A recent poster to my blog made some statements that stopped me cold. Not only is this American Voter considering leaving the United States due to this persons disillusionment with what has happened to all we had worked to achieve, but also with the apathy of the American public and its ability to be sold on sound bites rather than substance. This blog poster stated "Empty words false hope and dreams that evaporate in the harsh light of day" is that what all the sacrifice has come down to John Lewis?
John Lewis, I always felt was a man among men. There was a time in the history of this country I knew he stood for what was right what was equal what was for everyone. In the 1960's he worked tirelessly for equality and civil rights. He was considered on of the 6 most powerful civil rights leaders; however I guess times have changed.
The following is an short exert from John Lewis's posted biography:
Often called "one of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced," John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls "The Beloved Community" in America. His dedication to the highest ethical standards and moral principles has won him the admiration of many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the United States Congress.
While still a young man, John Lewis became a nationally recognized leader. By 1963, he was dubbed one of the Big Six leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. (The others were Whitney Young, A. Phillip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer and Roy Wilkins). At the age of 23, he was an architect of and a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in August 1963.
The above statements are absolutely true, in my humble opinion he was a hero. Sadly, it appears things change. John Lewis is a Super Delegate his vote was pledged to Senator Hillary Clinton until recently when he changed his vote to Barack Obama. I have no problem with who he votes for. That is his choice. The problem and utter and complete disillusionment comes when he did not stand up for silenced voting Americans and demand that ALL VOTES BE COUNTED AS IS A CORE DEMOCRATIC VALUE BEFORE RECASTING HIS VOTE, he had the power and chose not to exercise it. It is a core value of all that I thought equality and civil rights and civil liberties stood for, but I must apologize I guess I have just been a dreamer all this time.
Apparently, he chooses now to stand for the ability of private organizations to quash individual rights. Would that right extend to such private organizations as Blackwater? Were would that limit be?
This private organization is the Democratic National Committee that believes it has the right to pick and choose which legally cast votes they will count. We will not touch on the absolute absurdity of this thought right now, well try anyway, but instead focus on what this says about where we have been as a country and where we are going.
To allow a company/private organization/corporation/non judicial entity to have ANY inkling, particularly one which purports to stand for DEMOCRACY, that they have the power to negate cast American votes after all the struggles and all the sacra fices of our not so distant past far surpasses the vilest propaganda I can conceive of.
John Lewis should have seen past the surface of this issue. The issue John Lewis should ask, but maybe he has which would be ever so sad, is why does a corporation/company/private organization/non judicial entity which purports to stand for the most Democratic of values and which holds a monopoly on the candidates available in the next election seek to silence or "punish" American voters for voting, in order to provide certain states with preferential treatment? The "punishment" of the ENTIRE voting population of Michigan and Florida over the date they voted is an affront to democracy itself, everything this party is supposed to stand for,states rights,voter rights,civil rights,civil liberties and firm equality and/or pluralist beliefs.
The fight, and I do mean fight, people DIED people were MURDERED, people were BEATEN AND GASSED, both black and white. I thought the fight was for everyone. For EVERYONE to walk through the same door, for EVERYONE to drink from the same fountain, for EVERYONE TO VOTE AND FOR EVERYONE TO COUNT, for EVERYONE to be treated the same as EVERYONE.
Shame on you John Lewis, remember those words you were so privileged to hear, spoken by a TRULY GREAT orator Martin Luther King
"And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside.
Let freedom ring,
And when this happens,and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
John Lewis did Martin Luther King forget to add "Except Michigan and Florida"? I think you have become a hypocrite John Lewis and as the kids say these days BITE ME! (It means I am REALLY not happy with you)
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