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Why You Should Vote For Me
Mark A. Goldman                                                                    Dated:  8/11/08

Why should you vote for me?  …Because the pen really is mightier than the sword; because love really is more powerful than fear; and because the truth will protect our freedoms while lies will continue to steal them away.  …Because our national penchant for war will rob us of our wealth and humanity, whereas a legitimate commitment to justice and peace will enrich our lives and restore our faith in ourselves as freedom loving people.   …Because democracy requires all of us to have courage and integrity, especially those we elect to high office.  Without a commitment to simple honesty and integrity, there will be no peace, no prosperity, no justice, and no real freedom in the land.  

I understand that many Americans are ignorant with respect to the many ways we have been betrayed by our own government and other institutions… including both political parties and much of our media.  And by our complacency we have betrayed one another.   Moral courage in public life has been diminished, particularly in Congress.    

At the inception of our republic, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams worried that one of the great dangers we faced — a danger that could above all else destroy our new republic — were ‘factions.’  Today we refer to them as political parties.  You might remember Ben Franklin’s admonition when asked what kind of government he had helped create.  “A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it,” was his reply. What Jefferson, Adams and Franklin feared most is the question that is immediately before us… “Well… can we keep it?”   

The culture in Congress now is that members give allegiance to their party above their country… above their oath of office.  They follow their party’s leadership above their own good sense.  Almost all do. And money corrupts the process at its core.  Even as the Commander-in-Chief engages in war crimes and other High Crimes and Misdemeanors, they keep silent, betraying their oath and our trust… so as not to risk the possibility of reprisals from their own party, the opposition party, or who knows what.   

While our young soldiers face the heat of battle risking their lives and limbs, which many tragically lose, those in Congress shrink from battle, selling out untold numbers of human beings including their own constituents, rather than risk losing their seniority, their source of funding, or their jobs.   

We must retire them even if we refuse to judge them.  If you don’t want to vote for me, at least have the decency to vote for someone you believe in your heart will keep their oath of office once they get elected.  For if we cannot restore the rule of law and keep faith with our Founding Fathers, then as far as our republic is concerned, we will have lost it.   

Now is the time to experience that it’s possible for one person to make a difference.  Who is that person?  You.  Vote on the 19th.   Vote with integrity.

 

 

 

 

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