A Non-Partisan Values Protection Pledge for Lawmakers?

I’m still heart-broken over the results of our election. It’s hard for me to see that so many Americans were willing to vote for this man who I believe has shown an obvious disregard for truth, reason and education. But the fact is that they did. And now we all have to figure out our next moves.

There were 63 million people who chose Trump. I don’t believe that all 63 million have hate in their hearts. Many of them just couldn’t see themselves in the agenda of the Democratic party. How can we ensure that they don’t make the same choice during the mid-terms in 2 years or during the general in 4 years? How can we reach out to reasonable Republicans to help fight the more extreme parts of the Trump agenda? How can we ensure that we eventually get back to a truth-based, fact-based political discussion? 

First, we need to acknowledge that we’ll need some of them. We need to reach out to the more moderate Republicans to help ensure that we protect certain democratic (small d) rights over the next few years. We need to take control of the narrative and call out hypocrisy and untruths when they happen.

Here’s my attempt at a list of (hopefully) non-partisan values that I think are key to America’s identity. I’d like to call to my friends across the political spectrum to help me ensure that we hold our representatives accountable for protecting these values. Maybe we can develop a values-based equivalent of Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Maybe it could look something like this.

My America:

-       Protects minority populations from discrimination (whether that’s due to race, religion or sexual preference).

-       Invests in quality public education for ALL its citizens, holds them to high standards and treats all children as valuable, regardless of the zip code in which they were born.

-       Doesn’t deny well-documented science. BUT doesn’t leave people behind while trying to make the environment better.

-       Looks at facts over what “feels” true. My America holds elected officials accountable for telling the truth.

-       Isn’t made for just the 1%.

-       Values education, research and innovation and isn’t afraid of progress. My America looks forward, not backward.

-       Values immigrants and the gifts that they bring this country.

-       Doesn’t punish children for the acts of their parents.

-       Is the land of the free and the home of the brave. NOT the home of the people who cower and limit freedoms because of a handful of hateful extremists.

-       Puts the Constitution (the WHOLE Constitution) above everything else as the law of the land. The Constitution protects religion, minorities, immigrants AND the press. It gives everyone in this country an equal say. It protects access to the polls. And it protects the rights of lawful gun owners.

-       IS GREAT NOW!

Thoughts? What did I miss? What should come off of this list? Am I delusional to believe that these values are bipartisan? Admittedly, I'm liberal. Don't conservatives believe these things, too?

In my concept, any politician who isn’t willing to sign this pledge would be asked to explain why. What specifically do they disagree with? And anyone who does, but then supports a policy antithetical to the pledge (like a Muslim registry or eliminating DACA) could also be called out.

I suspect that it will be up to us as citizens (on both sides of the “aisle) to get much more involved in government over the next few years.  I hope I’m wrong, but we may need to become more personally involved in protecting rights for some of our more vulnerable neighbors. Even if our new president doesn’t use hate speech, his success has already emboldened some who do to come out of the shadows. We may need to personally support programs that lose government funding.

We will only be successful in all of this if we work together with like-minded people, regardless of their political persuasion.