For America's Sake

For America's Sake

This from DL member Liz:

Moyers' speech (links to both video and text below) dovetails rather well with George Lakoff's book, Thinking Points, Communicating Our American Values and Vision. http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/thinkingpoints In a recent speech in New York sponsored by The Nation, Demos, the Brennan Center for Justice and the New Democracy Project, Bill Moyers argues that it's time our leaders recognize Americans hold a set of values that contradict the conservative agenda that has dominated politics for a generation. Read the whole text here.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070205/moyers_video

My favorite piece in the speech:

And that is not how freedom was understood when our country was founded. At the heart of our experience as a nation is the proposition that each one of us has a right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." As flawed in its reach as it was brilliant in its inspiration for times to come, that proposition carries an inherent imperative: "inasmuch as the members of a liberal society have a right to basic requirements of human
development such as education and a minimum standard of security, they have obligations to each other, mutually and through their government, to ensure that conditions exist enabling every person to have the opportunity for success in life."

The quote comes directly from Paul Starr, one of our most formidable public thinkers, whose forthcoming book, Freedom's Power: The True Force of Liberalism, is a profound and stirring call for liberals to reclaim the idea of America's greatness as their own. Starr's
book is one of three new books that in a just world would be on every desk in the House and Senate when Congress convenes again.

Government DOES have an obligation to help the most vulnerable, to help those who need help to have a better life. This is the obligation that those of us who are fortunate to have the basics--at least a home, a job, an education, and health insurance, to "pay it forward." It is a value that our society is losing. Isn't it ironic that many of those in power and are in positions of influence over the last six to 10 years call themselves "Christians", yet seem to advocate against those things that Christians are taught to seek?