For the last couple of years, politicians like Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman, and the like have suggested that being a citizen of this country was to a certain extent about character. And although I have been willing to engage in their attacks on people like me now and then, I've been here for thirty one years, and I can tell you without hesitation, being a citizen of this country, is entirely about character.
For the record: yes, I am planning on becoming a card-carrying member of the ACLU like so many other Liberals, but the more important question is, 'Why aren't they?' Now this is an organization, whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: 'Why would a Congressperson or a Governor, their party's most powerful spokespeople and candidates for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution?' Now if you can answer that question folks, then you're smarter than I am, because I still can't fully figure that one out.
America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center-stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his or her right to burn that flag in protest." Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.
I've heard the right-wings shtick for years, and I'd been operating under the assumption that the reason they devote so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that they simply didn't get it. Well I was wrong, their problem isn't that they don't get it; their problem is that they can't sell it. We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, the right-wing is not the least bit interested in solving it. They are interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.
You gather a group of middle-age, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time and you talk to them about family and, American values and character, and you wave an old Bible around and you scream about patriotism, you tell them that God hates anyone who doesn’t think like them and that those of us on the left are to blame for their lot in life.
We Liberals have done nothing to you, right-wingers. We have done nothing, but put ourselves through school, represent the interests of public school teachers, fight for the middle class, and lobby for the safety of our work places and our natural resources. You want a character debate? You better start with your own reflections, because we Liberals are way out of your league.
We've got serious problems, and we need serious people to solve them. And if you want to talk about character, you better come at us with more than a burning flag and membership cards. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when and I'll show up. This is a time for serious people, right-wing, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name is Mr Liberal, I AM an American citizen and I AM THE 99%!
(This Blog is a rewording of the speech given by Michael Douglas in the film 'The American President. I hold no ownership of the original wording, only the edits.)
