upon this
continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.” Our
visionary forefathers had committed the United States to principles of
democratic fairness, unalienable citizens’ rights, limited government
intrusiveness, fair representation of the people, strong checks and balances in
government to protect against the tyranny of federal authority, and an
overriding concern for the general welfare and the public good.
The primary evolution of our society and government
over the past 200 years has been PROGRESSIVE.
Voting rights have expanded from white males to blacks (1870), and then
to women (1920), and then to young people between the ages of 18 and 21 (1971). Similarly, a progressive expansion of rights
has taken place in many other arenas including educational opportunity, workers’
rights, social security, civil rights, and protections of public health,
consumer safety and the environment.
In the past 8 years, however, right-wing
conservatives have gained control of our government and worked ruthlessly
to reverse these progressive trends.
They have hijacked the GOP so that it can scarcely be called the ‘Grand
Old Party’ any more. They have advanced
a seriously and cynically retrogressive agenda by exploiting religious
fundamentalism and capitalizing on anger and fear in the wake of the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001.
Under Republican rule, policies have been enacted
that make the rich richer and eroded the fortunes of the middle class and the
working class and the poor. The number
of people living in poverty has increased, health insurance has gotten less
affordable, and education and housing and food and energy have become
significantly more expensive. Worker
and consumer protections have been weakened.
The rights and freedoms of the American people have been reduced. Deregulation has put workers and retirees
and investors at greater risk. Resources
have been misallocated. Bloody
‘preemptive’ wars have been launched on Iraq and Afghanistan. Reason and scientific knowledge have been
assaulted in favor of ideological dogmas and blind faith. And the environment has been ruthlessly and unsustainably
exploited. These outcomes are the
result of shortsighted and cold-hearted mercenary doctrines and abuses of power,
NOT compassionate fairness or intelligent foresight.
The Republican Party has divided Americans using
hot-button social issues. They have
misled us, stoked our insecurities and manipulated social conservatives and the
religious right into supporting their narrow agendas. They have
pandered to special privilege and corrupt corporatism. They have instituted cronyism and less-regulated
capitalism. They have stoked narrow
partisanship and harsh anti-progressivism and ruthless aggression in foreign
policies. They have done this to enrich
themselves and greedy interests at the public’s expense. And they have stubbornly refused to admit
mistakes, or to allow sensible oversight, or to be held accountable
for their actions.
Abuses of power and privilege have transformed the
GOP into a party that principally represents unfairness, inequality, misguided
priorities, inflexible ideology, deceitful spin, unethical profiteering,
aggressive militarism, exploitive opportunism, intrusive Big
Brother government, profligate consumerism, fiscally irresponsible
borrow-and-spend expediencies, patriarchal domination, intolerant religious
fundamentalism, and ecological shortsightedness. YIKES!!! We must reject
this GOP and send them back to do some soul searching to find true common good
goals and not just fake populism and deceptive manipulation.
The national elections of November 4, 2008 must
become a watershed event in world history, one in which we Americans choose
progress, fair representation, honesty, unity, hope, and Golden Rule democratic
ideals. Let us soundly reject the domination
of our Executive offices by the Republican Party and embark on a new course
that embraces common good progressivism, sustainable initiatives, expanded
fairness, clean elections, ecological vision, and positive incentives for saner
behaviors.
The GOP has betrayed the public's trust and largely
abandoned honesty, fairness, good governance, intelligent far-sightedness,
balanced budgets, ethical sensibility, healthy community, international
diplomacy, peaceful coexistence, and the interests of the common good. They have embraced an ideology that holds
that the best way to achieve prosperity is to stimulate inequalities and reduce
the organizing influence of workers.
They act as if peace can be best achieved NOT by using diplomacy and increasing
social justice, but rather by using aggression, militarism, shock and awe
bombing, troop surges, hard-nosed intolerance, vindictive retribution,
oppression, harsh prisoner interrogations, and authoritarian domestic and
foreign policies that are severely exploitive, nationalistic and supremacist.
Once we reject Republican dominance, we must demand
revolutionary reform of BOTH parties, because the fact of the matter is that
politicians in both political parties are corrupted by Big Money and short-term
oriented goals. This is how our system
works; and this is why we need
far-reaching reforms. We must alter our
economic and political systems to mitigate influence peddling, and to make our
economy and democracy fairer and more just, more honest, more intelligently
focused, less militaristic and more sustainable. And we must once and for all make sure that there is a strong
separation of Church and State, so that reactionary religious fundamentalism
does not impose its anti-democratic, conflict-engendering, terrorist
emboldening, free-choice eliminating, retrogressive dogmas upon the American
citizenry.
We must begin to pay-as-we-go, and even pay
forward some good deeds by investing in communities and infrastructure and
well-being, rather than giving rich people tax breaks and pandering to socially
irresponsible corporate demands. We
must begin to consume sustainably. We must encourage a new energy
regime to replace the desperate drilling for oil and the mountaintop removal
coal mining for dirty fossil fuels that are costing us so dearly in financial,
geopolitical and ecological terms. And
we must boldly begin to respect the best interests of the general welfare
and future generations, not merely the interests of power-obsessed and
money-driven elites in the short-term.
These are just a few of the ideas that we need to
think about to create
healthier communities, fairer institutions, and more sane societies --- and to
generally ensure a better destiny for our descendants. The Earth Manifesto at www.EarthManifesto.com contains an
extensive and detailed list of such visionary initiatives; see “PART III. Overarching
Considerations --- Transformational Ideas and Wonkish Enlightenment.”
This section of the Earth Manifesto contains two vitally
important documents that could serve as an essential social,
economic, ecological and political platform for our species. The first is the “One Dozen Big Initiatives
to Positively Transform Our Societies” and the “Progressive Agenda for a More
Sane Humanity”.
Please be sure to vote on Tuesday, November 4, 2008
--- and to vote for progressive values and progressive candidates. Barack Obama is by far the best choice!
Thanks for your consideration.
Truly,
Tiffany
B. Twain, Doctor of Philosophy
SaveTruffulaTrees@hotmail.com
www.EarthManifesto.com
November 4, 2006
A Personal Plea for Voter
Sanity
My fellow Americans,
Abraham Lincoln said in
his famous Gettysburg Address that our Founding Fathers “brought forth, upon
this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.”
Our visionary forefathers committed the United States to principles of
democratic fairness, unalienable citizens’ rights, limited government
intrusiveness, fair representation of the people, governmental “checks and
balances” to protect against federal authoritarian tyranny, and an overriding
concern for the general welfare and the public good.
The primary evolution
of our society and government over the past 200 years has been
PROGRESSIVE. Voting rights have
expanded from white males to blacks, and then to women, and then to young
people between the ages of 18 and 21.
Similarly, a progressive expansion has taken place in many arenas,
including educational opportunity, workers’ rights, social security, civil
rights, and protections of public health, consumer safety and the environment.
But in the past 5
years, right-wing conservatives have gained control of our government and
worked ruthlessly to reverse these progressive trends. They have hijacked the GOP so that it can
scarcely be called the ‘Grand Old Party’ any more. They have advanced a seriously and cynically retrogressive
agenda by capitalizing on anger and fear in the wake of the terrible attacks of
9/11/01.
Under Republican rule,
the rich have gotten richer, the fortunes of the middle class have diminished,
the number of people living in poverty has increased, health insurance has
gotten less affordable, education and housing have become significantly more
expensive, worker and consumer protections have been reduced, the rights and
freedoms of Americans have been eroded, resources have been misallocated,
bloody ‘preemptive’ wars have been launched on Iraq and Afghanistan, reason and
scientific knowledge have been assaulted in favor of ideological dogmas and
blind faith, and the environment has been exploited unsustainably. These outcomes are the result of
shortsighted and cold-hearted mercenary doctrines, NOT compassionate fairness.
The Republican Party
has divided Americans using hot-button social issues. They have misled us, stoked our insecurities and manipulated
social conservatives and the religious right into supporting their narrow
agendas. They have pandered to special privilege, corrupt
corporatism, cronyism, less regulated capitalism, narrow partisanship, harsh
anti-progressivism, and ruthless aggression in foreign policies. They have done this to enrich themselves and
greedy interests at the public’s expense.
And they have stubbornly refused to admit mistakes, allow sensible
oversight, or be held accountable for their actions.
Abuses of power and
privilege have transformed the GOP into a party that principally represents
unfairness, inequality, misguided priorities, inflexible ideology, deceitful
spin, unethical profiteering, aggressive militarism, exploitive
opportunism, intrusive Big Brother government, profligate
consumerism, fiscally irresponsible borrow-and-spend fiscal expediencies,
patriarchal domination, intolerant religious fundamentalism, and ecological
shortsightedness. YIKES!!!
The GOP has betrayed
the public's trust and largely abandoned honesty, fairness, good government,
intelligent far-sightedness, balanced budgets, ethical sensibility,
healthy community, international diplomacy, peaceful coexistence, and the
interests of the common good. They have
embraced an ideology that holds that the best means to achieve prosperity is to
stimulate inequalities and repress workers.
They act as if peace can best be achieved NOT by using diplomacy and
increasing social justice, but rather by using aggression, militarism, shock
and awe bombing, troop surges, hard-nosed intolerance, vindictive retribution,
oppression, prisoner torture, authoritarianism and foreign policies that are
severely exploitive, nationalistic and supremacist.
The national elections
of November 7th, 2006 could be a watershed event in world
history. If we Americans choose to
reject the domination of Congress by the Republican Party, we could embark on a
new course that embraces common good progressivism, sustainable initiatives,
Golden Rule fairness, clean elections, and positive incentives for saner
behaviors.
Once we re-establish a
balanced two-party system by rejecting Republican dominance, we must demand
revolutionary reform of BOTH parties, because the fact of the matter is that
politicians in both political parties are corrupted by Big Money and short-term
oriented goals.
We must alter our
economic and political systems to mitigate influence peddling, and to make our
economy and democracy fairer, more just, more honest, more intelligently
focused, less militaristic and more sustainable.
We must begin to
pay-as-we-go, and even pay forward some good deeds by investing in
communities and infrastructure and well-being, rather than giving rich people
tax breaks and pandering to socially irresponsible corporate demands. We must begin to consume
sustainably. And we must boldly begin to respect the best interests
of the general welfare and future generations, not merely the interests of
power-obsessed elites in the short-term.
Please be sure to vote
on Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 --- and to vote for progressive
values and progressive candidates.
Thanks for your
consideration.
Dr. Tiffany B. Twain, a Concerned
American
November 4, 2006
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