Liberal Pledge

To:  Conservatives and Republicans

I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:



1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never,
ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact,
we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.



2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider
your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our
business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.



3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to
enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for
you.



4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring
your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise
never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.



5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health
coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we
promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your
ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures
for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those
advances are available to you and your family, too.



6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up
our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe
the cleaner air and drink the purer water.



7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote
every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice.
Immediately. We will protect you.



8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do
there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your
age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.



9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon
or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a
hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our
streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect
your children just as we would protect ours.



10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees --
that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay
conservative women that wage, too.



11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those
beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most
radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the
peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and
"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did
for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just
bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance
and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a
good example for the rest of the world.



12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and
paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or
herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt
politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us
on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our
heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this
important duty as the loyal opposition.



I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are
every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or
swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for
giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our
300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.