To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,
I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week’s election.
You’re worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don’t
want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet
to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.
Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the
millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a
pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because
we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do
with our newfound power — and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.
Thus, here is our Liberal’s Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:
Dear Conservatives and Republicans,
I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:
1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call
you “unpatriotic” simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to
dissent and disagree with us.
2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your
behavior to be “different” or “immoral.” Who you marry is none of our business.
Love and be in love — it’s a wonderful gift.
3. We will not spend your grandchildren’s money on our personal whims or to
enrich our friends. It’s your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.
4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring
your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to
send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.
5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health
coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise
that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And
when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you
and your loved ones, we’ll make sure those advances are available to you and
your family, too.
6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up
our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the
cleaner air and drink the purer water.
7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every
single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately.
We will protect you.
8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there
as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the
moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.
9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or
a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren’t much of a hunter and you
should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as
freeas we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we
would protect ours.
10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you — and your employees —
that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay
conservative women that wage, too.
11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don’t put those
beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical
religious beliefs (“Blessed are the poor,” “Blessed are the peacemakers,” “Love
your enemies,” “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” and “Whatever you did for one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”). We will let people in other
countries know that God doesn’t just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will
discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism — starting with the fanaticism here
at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.
12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid
for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead
of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our
side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we
are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our
party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.
I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every
bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one.
Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity
to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans — and
for the rest of the world.
Signed,
Michael Moore
editor’s note: to sign the pledge go to
http://www.petitiononline.com/mmflint/petition.html