We need more compassion and common decency. We need to embrace human dignity. We need to stop waging wars. We need less fighting within our own Congress and our local governments. We need to eliminate hate speech, racism, bigotry, and sexism at home first, before trying to fix the rest of the world. We need to stop spreading intolerance and hatred by hiding behind the cloak of religion. We need more compromise, negotiation, and leadership. We must realize that flexibility and teamwork are desirable qualities, not weaknesses.
We need to support policies and programs that ensure the availability of great and equal education for all children. We need effective programs that feed our poor while helping them build up sustainable livelihoods, again. We need well-paid, middle class jobs that lead to careers. We need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. And we need a new, smart infrastructure. We need to work now; put people back to work and re-energize the economy while money is still cheap. We need a WPA-II - we need huge stimulus.
We need to hold those truly responsible for the economic crisis accountable for their actions. It was not those on food stamps (SNAP) who caused our nation's financial problems. And now our banks are five times bigger and much more insulated and protected than when they were "too big to fail." We need to hold those responsible who lie and commit fraud and use our country as their own piggy bank to personally profit or promote their agenda. We need to set a precedent that lies cannot be tolerated from those who lead us.
We are America. We have a duty to our own people that has been long overlooked. Rather than policing the rest of the world, we need to look within our nation. We need to feed our hungry, clothe our poor, and find long term solutions for our internal problems instead of short term band aids, and ignoring those in need. We need to invest in our citizens and our future.
Congress needs to stop the petty power struggles and focus on what they were elected to do: help the American people. People are hurting, and it is up to our elected officials to come together to create, fix, and fund programs, like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and more, that will support every American citizen rather than suppress them by taking rights away. We, as citizens, must vote to elect those to power who truly have our best interests at heart.
Despite what some would have us believe, the United States budget cannot be compared to a household budget. The job of the government is to take care of its people. We must hold the American government to a higher standard. The first priority of the US government should be US citizens, not corporations and big business, no matter how much they may donate to a campaign. We must get money out of campaigns and politics.
The American people must come first - before foreign aid, before corporations, before anything else. Even now, as Syria looms larger and more horrific every day. We cannot afford to become embroiled in another conflict, especially a civil war, while leaving our own citizens without the right to vote, without healthcare, clean air and water, without jobs, and without the best quality education. We must condemn the actions in Syria with a strongly-worded, international declaration presented by all the world's countries.... (All 99% who believe using chemical weapons is a war crime.) We must not bomb another country.
We need to start at the beginning. Support our children. Educate all children. Rework the justice system. Help those who make small mistakes to atone for them and reintegrate successfully into society, rather than losing them into the system.
We must put our differences aside, from politics to religion, and come together to rebuild our nation as the great America we used to be. We must care enough about each other and our futures to erase class lines and give our children every opportunity we can. We must cast away hate and intolerance, and once again truly become the United States of America.
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