I can't really say what I want to say better than this, so I'm posting a quote from one of my all-time favorite shows, The West Wing. This is by far not my favorite episode, but I think it's one of the single best stand-alone quotes from the entire series ... it's from the Episode The Debate and this is the response of Sen. Matt Santos (D) to Sen. Arnie Vinick (R):
... "What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
I won't get into my politics here - suffice it to say that I'm more liberal than many of my friends and more conservative than many of my friends. Carey & Will have this coffee mug (which I've tried - unsuccessfully - to steal) it says: If you want justice, work for peace ... Just sitting here, thinking things, thinking things ...
No, nothing has happened today, specifically, to set me on this topic - it's just somethinhg about which I think of & on often. Am I doing anything to work for justice, to work for peace, fairness, for others? I don't know ... I hope & pray that I'm raising two children who will work for those things, who will make a difference - be it in word, deed, song, art, a laugh, a smile, a hug ...
So now I've wetted your appetite - go out & buy The West Wing ... cheer for the Bartlett administration, for Josh & Donna, for C.J Cregg ... ahh ... my friends ... and for more quotes from WW ... you know the drill ...
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1 comment:
You beat me to the punch by posting that. I've often wished some of our real-life leaders had the balls to stand up and say what some TV writer (albeit, one of the best ever, Aaron Sorkin) wrote for a fictional character.
I know TV isn't real life, but there isn't a word in that statement that doesn't hold true right now. And there's not a "conservative" in this country that can contest a word of it with a straight face or clear conscience, assuming they have one.
All that being said, I love you.
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