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Edited out his name and such, however.
He was a former progressive(the dude inspired me to politics) but soured and became a very conservative kinda guy as we got older.
I tried to reinvigorate his spirit. :D
"Being someone of a low income status, I look around throughout history and see that the Canada and America I thought I knew is really starting to disappear.
The right wing says they are trying to gather personal responsibility for people and eliminated government waste, but their hypocrisy about so much of their positions - "there is no torture at gitmo" after they said "there is torture" for example - just jumps at me like a sore thumb.
You, or at least, the old you inspired me. I can't help it and I'm not apologizing for it. People say that progressives/left wingers are naive. We're not. We understand about monetary policy and things like that - we just differ on how to bring about change. But the progressive you - the you I know felt the injustice and the stinging defeat of the recession caused by Wall Street's casino tactics - showed me that "even if we are only two, if we can go to the grave having convinced one person, we've made the world a better place."
Right wingers say that we hope for a world that won't be - but that's not true. We've been programmed with 2 centuries or more of selfishness and deceit. It's ironic that when we're young, we're taught that sharing is good - but when we get older, it's all about me, me me. Look into my eyes and say you don't want to see us go from a selfish society to a selfless one. I'm not advocating communism or even pure socialism - social democracy, something we both believed in at one point - would work. A market system, regulated but still able to produce. A safety net where people are looked after. A tax system where the rich don't pay the lowest taxes in fifty years(like now) - and where the people, not special corporate interests - determine our government policy.
A nation of compassion, not apathy. Of selflessness, not selfishness or greed. A nation of diplomacy, not aggression.
I'm not naive. I know this will take time. It will take gradual steps. But I know,<name retracted> - it might not happen in our lifetime. but WE CAN DO THIS. If I can go to the grave having convinced ten people or even ONE PERSON of this new world - I'm happy.
I can't stand by and watch the evils of the corporate world take over this once beautiful world. But I can't do it alone. You, my inspiration for this - I know that together, you and I can do great things."
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