Democrats Should Hold Their Heads Up, by Prentiss Smith

The election is over, and Democrats are feeling the sting of a hard fought election defeat. Many Democrats are hanging their heads and asking themselves what went wrong? But Democrats ought not to hang their heads, and they should straighten their backs up, as Dr. Martin Luther King once said about citizens who were being institutionally held down by racist policies in this country. Yes, the Republican party had a good election night, and they deserve to be congratulated for their victory, but it is not the end of the world for Democrats.

Democrats should be proud that they stood up against an administration that shamelessly used the tragedy of September 11, 2001 for political gain. They should be proud that they stood up against an administration that used the tragedy of September 11, 2001 to attack a country that did not attack us. Saddam Hussein was a bad person, and it is a good thing that he is gone, but he was not worth one American life or the 200 billion dollars that the American taxpayer has spent on the war in Iraq. Democrats have seen the prestige of America completely decimated around the world, and that happened under this administration.

Many Democrats were against the war in Iraq, and they were right to be against it. To date we have had over 10,000 Americans killed or wounded in Iraq, and not one of them was a Bush, a Cheney, a Delay, a Frist, a Kerry, or an Edwards. No, they are not the children of the elites in this country. They are the children of the middle class. They are the children of the farmers and factory workers, they are the children of the school teachers and the neighborhood business owners. They are our next door neighbors, and we grieve for every one of them who has paid the ultimate price in this war. Many of the people who are for the war in Iraq have no idea what our brave young soldiers and Marines are up against. They are fighting an urban war against an enemy that does not wear a uniform or answer to a central command. It is hard work, as the president so aptly said in his first debate against John Kerry.

The casualties have become numbers and names on the page of the local newspapers and local evening newscasts. Democrats stood up against this war, and they should continue to speak out until all the soldiers are brought home. There are news reports that we have killed over 100,000 Iraqi citizens---many of them women and children----in the name of freedom and liberty. I ask you---is that moral? We are dropping 500 and 2000 pound bombs on cities in Iraq. Collateral damage is inevitable, and civilians are the ones who often times pay the ultimate cost.

This is George Bush's and Dick Cheney's war, and they deserved to be re-elected to be held accountable for the mess that they have gotten our young men and women involved in. There are many Americans who love our soldiers, but they hate this war, and regardless of what some Republicans who never wore the uniform want you to believe---it is not unpatriotic to voice your opposition to this war. In fact, it is un-patriotic if Americans do not speak up. This is a great country, and it is great because our people can speak out against the government when they think that the government is doing something they believe is wrong. Democrats should be proud that they are standing up for the soldiers and marines who are serving courageously in Iraq in a war where many of them have no idea what the mission is---except to kill Iraqis. Many of our young men and women will be scarred for the rest of their lives from the horrors that they have seen and participated in Iraq.

Democrats should remember that 49% of Americans voted against Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush received 60 million votes, but John Kerry received almost 57 million votes, and that is almost two million votes more than Ronald Reagan received in 1984, when he won 49 out of 50 states against Walter Mondale, and almost 60% of the popular vote. Mr. Bush barely received a majority of electoral votes in 2000 and 2004. His father on the other hand received 426 electoral votes in 1988, and Bill Clinton received 370 electoral votes and 379 electoral votes in 1992 and 1996 respectively. Mr. Clinton won 12 red states. Democrats should hold their heads up, because their day will come. That is the nature of politics.

-- Prentiss Smith, March 2005

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