The artifices of designing men
I'm not anti-American, or even anti-government. I am anti-war. I'm also anti-hate, anti-hypocrisy, anti-prejudice and anti-meanness. There are a lot of people in this world that I don't agree with and some whom I don't respect for their choices. But I don't believe any of us have the right to impose our moral beliefs on others, and I don't believe that self-declared morality provides any excuse to take away or diminish the rights of others. No matter what religion you are, liberal or conservative, we all know what it means to be decent. Be decent to everyone, assume good intent on the part of others, and protect those who can't protect themselves.
Civil rights aren't an issue of a majority vote. In our country we stand up for the rights of the minority - remember when slavery was legal, women weren't allowed to vote, it was okay to fire someone who was handicapped? I don't want a president who is going to use his or her morality, or religion, or simply personal belief to decide who gets equal rights and who doesn't. I don't want a president who is willing to balance a budget on the backs of the most needy and vulnerable, who wants to deny health care and label lifestyles as s/he sees fit.
So yes, I embrace the protest song. I embrace anti-war sentiments and I condemn small minded bigots. But don't say I'm anti-American. I believe in the American that should be; I'm just afraid of what could be.
"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men."
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