Which way America? Forward as a nation, or backward as separate states, forward creating a nation where all are better off, or backward where one percent hordes all the wealth calling on all others to assume a greater share of “personal responsibilityâ€.
[Election 2012: What’s At Stake]
It is important to understand what is actually at stake in this election.
The Republicans, more correctly known as the “party of No,” have openly stated that it was their intention to make Barack Obama a one term president, and this before he even took office. To achieve this, they would sabotage the American government by obstructing anything that this president attempts.
To work to undermine the government is most often considered unpatriotic. Perhaps these right wing politicians call themselves patriots in order to mask how unpatriotic they actually are.
Romney has run a campaign with no regard for truth or integrity. According to the popular new FactCheck.org, Romney has misled and distorted on just about every issue. Romney says that Obama is a failure in the area of unemployment and jobs. The truth is that under Bush and the Republicans the country was bleeding jobs at a rate not seen since the Great Depression.
There were 4.5 million jobs lost in the year before Obama took office. There were 818,000 jobs lost in January 2009 alone. All before he took office on January 20. Since Obama, 4.5 million jobs plus an additional 386,000 have been regained.
You know of the major things he has done such as saving the American auto industry.
However, consider this fact: the stock market had gone into a nose dive in October 2007 triggered by the collapse of the housing bubble and the subsequent banking crisis. The market plunged into the worst recession since the great depression, all of which began in December 2007, before, Obama took office.
Since Obama the Dow Jones is up 70 percent, The Standard & Poor’s 500 is up 81 percent, and the NASDAQ is up 119 percent. Those gains have brightened the retirement prospects of millions of Americans who invest through 401(k) and similar tax-deferred plans, compared with the dark days before the Obama administration.
What else would this president have been able to accomplish if the Republican “Party of No” had not moved to obstruct his every move, and now they are engaged in voter intimidation in an effort to steal the vote from millions of African Americans. Let’s be very clear, it is the very democracy itself that is at stake in this election.
This is not the first time America has faced this critical choice. It was Fredrick Douglass during the early days of this nation that called on America to become “a glorious symbol of civil and religious liberty, leading the world in the race of social science, civilization and renown.”
It was Samuel Francis Smith who in 1831 wrote “Our Fathers God to Thee, Author of Liberty, To Thee We Sing, Long May Our Land Be Bright, With Freedom’s Holy Light, Protect Us By Thy Might, Great God Our King.”
It was Dr. King who lifted those lyrics even higher when he called on America as the land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims pride, from every mountainside to Let Freedom Ring.
At a time like this, so full of hope, courage and possibility it is tragic that there are those moving throughout the country attempting to highjack the democracy, telling the people that government should have no power to enforce the constitution and guarantee justice and equity for all the people of the land, even the poor and working class.
We stand at the gateway of a marked and decided choice. Which way America? Forward as a nation, or backward as separate states, forward creating a nation where all are better off, or backward where one percent hordes all the wealth calling on all others to assume a greater share of “personal responsibility”.
We cannot fail as a nation. We cannot surrender the democracy.
Barry Manilow was right when he lifted his voice to say “Let freedom ring and let everyone share its inspiration. Let the promise not be satisfied until no one’s denied its song. It’s a dream to build upon. We take the dream and pass it on and on and let freedom sing”.
Once again America, let us embrace this challenge to once and for all, Let Freedom Ring.
Bob Law is Chairman, National Leadership Alliance
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
