So sue me. I think that Gaza should be free and that it is an injustice to remove people from their homes and put someone there in their place, no matter what the politics are. I believe that peaceful solutions should be tried before any military action is taken and that countries shouldn't start a war for purely national gain. I support our troops. I think women should be allowed to choose and I think that murder, all murder, is wrong. I believe in second chances, but I also believe that you have to earn your second chance. I believe that every person on earth has value because they are a human being. I believe that you can't own a human being, you can't pay for a human being and that you have no right to make anyone feel like they are worth less than anyone else. I don't know about money and market systems, but I know we, as Americans, have a lot (and a lot of debt) and that we don't all share. I know that we waste and I think that we should all recycle, we should all drink out of reusable water bottles, we should pass lighting ordinances to save money and save the stars, and I know that we have to find and use something other than oil to make our world go round. I'm not a vegetarian, I think the drinking age should be lowered to 18 at least, and that you should support the arts.
I don't know what values America was founded on- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Equality (of white male property holders)? Freedom? I watched a video bringing that to my attention, and I have to admit, I don't have a canonical answer for what America stands for. The speaker referenced this speech by Lincoln and I'm going to re-post that version because it is worth reading. I agree with our 16th president: "It is not 'can any of us imagine better?' but, 'can we all do better?'"
Annual Message to Congress --
Concluding Remarks
Washington, D.C.
December 1, 1862
One month before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln sent a long message to Congress which was largely routine, but also proposed controversial measures such as voluntary colonization of slaves and compensated emancipation.
Lincoln devoted so much attention to preparing the message that his friend David Davis said, "Mr. Lincoln's whole soul is absorbed in his plan of remunerative emancipation." The concluding paragraphs shown below demonstrate Lincoln's passion for this plan and contain some of the most famous statements he ever wrote. Composer Aaron Copeland used excerpts in his evocative "Lincoln Portrait."
I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magistrate of the nation. Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have more experience than I, in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will perceive no want of respect yourselves, in any undue earnestness I may seem to display.
Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it doubted that it would restore the national authority and national prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we here--Congress and Executive--can secure its adoption? Will not the good people respond to a united, and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any other means, so certainly, or so speedily, assure these vital objects? We can succeed only by concert. It is not "can any of us imagine better?" but, "can we all do better?" The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We -- even we here -- hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just -- a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.
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