Tomorrow I will be returning from the Young Democrats of America National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. I want you all to know that during this trip I have gained much knowledge on what it truly means to be a Democrat, why the Democratic message is the better message in American politics, and why we must succeed in spreading our message by getting Democrats elected to public office.
Our country is on the edge of a cliff, and we have two options before us; we can choose to allow the Republican party to continue leading our nation down the cliff of immoral and deadly legislation as it has been over the past decade including major efforts to restrict abortion rights, anti-equality efforts, and attempting to end our major social justice programs or we can choose to support the Democratic party who will turn this country around and lead us away from that cliff who refuse to exclude any group of citizens from the democratic process, refuse to allow republicans to pass major voting restrictions country-wide, and refuse to lay down and give up on advancing the interest of the American people.
The Democratic Party has helped advance American values over the past century. Whether it be getting women the right to work, passing civil rights legislation, bringing social justice programs to the lower middle and lower classes of our country (Medicaid, Medicare, Food stamps, and Social Security), supporting the rights of women in relations to the choices they make regarding their bodies, bringing equality to the US armed forces in relation to race and sexual orientation, passing the best healthcare reform law in our nations history, and advancing equality for the LGBTQ community including bringing marriage equality to six states and Washington D.C. just to name a few!
One message that I want you to take away from this is that we are not done. Over the next century we hope to expand the rights for the American people. We hope to bring total equality to the women of our country so that they earn equal pay for equal and often better work. We hope to bring equality to our transgender brothers and sisters so that they no longer face discrimination on a daily basis for being themselves. We hope to bring our nation into this era of quality healthcare for every person in our country because being healthy and receiving this care is a human right not a human privilege. We will also continue to support the before mentioned programs and rights while strengthening them. The Democratic Party is only growing stronger and more vibrant every day, and there is no end in sight.
Again, I leave you with the simple statement that we are not done. We can make the change and we can bring the energy and trust back to the American political stage. Although these achievements are great we cannot attain them without volunteers. We cannot achieve them without the American people which are the people who will benefit from them. Today I ask you to take that next step into public service in what ever capacity you are able to. Whether it be into the roles that so many other people have been with knocking on doors, hosting voter registration drives, and calling people about issues and candidates or like a few great patriots who have given their lives to representing our people as elected officials in local, state, and national bodies. Please join us so that we can move our nation forward, we look forward to seeing you on the campaign trails.
Peter Jenkins
Community Organizer
Thibodaux, Louisiana
July 30, 2011
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