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> > > I Need a President - Again > By John Cory > t r u t h o u t | Perspective Tuesday 26 October 2004 I first > wrote "I Need a President" during the disastrous end of the 2000 Election. I > ended my piece with these words: "Yes, I need a president. But I must wait for > now." The time of waiting is over. I need a President who does not > believe in suppressing votes as he clings to a warped sense of his own > entitlement to power. I need a President who does not fear the voice of the people. > Not the President of a sanitized America-by-invitation-only, but a President > of the people, by the people, and for the people. I need a President who > recognizes that America is a member of the world community and not its master. > I need a President who faces the world with a welcoming hand, not a closed > fist. A man who embraces questions, and not the coercive rule of unchallenged > reign. I need a President who believes science is a tool for healing and > not just a profitable device for the creation of Smart Bombs and Weapons of > Mass Destruction. I need a President who sees that stem cell research benefits > not only the diseased but also the soldiers with spinal cord wounds and > brain trauma inflicted in their service to America. I need a President for > whom "liberal education" is not a partisan pejorative but rather the > old-fashioned definition of a balanced and well-rounded education, an education not of > political bent, but of the beauty and diversity of life's great treasures. I > need a President who sees education as a right, and not a privilege only for > those who can afford to buy knowledge. I need a President whose > environmental policy is not only for the wilderness, but also applies to the > workplace. I need a President who understands that family health should never be > dependent on family wealth. I need a President who knows well that secrecy > is a cancer on democracy. I want a President who has overcome the fear of > battle, not by sending others into combat, but by standing face-to-face against > the ravages of war and bringing honor home to the fight for peace and open > government. I need a President who understands that if money is > free-speech, the middle class and poor will never have a voice in today's corporate > politics; that the dreams of Main Street America will be smothered by the greed > of K Street lobbyists and their financial owners. I need a President who > recognizes that corporate crime should not be a reward system for crooked > CEOs, while punishing workers with financial ruin. I need a President for whom > accountability is not a bookkeeping technique that ensures increased stock > value at the cost of American jobs. I need a President who knows that God is > not spelled G-O-P. I need a President who recognizes the requirement for > checks and balances on government, not checkpoints on citizens. I need a > President for whom liberty is not a license to plunder budget surpluses for > the benefit of wealthy campaign donors. I need a President, not a corporate > puppet, or a panderer to the bigotry of puritanical zealots and self-righteous > hypocrites. America needs a President to whom freedom is not a focus > group slogan, tested as justification for the lethal lies of a manufactured war. > Not a President who finds humor in the deaths of soldiers in order to get a > laugh from the dining room divas of corporate Media. America needs a > President, not a saint without human error. America needs a President who > recognizes his own fallibility and rises to the need for change. America needs a > President whose compassion is without label or restriction, who lifts the > poor and ignored without making himself tall by standing on the dead and > downtrodden. A President who does not limit the colors of America to red, white and > blue, but includes each and every variation that weaves the whole fabric of > this richly textured nation. America deserves a President, not an owner. > I deserve a President, not George Bush. > John Cory is a Vietnam veteran. He received the Purple Heart and Bronze > Star with V device, 1969 - 1970. ------- > Jump to TO Features for Tuesday October 26, 2004 > <A HREF="http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/printer_102604A.shtml"> Print This Story</A><A HREF="http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/102604A.shtml#"></A> E-mail This Story ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn