A Philosophy Of Hope: We're All In This Together

Last week, the Democratic Party laid out a vision for America.

Woven into the words of every speech was a promise to the American people:  “We will not abandon you.  We will stand with you.  We will fight for you.”

Now, I am my own candidate, and I am my own man.  I realize that you can’t govern by voting for measures just because you want to get elected or because the party says so.   I believe that if you use as your guiding principle, the idea that every man, woman and child should have a fair shot, then you will vote the right way.

President Bill Clinton said it best in his address on Wednesday night. “The most important question is, what kind of country do you want to live in?  If you want a you’re-on-your own, winner-take-all society, you should support the Republican ticket.  If you want a country of shared prosperity and shared responsibility — a we’re-all-in-this-together society — you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”

Last week, President Obama reminded us that we’re not talking about handouts or free lunch. We’re talking about the foundations of American prosperity.  We’re saying that it is our fundamental responsibility to ensure that hard-working Americans are not left behind.  That all of us have the same fair shot at a good life, IF we’re all playing on the same level playing field.  It is our mandate to ensure that we build a stable economy that retains jobs.  We can’t do that if the system is rigged to favor only the top 2% of American households.

We already know where my opponent stands.  We know from Rodney Frelinghuysen’s voting record that he has abandoned his once moderate positions in favor of the extreme positions adopted by the Republican Party. He voted twice for the Paul Ryan budget — a plan that weakens Medicare, ends Social Security as we know it, and leaves tens of thousands of women and children without health care benefits.  My opponent has consistently voted against programs that would provide something as basic as clean drinking water to our troops and vital job training to our returning veterans.  He has consistently voted against student aid without which the dream of higher education is unattainable for most of our children.   

These votes may best serve Mr. Frelinghuysen’s political career, but they do not serve the people of the 11^th Congressional District at all.

Our future is in our hands.  The choice is absolutely clear.