Mothers for American Values

In the 2004 presidential election, 80% of voters who chose Bush reported their #1 issue as “values.� The Bush administration has purposely changed the meaning of this word to reflect a particular slice of Christianity and a particular set of wedge issues, starting with fertility, abortion and gay rights and extending to science, civil liberties and more. They’ve used these perceived threats to divert people’s attention from the war in Iraq, the tanked economy, environmental destruction and loss of our rights to free speech and the accessiblilty of education, health care, good jobs, food, clothing and shelter that each of us expects as an American.

We are part of the mainstream of this country, and we will stand for the values that we believe matter to our people. We believe that we should, as a nation and as individuals, do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

We stand for:
• Making sure that every person in this country, and particularly, every child, has food, clothing and shelter.
• An educational system that teaches for children, not tests, and makes programs available to help and enrich our students culturally and intellectually.
• No child labor, here or abroad.
• Living wage for our workers and a global minimum wage
• Equal rights regardless of sexual orientation, race or religion.
• Civil liberties, including and not limited to the rights of free speech and privacy.
• Reproductive freedom and quality sex education.
• Affordable health care for everyone, not tied to employment.
• A viable social safety net which supports our seniors, our poor and working families and our single parents and children.
• Good jobs and equal pay for men and women.
• Family-value policies at work: parental leave, job-sharing and flextime.
• Safe, affordable childcare.
• No war in our name.
• No draft in our nation.
• Uphold human rights and adhere to the Geneva Convention.
• End to corporate corruption.
• Environmental protection and restoration; endorsing and expanding the Kyoto Treaty.
• Nuclear non-proliferation and endorsing non-proliferation agreements worldwide.

We will, as Barak Obama said in his acceptance speech, remember that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, and that when people in our nation lose rights, it imperils us all. We know that our children ask the world of us, that they turn to us for comfort and look up to us for guidance. Let us be our children’s heroes as we stand for kindness, for tolerance, for diversity, for our land, for our hopes and our children’s dreams.
We are the mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and friends of America, and we will stand for the values of this great nation.

This message is offered as a community service announcement. For more information check out: http://www.familiesforvalues.org