Their Country?

They jeered when America’s President was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

They cheered when he failed to win the 2016 Summer Olympics for Chicago.

They sneered when he spoke to students in Cairo – as you and I, and the rest of the world, stood up and applauded.

They urged Americans to keep their kids out of school on the day America’s first minority President spoke to America’s schoolchildren, telling them that if they worked and studied really hard – they, too, could achieve their dreams.

They claimed he was not an American citizen.

They said he was a racist.

They said he was a terrorist – that he wanted to defeat America and turn her over to her enemies.

They said he wanted to kill your grandmother.  And kill babies, too.

They said he was a Socialist, or the second coming of Adolph Hitler.

They vowed to do everything in their power to make America’s President fail.



And do you know what they’re saying now?


They’re saying they want “their country” back.



They played politics while Americans suffered.

They repeatedly said “No”, “No”, “No” while tens of millions of Americans lost their homes, their jobs, their life savings.

They promoted fear . . . and anger . . . and lies . . . and hatred.

They call themselves the “Real” Americans. The “True” Patriots. Loyalists.

What do you suppose they call you and me?


And at this very moment, they are making plans to take “their country” back.



They pretend it wasn’t their party who failed to prevent the financial collapse in 2008 – the one that tanked our economy and took over 8,000,000 jobs away from American workers and cost nearly 2,000,000 Americans their homes.

They pretend that it wasn’t them who led America into a $740-billion dollar war with Iraq, based entirely on false pretenses.

They pretend it wasn’t them who ran up a $4.9 trillion dollar budget deficit during the 8 Bush/Cheney years.


And they are demanding that you and I give them “their country” back.




They behaved as if President Obama’s election was an error – instead of a mandate.

They believed the majority of voters who overwhelmingly demanded change from 8 years of Bush-Cheney-Republican policies were disloyal and unpatriotic.  And since the election, they’ve done everything in their power to prevent change by blocking nearly every one of President Obama’s stimulus, job creation, and business development bills.

They say they are obstructing the President – trying to make him fail – for your sake, not for theirs.



Do you really believe them?



They have lied, obstructed, distorted – and repeatedly put the interests of their own political party ahead of the interests of American citizens.

In a time of severe economic crisis for the American people, they’ve decided that it is better to rip this country in two – turning neighbor against neighbor; sister against brother; American against American – rather than to bring us together.  And they’ve done it for no other reason than that it helps their political prospects and helps raise money for their political party.



And, as you are reading this letter, they are gathering to take “their country” back.



They talk amongst themselves of requiring “purity tests” for those who would govern our country and our citizens.  And they brand those who disagree with them as “radicals”, “dangerous”, “disloyal”, “unpatriotic” and “un-American.”

They thrive on anger, hatred and divisiveness.  It empowers them.  And it emboldens them.  (And it should scare the living daylights out of all of us who believe in what our forefathers fought and died for.)



And they are already deciding what changes will be made once they get “their country” back.



They vowed to defeat President Obama and anyone who supported him. They vowed to make him meet his “Waterloo”.  And they are still trying.

They gambled that by not participating in solutions – by actually blocking them – they would force the President to fail, and they’d win future votes by prolonging America’s economic crisis and the suffering it has caused – until the next election.

They made the inexcusable political calculation that, under this President, it is more important to obstruct than it is to help ordinary citizens out of America’s worst economic disaster in 75 years.



And on Tuesday, November 2nd, they’re coming to take “their country” back.



Only one question remains:

Will you let them?



Will you let them continue to block every attempt at helping Americans recover from the economic meltdown – the one they helped create – the one that occurred on their watch, well before President Obama was even elected?

Will you let them continue to hold The Recovery hostage until they can install another Republican President in the White House?

Will you let them restore the policies that led to the greatest economic collapse this country has seen since the Great Depression?

Will you let them continue to play politics with people’s lives?


For the Republicans, the upcoming mid-term elections are about one thing, and one thing only – preventing President Obama from bringing the change you and the rest of America voted for.  It’s about making him fail.  And it’s about regaining control of The White House so they can go back to the 8 years of Republican policies that nearly bankrupted this country.

What it’s clearly not about, in their eyes, is you and me and the lives of 308 million other Americans.



If you agree with what they’re saying – with what they’re doing – then you don’t have to do a thing, because on November 2nd they will put a permanent end to the change we all voted for.

But if you think what they’re doing is wrong, then you and I must do everything we can to stop them – and we must act NOW – before it’s too late.



You and I can stop them, but we don’t have much time.


Here’s what we can – and must – do:

1) We must vote to defeat them, and their obstructionist ways, on Tuesday, November 2nd

2) We must talk with our friends, co-workers, family members and neighbors and ensure they vote

3) We must get the message out to others who may have been caught up in the lies, the fear and the distortion tactics propagated by the Republican Party, The Republican-funded Tea Party and The Republican Media

4) We must volunteer our time; donate where we can; knock on doors; write letters to newspapers; anything and everything we can think of



When President Obama was elected by an overwhelming majority, the message seemed pretty clear – America needed and wanted change.  But the Republican Party apparently didn’t hear that message – or didn’t want to – because they have spent the past 20 months blocking virtually every economic stimulus bill, job-creation bill, and business development bill that crossed their path.  They’ve made it perfectly clear that the only way to get the change America voted for, is to throw the Republican obstructionists out so President Obama can take the steps that are necessary to move the recovery, and America, forward.

And it starts with you and me – and everyone else who voted for change.

As President Obama said not so long ago, “I don’t quit, just because it’s hard”.
We don’t either.

Sincerely,

John P. Epstein
American

P.S. – The Republicans figured that, by working in lock-step to block change, they would break our spirit, crush our convictions, and leave us disillusioned.  It almost worked.  Now we must show them that America will not be held hostage or brought to her knees simply for their own political gain.  And the way to do that is by exposing the Republican Party’s hypocrisy and their self-serving lies, and defeating them in November.  Please get this message out to others – while there is still time – and make certain you vote on Tuesday, November 2nd.  Bring a friend to the polls with you.  If you can, bring a dozen.


If you believe America is YOUR country . . . 
         . . . get involved . . . and vote on Tuesday, November 2nd
PASS IT ON . . .