The Long Table

I don’t mind paying taxes for the greater good. I’d like to see more balance in who pays what, because everyone should contribute and in accordance with their ability to do so. Corporations too. 

 

I’m happy to have people from other countries build their lives here. We were (and will be again) a shining beacon, burning bright, offering hope and refuge to the downtrodden, persecuted and the poor. We truly do have enough for everyone at our long American table. And most importantly: this is a foundational ideal of our nation (see: Statue of Liberty). Some of the hardest working people I have ever known came from outside the US and worked to make a better life for themselves and their families. 

 

I believe a woman should have sovereignty over her body and all decisions related to it. I believe children, once born, deserve all the support we can give them, regardless of the circumstances into which they were born or the decisions their parents made. I believe it is wrong to punish the child in order to deny the parent. 

 

I believe health insurance and health care should not be profit-making businesses. I believe pharmaceutical companies should be given tax or other incentives to focus on rare diseases. 

 

I believe in everyone’s right to practice the tenets of their religious faith. I believe in the separation of church and state. I believe saying happy holidays is inclusive and respectful and that saying Merry Christmas to someone you know celebrates it is fine too. 

 

There’s room for everyone at our long American table. 

 

I believe Black lives matter. I believe systemic racism is real and was deliberately constructed to continue the oppression of people of color. I believe it is a moral imperative to do everything I can to dismantle those systems and to bear witness to racism and call it out when I see it. I believe people who aren’t Black, brown or indigenous (BIPOC) simply have no idea what it’s like and should listen and believe the lived experience of our BIPOC sisters and brothers. I believe 400 years of oppression can’t be undone but they can end and should. I believe we are all God’s children and that he weeps for our treatment of one another. 

 

Everyone deserves a seat at our long American table. 

 

I believe love is love is love. My choice of whom to love has no impact on yours, nor does it diminish us as a society. I also believe we must trust people to identify themselves as they are. I can't imagine how it feels to know you're in the wrong body.  You probably can't either, so we should trust those who feel this way, allow them the space to show the world their true selves and honor their names and choices.

 

I believe that there aren’t as many people cheating “the system” as some would have you believe. And the ones that are cheating aren’t all poor or non-white. I know people who have been on welfare, and they were ashamed and got off it as quickly as they could. I know affluent people who didn’t need help taking it simply because they could. 

 

I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt. Even people whose beliefs and values run completely counter to mine. I believe what I believe fiercely and with my whole heart. I’m not ashamed to be deeply concerned about the condition of our country and our democracy, and to be sick with worry over what's happening. I turn the other cheek at being called a "libtard" or a "snowflake." If being concerned about the common good makes me weak or less in the eyes of some people, so be it. It’s how I choose to live and name calling or disdain won’t change that. I will think less of people who resort to name calling. Fair warning.

 

But I’ll still welcome you to our long American table, though you must leave racism and hatred at the door. 

 

I have lived a fortunate and privileged life. Not privileged in the sense of wealth, far from it.  Privileged in the sense of opportunity, of expanded horizons, of seeing other places, experiencing cultures, observing religions. These experiences have made my worldview. I’m proud to have this perspective because instead of being afraid of losing what’s “mine” or what I’m “owed” my worldview gives me confidence in that long American table. 

 

Can I offer you a seat?