Why Barack Obama?

The Promise of America

On August 25^th, 2008, Representative James Leach, a life-long Republican, addressed the Democratic National Convention. His words are among the most profound ever spoken by a political figure: at once damning of the flaws of self-centered wanton ignorance and myopic partisanship that have divided the United States and today have so polarized the people of this land that the once unthinkable prospect of an end to the free exchange of ideas now threatens to become reality, and acknowledging the many challenges, including flaws within our own society, that we, as Americans, united under mutual cause, have overcome as one people, one nation, standing together.

Like him, I have long stood firm in my belief that only through mutual respect and cooperation can the United States continue to be the great nation we know that it can be. We are a nation that believes in freedom for all, not just for the dominant, whether they be only a few or a majority, to dictate to the rest. We believe in the freedom to love, in the freedom to live, the freedom to share our ideas, and the freedom to seek our own happiness within this great experiment called democracy.

For each of us, freedom is something precious, even though it is all too often taken for granted. Freedom is also something fragile, a delicate balance between the guarantees of fairness for all and the liberty of each individual. In this place, we are free to live as we wish, but we are not free to cause harm to our fellow citizens, or infringe on their rights.

Once, we understood these things. Once, these principles were at the very core of what it meant to be American. Once, the debate between and within the parties consisted entirely of how best to fulfill that promise of our Republic to our people.

That is the promise of change offered by this year's Democratic nominee, so eloquently stated by a true Republican: a return to the promise of America. Once more, we can be One Nation, one people, living in the greatest country on Earth - one with Liberty and Justice for All.