A few years ago, about 2009, I saw a video in which a guy was on the floor of Congress giving a speech. What he said floored me, and many others.
He said something close to "The Republican plan for healthcare has two planks. The first one is "don't get sick." The second is, "if you do get sick, die quickly." I can't tell you how much I loved that speech. Finally, someone with the brains and the balls to say that the emperor has no clothes. Someone to finally call out the GOP on at least some of their bullshite.
If you have never seen the video, click here. It'll be the best 2:27 minutes you've spent in a long time.
Like most of you, I get too many email solicitations from the candidates and causes I support. Most just transparently try to hitch their wagon to some piece of news and or outrage. Once you click to open the email, they hit you up for some cash. I understand, I get it and I support most of them, most of the time. However, every once in a while, I get something that's really worthwhile, like this...
A month ago, at the Florida Democratic Party Convention, Congressman Alan Grayson gave this moving speech on the Democratic Party's strategy for 2014:
[Let me tell you] what our strategy is, [what the strategy of] the Democratic Party will be, for next year. Reach into your pocket. Take out a coin, any coin, and you'll see our strategy for next year.
Every coin in America says this: "E Pluribus Unum" - out of many, one.
Look to the person to one side of you. Go ahead. [He or she is] not exactly the same as you, unless you happen to be twins.
Look to the person on the other side of you. Again, not exactly the same as you.
Out of many, one. That is our strategy. Because the Democratic Party is not the White Party, nor is it the Black Party. The Democratic Party is not the Straight Party, nor is it the Gay Party. The Democratic Party is not the Party of Men, nor is it the Party of Women. The Democratic Party is not the Party of English Speakers, nor is it the Party of Spanish Speakers.
The Democratic Party is the Party of All.
Now there are still, even at this point in the year 2013, people who hate the ones who are different from them.
Hate them; despise them; abhor them.
They're still in our midst. There are people who think our differences are something to overcome.
I disagree. I don't think our differences are something to be tolerated. I think our differences are something to be cherished.
The things that make us special are not the things that make us the same. They are the things that make us different from each other. And we should cherish those things.
And that is our secret going into the 2014 election. And in the 2014 election, because we are the Party of Everyone, we will take back the U.S. House of Representatives. We will take back the Governor's mansion, and we will turn this State blue.
We will set a new standard for public life and for private life - a standard where we enjoy our differences. Not where we hate each other, not where we fear each other, but where we say to each other on -- our left and on our right, on both sides of us (go ahead, turn to the person next to you): "I respect you; I admire you; I love you."
Thank you very much.
Paid for and Authorized by the Committee to Elect Alan Grayson
Now, let's go over the squiggly and talk about why this is important.
I don't agree with everything that Alan Grayson says or does. Whether or not I agree with him is a secondary point. The reason I support Grayson and others like him is because they help move the Overton Window to the left.
A huge part of the GOP strategy, in my opinion, is to simply blunt as much conversation as possible that does not suit their objectives. That's why they have hissy fits whenever someone tries to talk about things like a guaranteed income for all citizens, as Switzerland is said to be considering. Or perhaps a better example is climate change.
Conservatives use the Republican noise machine to blunt, bash and or squelch any dissenting views or ideas. It's a good strategy from their point of view. If they can keep us from talking about something, there is no way we can make it happen and they win. What really pisses me off is that they get a complete free pass from the media and thus never get called on it, mostly.
My point in all of this is that your time is not wasted supporting candidates, politicians and or ideas, that are far left of center. Ideas that move the Overton Window as far to the left as possible. This is important because what we are actually going to get is going to be within the window.
Conservatives have spent decades and perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars building and perfecting the Republican noise machine. I submit that the primary purpose of said noise machine is to give them the ability to drag the window to the right as far and as fast as possible.
It's high time we find more and better ways to move the window back to the left.