I am posting this in it's entirety instead of a blog post today. I think this is more important than anything could say.

Heartland Revolution

This is a revolution aimed at combating leaders and groups who prey on the fears of the American people to advance their own corrupt agendas and line their pockets in the process.

Republicans make no bones about their support of tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country. Those who benefit most from this philosophy are the ones who have the vast resources to contribute millions of dollars to groups that have repeatedly lied and distorted the truth about Progressive leaders in America.

Progressive Democrats have taken the high road, time-and-again abstaining from using the tactics of fear and division that Republicans draw like a gun. Now, our message is being drowned out by the millions being spent against us. Our hand has been forced. It is time to unify our resources; to galvanize our arsenal of truth, to bring accountability and conventional wisdom back to American political discourse.

We believe that our vision for the future of this great nation walks in-step with what our citizens demand and deserve from their leaders. If we were to simply give up or stand aside just because we can't stomach a good fight, we'd be doing ourselves, the American people and future generations a grave injustice. "Get up. Fight back." Our motto is resoundingly necessary in a political climate wrought with half-truths, scare tactics and outright lies perpetrated by special interest-fueled right wing propagandists. We've watched while they have slandered our leaders and misled American citizens about initiatives and reforms that will prove crucial to the stability of our system and the American family. Most average citizens worry about finding good jobs and working to support themselves and their families. When they take the time to perform their civic duty and inform themselves about the issues facing their nation, they are bombarded with the tiresome, unfortunate politics of fear.

They deserve more. They deserve the truth. We will adamantly, vigorously and defiantly expose and oppose the big business politics of right-wing America. We will do so using our greatest asset: the truth. Part of what has been so overwhelmingly frustrating for Democrats over the last decade has been the fact that our pragmatism, tried and tested conventional wisdom, common sense solutions and widely accepted beliefs have been so tainted and overshadowed by falsehoods and fear.

Our message came to its culmination in 2008, and when it came under fire the following year, what began as a slight decline in public opinion became a free-fall leading to the loss of the US House of Representatives in the 2010 mid-term election. Many factors were at play in 2009 and 2010. Lack of unity, lack of leadership, lack of guts; all things we can control. But as if our own disarray weren’t enough, a barrage of money. Big money, spewing from every orifice of the Conservative Republican movement—the floodgates were opened by the court ruling of Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed corporations to pump cash into political coffers of those whose common goals were to sway public opinion in favor of Republicans.

How do we fight it? By playing their game, but playing honest; playing harder. We can no longer be afraid of this struggle. If we back down at this juncture, we will have proven everything the other side says about us: that we are ideological, intellectual, ineffective leaders who are only good at sitting around pontificating about what is best to do for the country while everybody else is at least doing something.

The 2008 Democratic Primary showed us that there is a force of Progressives in the middle of this country struggling for their voice to be heard. Our perseverance in getting our Blue-Collar message out is just the kind of reinforcement these folks need to begin effectively fighting the Republican forces that dominate their political landscape. They need good candidates, they need funds, they need volunteers. When we can begin to chip away at these rural Republican strongholds and make our appeal to the backbone of the nation, we can start to bring back some conventional wisdom to our public debate. If we back down from this fight, we will not deserve to represent the American people because we will have already thrown them to the wolves.

Republicans have proven over the last 15 years that this is not a game. They play for keeps and we’re trying to play keep-away. We are running out of time to prove ourselves worthy of the support of the most prevalent fighting spirit in the world… the spirit of America. The choice is ours. Lend us your voice, that we might make a difference. Let us take the message to the big wigs and the fear mongers and the race-baiters and the money changers that we’re not finished speaking… in fact, we “have not yet begun to fight!"

http://www.facebook.com/heartlandrevolution?sk=info