My American Pledge

Today, Congressional Republicans released a Pledge to America, a series of guiding principles intended to show how Republicans will lead if they take control of the House.  Among other promises in the twenty one page document, those signing “pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values.”  I will ignore the political code words in that and applaud them for at least saying something about what they will do.  It is a switch from a campaign based on complaining about what others have done and scaring people about what these others might do.

The 1994 Contract with America, devised by former Speaker Newt Gingrich, was simple and, as such, served as an outstanding election tool.  Like much in politics today, this new document is convoluted.  The Contract was clear-cut and linked to specific legislation.  Incidentally, Congress passed 60% of those bills in the first few months of taking power.  Perhaps the Pledge will offer a similar roadmap.  Time will tell.

In the meantime, I drew up my own pledge to guide me in this and all future elections.

I, pledge to:

1. Pay less attention to the Party label/single issue/tagline a candidate chooses and more attention to her values, experience and ability to do the job she seeks.
2. Stop allowing those who seek power/money/influence/self aggrandizement to cloud my thinking.  It may be fun to listen to the media talking heads make a game out of politics, but their talk can be destructive.  I am interested in making the world a better place.  To do so, I will seek information to help me decide what is best for my country, my state, my community and my family and I will discard meaningless rhetoric.
3. Listen to others (real people, not the talking heads mentioned above).  I accept I do not know everything.  By learning from others, even those with whom I disagree, I will become a better, more informed voter and citizen.
4. Participate.  It is my duty to become informed on issues affecting me, my family, my neighbors and my countrymen.  I may not know what it is to be gay/minority/rich/poor/disabled/fill-in-the-blank, but it is my patriotic responsibility to help those in need, those discriminated against and all of my fellow Americans.  We all have a right to pursue the promise of freedom, the American dream.  I must act and not wait for others to do so.
5. Remember elections are not sporting events.  I do not seek wins for the red or blue column, having more R’s than D’s in a diagram, or a conquest of one party over another.  An election does not end in triumph; it only decides who will next enter the arena.  A victory is achieved when our country takes another step toward assuring freedom, equality and justice for all.  This happens with collective action, not vote counting.
6. Vote for candidates who will honestly evaluate each bill, situation and issue before them and who will base decisions on what is right for the people they wish to serve, not on what is best for the candidate or his Party.
7. Vote for candidates who understand our Constitution – the whole document – and who will not play favorites with the sections expedient to advancing the cause du jour.[i]
8. To be strengthened, not limited, by history.  Like my own, America’s past is filled with successes and mistakes.  I will not rest on the achievements of yesterday or dwell on its errors.  I will build on what has been learned.
9. To be fair.  Freedom dies without justice.  I will fight for fairness and justice and will support only those candidates for office who will do the same.
10. To take advantage of all America provides.  The best way to spread freedom at home and abroad is to treat others as we wish to be treated.  If my fellow Americans and I thrive and we remain true to protecting freedom here and, when we can, elsewhere; more will join us and freedom will blossom in every corner of our country and in the most distant, hostile parts of the world.

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[i] The first “pledge” in the Republican Pledge to America is to pay more attention to the 10^th Amendment than to the rest of Constitution.  Sorry, guys, the whole thing is important.  You don’t get to pick your favorite part as an excuse to overlook the rest. They also say they will honor the “original intent” of the Framers.  Unless you were actually one of the original framers, there is no way for you to know for sure what they intended.  It is better to stick to the document and make a case for what you believe than to pretend like you know what you want to do was intended by the Founders and what the opposition says was not.  The text from the Pledge reads: “We pledge to honor the Constitution as constructed by its framers and honor the original intent of those precepts that have been consistently ignored – particularly the Tenth Amendment, which grants that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”


(Contact Graham Gillette at grahamgillette@gmail.com)

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.