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Back in 2002, I became convinced there was
reason for concern about the direction of this country.
It wasn't just about Election 2000, it wasn't just
about the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, going to war against
Afghanistan or the threat of national and global terrorism.
It was the fear of many people with reasonable
questions and concerns who felt ignored, frustrated, suppressed, not
wanting to appear unpatriotic at a time "requiring"
national unity, but knowing something was wrong, and like good
citizens, wanted to be free to ask and be informed.
I've always believed in a few things: the ability of
one person to make a difference, whether given credit or not, the
ability to do that by planting "seeds" of ideas that lead
people to better solutions, and I took the pledge of allegiance as
seriously as I took my personal pledge to serve God. And by that, in
terms of the United States, it meant to become politically
involved in a democratic system that actually requires citizen
involvement to function as its supposed to, especially when I
believed there were important issues that needed to be addressed.
When I wrote this "speech", it was only
after spending nearly two years researching and analyzing the news
from around the world, studying current political trends, and
particularly after September 11, 2001, how suppressed people were,
and how afraid they were of the government. I went from web site to
chat room to web site and observed what people were saying, having
my own opinions, but knowing that what I needed to do was to be able
to represent common concerns, and find ways to show other
people commonality in areas they felt divided.
One day, I was reading one web site after 911
and the Patriot, on a chat room with lawyers and professionals
discussing things, and the biggest topic their fear to speak out and
share information for fear the government would arrest them. To
be honest with you, because of the way I like to approach things,
and in respect of national security concerns, I was not concerned
about anyone suppressing my rights to freedom of speech, just took
them for granted, and very much at the time considered myself
someone acting as a news reporter, doing daily newscasts on the web
with analysis, and a representative of the concerns of us all,
because I believed my background in the media gave me knowledge of
ways things get done in the media that could allow me to use my
education programs on the web to change the national news media
coverage by causing requests for info and truth. So
because of me reading about people being afraid... even on the
Michael Moore website chat rooms... I wrote "We Have A
Voice". I wrote to Lou Dobbs letting him know that I'd be glad
to stage an event somewhere in case CNN wanted to cover it, to make
it official it actually was a speech... But what it
really was was a speech in text form for citizens in chat rooms all
over the internet so people could see an example of how to speak out
forcefully, knowing that it was legal and good to speak for the
values we claim make this nation great and have the moral
highground. And to represent everyone in requiring integrity
from our leaders and news media. At that time, I had
no intention of becoming a politician. But it was my way of giving
people permission to act like citizens again. I have
to admit, my favorite thing of all about placing this on the
internet in various chat rooms is when I wrote to the moderators of
the Michael Moore chat rooms, sending them this speech and wanting
to be sure they wouldn't be concerned for themselves if I posted it.
They said, no, go right ahead. I posted it. And the
next day, there were notices and chats about groups organizing to
speak out and lobby and do all sorts of things that no one was
talking about publicly before. My second
favorite thing in that time period was learning how Newt Gingrich's
GoPac people were dominating MSNBC's chat rooms. I learned their
tactics, used them against them, appreciated Newt's education about
how politics is played these days, but was later disappointed
when it appeared I might have had something to do with shutting down
MSNBC's chat rooms altogether... a lot of things changed when
I brought up a shooting at a Washington DC school that seemed
to fit a pattern of shootings I thought people in the area should be
aware of. Always understand, especially in the early
days of 2000 and beyond when beginning to formulate my opinions
about things, as if being a leader honestly attempting to consider
real solutions, I watched MSNBC because I liked them, and was
attempting to be intellectually honest when expressing my concerns
and complaints, and using that as an example for others to do the
same with the station they watched. It was important that people
understand I did not claim that MSNBC was the "worst" or
the "demon" of the news world. All that
said, We Have A Voice is what I believed people needed to hear in
order to be encouraged that their rights still existed, there were
ways to speak out and be heard without the break the law,
threatening people or causing undue concern for organizing in order
to share common concerns and causes with other people. For
me, it is also a source of great satisfaction to know that even
though a few facts are a little different than what thought I
knew since nearly 50 years before, and I refer to Americans and
Citizens of the United States as separate for political and
ideological reasons, that my beliefs, approaches to solutions
structural and cultural have not actually changed. Not that I'm
supposedly right about everything, but because I understand how to
live and legislate and govern within the constitution that allows
the liberty and freedom expresses in the intent of the constitution
and the people who founded our nation. And if the
truth was known about that, a constitution and intent that truly was
an expression of the liberty as desired by God for people, as spoken
of by Jesus and John, and courageously defended by people like
George Washington, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Thomas
Jefferson, Patrick Henry and others who understood that leadership
often means knowing that real satisfaction comes from the progress and
accomplishment of leading, not the glory or adoration of an
organization or world because of an ability to inspire with words
that lead to few productive results. Few productive
results, not because because of lack of effort, skill or desire, but
because of government that has other plans that do not include their
concerns. I read We Have A Voice this morning,
6/10/2011. I decided I wanted to make sure I shared it with you.
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