Congratulations on your convincing victory on the St. Paddy?s day Democratic straw poll, the first I hope of many such political victories. You beat another good Democrat among a crowd of Democrats, and many people there with a military background resonated to your speech about service? in other words, you were preaching to the choir. There will be a hard slog ahead across the state to repeat this triumph before you even get to face George Allen, as you know. You convinced me early on, and not because of this ?issue? or that, or because of your military background (I asked myself, being Army, ?what am I doing supporting a Navy file??), or because of your opposition to the Iraq invasion, or even because of your support for Roe v. Wade.
I am in your camp because I believe you will change the rules of engagement by changing the terms of debate. You are the only candidate I have found in over two years who can do this to the advantage of the classical progressive side of politics. This applies across the board on every important situation America faces today, where Democrats have sadly accepted the neocons? framing, and never been able to respond outside the Republican box, thus removing the discussion to new, more favorable terrain. I trust that you can and will do so.
Beyond our mutual agreement on the progressive world view is another, larger reality I find difficult to express. It goes something like this: we, not just in America but in the world at large, are in a dangerous time of turmoil and change, an old order is passing and we do not yet know exactly what the new will look like. The elements of a revolution rather than an evolution are falling into place. Here in the United States we are not yet at that point of rage and violence, but there is no guarantee that such an upheaval cannot be triggered by a combination of circumstances (like, say, a severe depression or environmental catastrophe), causing angry, frightened people to respond to a man on a white horse. That is how Hitler and Mussolini both came to power, and Huey Long from Louisiana was moving the same way in the 1930's. We need to have strong, progressive leaders in place who will protect and preserve our democratic form of government, to whom those angry people can turn. I will be relying on you to be one of those leaders.
Sincerely,
Teddy Goodson