It is time for progressives to light up the sky with patriotism, to rewrite the rules of our current debates, to rekindle that timeless spirit that has made America America for more than two hundred years.
From the internet to the arts, from the houses of Congress to the houses of worship, from the movie theaters to the concert halls, from the community organizers to the corporate boardrooms, from the studios of progressive radio to the grassroots of the real America, we should seize the high ground of American patriotism, American values, American ideals, our American history, the American spirit and the American future.
Let freedom ring.
We stand at an extraordinary moment in the history of our nation. Things have been done in the name of America that dishonor the trust of the real America. Beyond the vision of a tired Washington, beneath the radar of a self-indulgent media, our people are in revolt as they were in the days before the Liberty Bell first rang.
On the issues that matter the most almost 70% of Americans agree with us.
On the issues that challenge the globe, we are the authentic voice of the free world.
Even Republicans have abandoned the ship of George W. Bush and what he has done to our Nation: more than 60% of Republicans want their party to stand for something that is dramatically different than what is being done to our country today.
Enough of him. Enough of that. One era is ending, a new era is beginning. It is our mission and our moment to define that era, to lift our country, and to remind ourselves of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.
Our faith and values are derived from the Sermon on the Mount and the words of healing and hope where we feed the hungry, clothe the needy, comfort the hurting, and lift the poor.
Our spirit is derived from the Bill of Rights, the greatest document of freedom and justice in the history of humanity.
Our patriotism is rooted in the Constitution and the truth that in our land, the law is the king, and the king is not the law.
Our Americanism is centered in the Declaration that promised the new nation and the whole world that certain rights are endowed by our Creator and inalienable, to be defended against attacks by tyrants, dictators, kings, or any other despot, for any reason, at any time.
Our sense of community is embodied by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Pledge of Allegiance and the notion that we are a country of many races, diverse peoples, and countless backgrounds who stand for the principle of equal justice and the idea that we are one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice, for all.
We the people who are the legatees of Jefferson and Lincoln, are the legatees as well of the Marines who stormed Iwo Jima, the soldiers who landed at Normandy, Doolittle's band that took the fight to Tokyo when Americans were rising from the fires of Pearl Harbor, and a President who lifted himself from a wheelchair and said we have nothing to fear but fear, that we are in this together.
We do not wage war with shopping, slanders, tax cuts and lies.
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