Sometimes I think I must be crazy. I hear things our own democratic leaders say and I think, that just doesn't sound right. People like Bob Herbert make me feel sane again. Feel brave again. Feel like a Fighting Liberal again. I don't usually excerpt the NYTIMES these days, but this one is worth the read.
Without the many great and noble deeds of liberals over the past six or seven decades, America would hardly be recognizable to today's young people. Liberals (including liberal Republicans, who have since been mostly drummed out of the party) ended legalized racial segregation and gender discrimination.
Humiliation imposed by custom and enforced by government had been the order of the day for blacks and women before men and women of good will and liberal persuasion stepped up their long (and not yet ended) campaign to change things. Liberals gave this country Head Start and legal services and the food stamp program. They fought for cleaner air (there was a time when you could barely see Los Angeles) and cleaner water (there were rivers in America that actually caught fire).
Liberals. Your food is safer because of them, and so are your children's clothing and toys. Your workplace is safer. Your ability (or that of your children or grandchildren) to go to college is manifestly easier.
It would take volumes to adequately cover the enhancements to the quality of American lives and the greatness of American society that have been wrought by people whose politics were unabashedly liberal. It is a track record that deserves to be celebrated, not ridiculed or scorned. Bob Herbert, New York Times
The whole piece is worth a read.
Lots of people around me are panicking about polls now, shaking their heads, feeling the pull of despair. Dammit dig in and fight harder. There is a long tradition of Liberals in American fighting for what is right, what is good for the people, what is fair and kind and what just makes sense. Email every liberal you know today and tell them to read Bob's piece. And send it to your Democratic senators, reps, and local officials too.
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