To the Editor:
This past election day brought with it tougher decisions for some than the outcome would indicate. We would like to share the following letter, which we mailed out election day in hopes of articulating our strong concerns about the Democratic platform despite our final decisions to vote for it.
Dear President Clinton:
We are sending you this letter on election day with the belief that you will remain in office for a second term as Executive Chief of the United States of America. We have cast our votes in your favor as the most viable alternative to what we see as the horrific right wing in this country. However, we do this with apprehension and would like to voice our concern for the degree to which your own policy has drifted from the progressive values of your leftist constituency. Do not forget that we voted you in in '92.
Our hesitance in voting for you stems from your support of conservative welfare legislation policies which deny rather than protect the basic human rights of education, health care and social security to countless citizens and residents of this country. We are angered by your excluding immigrant communities from these basic social services, people who have been essential to our country's history and upon which much of our economy depends. Your signing of the Domestic Marriage Act was a weak and cowardly move on your part. Once again you have denied the right to freedom of self determination to countless United States citizens. Legislation such as these undermine the human rights that we feel this courtly should represent.
We would like to point out that in response to these conservative measures you have lost an important part of your constituency to third party alternatives which represent truly progressive politics. We recognize that the conservative platform has claimed a monopoly over the term "values". It is by encouraging coalitions within the left wing that we can begin to define cohesive values for the Democratic party. Only by embracing these larger values of social justice and human rights can you begin to bridge gaps between progressive interest groups. We remind you, President Clinton, that this has not been a Republican primary and we hope you snap out of it during your next four years in office.
Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 8; November 8, 1996
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