The Liberals Are Always Right (Just Give Us Time)

"It is what I believe"--Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson in the miniseries, John Adams

There is an argument being pressed by a substantial portion of the population that we need to go back. To return to the good ol' days. That we've gone to far and are in need of a reversal of course. That we need not progress.

I would ask these people, what good ol' days do you speak of?

Is it the good ol' days when Plymouth Rock landed on the Indians and pushed them across the west and nearly into the ocean?

Is it the the good ol' days when we beat back one tyrannical nation to earn our freedom only to turn around and build up our country on the backs of another whose freedom we denied?

Is it the good ol' days when we denied another gender the right to vote?

Is it the good ol' days of Jim Crow Laws, lynchings, and separate but "equal?"

Is it the good ol' days when you could bash a man or woman over the head with no repercussions just because they love differently than the majority?

What good ol' days are they talking about? Because for some people, the good ol' days were pretty terrible.

Which is why we need liberals.

Because on the major issues of the day, liberals are always right.

We were right when we supported a man who asked us to shed the blood of our brothers to abolish the abominable practice of slavery.

We were right when we walked the streets in long dresses and fetching hats for the feminine ballot.

We were right when we backed a robust man who chose conservation over plunder.

We were right when we turned to the New Deal to escape the Hoovervilles of poverty.

We were right when we rebuilt Western Europe so as not leave our allies and enemies behind in the 20th century.

We were right when we faced down the water hose while dogs nipped at our heels on the journey to equality.

We were right when at a place called Stonewall we lost our civility over persecution based only on who we chose to love.

We were right when we grew our hair long, dyed our shirts, and protested an unwinnable war for the sake of peace.

We remained right even though our leaders were often arrested or even murdered.

We were right when the fates of many our fellow like minds with less recognizable names suffered the same fate.

And make no mistake we will be right again.

We will be right about health care for everyone, whether rich or indigent.

We will be right about the oversight of economic entities who worry only about lining their pockets and not for the workers who fill them or the land and sea that does the same.

We will be right about salvaging an industry that proves we can still make something.

We will be right when we extend the same rights to everyone to wed who they wish and serve if they choose.

We will be right about the humane treatment of immigrants who pick our produce and weed our gardens because we don't have the time or humility to do it ourselves.

We will be right to have defended the religious freedoms of those who some would like to drape in an all encompassing extremist cloak.

We will be right to lend our full throats to the voiceless, lest they be left behind.

We will be right even if the security forces of a deluded Alaskan pull our hands behind our backs, and the followers of a hypocritical hippocrat push their heels down on our necks.

It's not as if we haven't been here before.

And we will be right no matter what happens next Tuesday. We will awaken. We will fight. And we will be right.

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

We always are.

Sumo-Pop
October 28, 2010