The Time Is Now to Choose Freedom Over Fear
Nov 14, 2018, Stu Spencer & Harry Schaffner — RealClear Politics
The time is now, America. We have had enough of the past few years to say we need to go in a new direction.
Ronald Reagan spoke to all of us in saying that “it is morning in America.” Now, it is twilight in America. Our light from the sun has crossed over us and we are in the gloaming. The time is now, America, to take a new direction. The light will return. A new day will dawn.
The time is now to put behind us any notion that this great nation is a colored map, with some states red and others blue. Colored pencils are for kindergarten. Our great nation cannot be reduced to colored pencils. The time is now, America.
We are one people: Americans. No nation in the history of this world has ever done what we have done in the past. No nation in history has the ability and the opportunity to do what we can do in the future. The time is now, America.
We can no longer afford to think of ourselves only as Republicans or Democrats. We are Americans. We are a nation built on the premise of freedom for all. We are not going to allow ourselves to be led by fear. We are not going to be led by lies and inflammatory language. We are no longer going to see ourselves as divided by states, regions, religion, gender or ethnicity. We are America and our time is now, as it has never been before.
We have led the world to advances in science, engineering, education for all; a country that respects every person’s religion and heritage, and every person’s color. We have lost our way a bit, but we are here to lead us through the short night ahead and into a new morning in America.
We will not be defined as the leader of the 20th century, but not the 21st century. No. We have led with our heads high and the awe and respect of the world and we will continue and resume our unique way as Americans. We have freedom and freedom will always win out. Hate is not part of our DNA. Hate is for fools, for the shallow. Freedom is for winners, and we Americans are winners. We are, as the very name of our country has proudly said for almost two and a half centuries, the United States of America.
The largest political party in America is not the Republicans or the Democrats. The largest political party is the voters who did not cast ballots and the Americans who have yet to register as voters. Those folks are the largest political party in our nation. And we Republicans will show them that this is their America and that our time is now. We will show them that the Republican Party is their party. We must include them and get them to know we hear their voices and their disconnection and apathy. We understand that no party has appealed to them to participate in the great issues of our time. We will appeal to them with truth, not fear. We will appeal to them with no eye for color or ethnicity, no eye for religious preference or gender. No eye to their private lives defining them.
The world may have changed. Many nations now have a raised standard of living, excellent health care and a growing middle class. We have led them and we will resume our role. We have not changed. We have been the envy of the world and we will be the envy of the world in the future as well. We have done that with our great history, our Constitution, our rule of law and our education. Most of all we have led by showing that freedom will always win out; that truth will always win out and that there is no place for fear and division.
As Republicans we are not going to reach across the aisle, we are going to forget there is an aisle. Let’s listen to the other sides. Let’s understand their views and proposals. And most of all let’s put away the language of division and work together for our young and our seniors. Everything is not political polarity. All language need not intentionally inflame or belittle anyone. A gentler America will be a much wiser America. We are not name-callers. We do not need to make fun of people or belittle them to feel bigger. We do not want to create false fears and empty hopes. Fear has no home in America.
Let us go together as Republicans into the night that is falling upon us. Let us light up the night with our good sense. Let’s help each other through the night, not as citizens of a red state or a blue state, but as Americans. The Republican Party has in our history, and will in our future, lead the way into the new dawn and once again it will be Morning in America. The time is now, America. God bless the United States of America.
