"The Truth About The Coming Election..."

I got an email today that I wanted to share because it speaks to the truth of what's at stake in the coming presidential election.  This is the reason I'm giving my money, my time and my personal effort to helping re-elect President Obama.

Rovian Politics Everyone wants to be loved. It seems to be a universal core need. That is why I often wondered how former President George W. Bush kept pushing his policies despite one of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history. It never seemed to bother him. Why? Well, Karl Rove persuaded “W.” that he could be president if he didn’t care that 70 percent of Americans would never vote for him. You see, Karl figured out long ago that only 60 percent of the electorate votes. That means, to be elected, the next president needs only 30.1 percent of Americans to vote for him. It also means that 69.9 percent of Americans may hate a candidate, but it won’t matter because 40 percent of Americans won’t vote. The grave danger is that a party can target the 30 percent of Americans who are fear-based—afraid of people who are different from them. A party can win by pandering to the 30 percent of America that is white, male, and conservative. They don’t need a single vote from a lesbian or Hispanic or African-American, and they don’t need many votes from women. White conservative men can pick the next president, just as they selected George W. Bush. In fact, the majority of Americans who voted in the first Bush election voted against him. Still, he took office and ruled as if he had received an overwhelming mandate. Do you know why? Because he did. He got an overwhelming mandate from the very people to whom he appealed. Conservative, white, heterosexual men voted overwhelmingly for him, and too many of the rest of us stayed home. President George W. Bush didn’t care one bit about those who did not vote; he cared only for those who might vote for him again. And they did. He served the 30 percent well, and they gave him a second term. In the wake of the two political parties’ conventions, it sounds as though one party is trying to attract a broad swath of Americans, while the other has focused on a narrow group that is afraid and may not like the race or values or vision of the current president. The choice seems obvious, but the truth is Karl Rove is still the American puppet master. He obviously has convinced one party that they can win by motivating their base of 30 percent and ignoring the other 70 percent of America. It worked before, and it WILL work again. There is only one way that Karl Rove will lose this election and that is if the rest of the Americans get out and vote. More than that, actually. The only way to offset the millions and millions of dollars Karl Rove is raising and spending to mobilize and motivate his 30 percent is for the rest to give, volunteer, and, ultimately, vote. It is not too late, but it will be if we wait until November to care about the outcome of this election. Even if you agree with Karl and the other heterosexual, conservative, white men who make up the 30 percent on which they are counting, I hope you will volunteer, give, and vote. It is wrong for us to let a minority decide the future of the country. We talk about majority rule in America, but, because too many of us don’t vote, the majority does not rule. Now THAT is something you and I CAN fix. Karl Rove gets only one vote, and you have the power to cancel that out if you choose. Blessings, President, Hope for Peace & Justice

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"Fear Eats the Soul"