Dear Al,
Allow me to add my voice to the hundreds of thousands who have actively urged you to run and the hundreds of millions who are hoping you will and to the nearly seven billion who desperately need you to.
I know this is a heavy, heavy burden and I know you feel it’s weight. The decision that you have to make quite possibly is one that has more implications for all of humanity than any other man has ever borne upon his shoulders.
I understand completely how reluctant you must be to wade back into the ugly swamp of politics, I truly do have some appreciation of the sacrifice it would entail for you and your family and I deeply sympathize. What I and the vast number of others are pleading for you to undertake is a cruel and unusual task, a challenge that is monumental and indeed, nearly epic.
It is, as you and I both know, nothing less than saving the planet.
And that IS to much to ask of one man. Especially of a man who has been so misused and maltreated by the very political system you are being asked to subject yourself to again.
We are asking you to engage in a brutal primary, and then an election under the most partisan circumstances imaginable. An election in which you will doubtlessly be attacked even more viciously than you were in 2000. One in which all of the weight of The Republican Dirty Tricks Machine will throw all it has in it’s arsenal against you, and one in which the Corporate Media will slant and smear you at every opportunity, one in which the vast powers of every International Mega-Corporation in the world be used to an unprecedented extent and with extreme malicious intent against you. Once you come through that gauntlet, you are then committing to four to eight years of grueling public service. Every day of which will be a battle unto itself against those same forces, the forces that are attempting in their eyes, no less than their own self-preservation. For the short sighted corporate interests will see you not as a force for good, but as a force out to destroy their stockholders profits.
This is what you face, if you run. Or you can stay out of the swamp and keep working as you are, doing a fantastic job of education and activism. Truly changing the planet from exactly where you are, without having to expose yourself to the barbarity waiting in store for you. It would seem to be an easy choice to make. I can certainly understand why you would not want to run……but……
Tough Shit!
It makes perfect sense for you not to run, any sane person would make that choice…..except for one thing….
Destiny.
As our planet and our future are literally poised on the brink, in a time where the next few years of decision making are critical to the survival of so many species………including ours…..
….it is impossible not to look back at the last decade or so of history and see how your life is intertwined in it. It is impossible to not remark upon the extraordinary series of events that have brought us to this time and place, to this brink. And it is impossible not to look at your central role in them….and at the role you are now being called upon to play. A role that NONE of us wish you were required to fulfill, but that nonetheless….you are.
Whatever Gods we believe in or don’t believe in, we all have a destiny, a shape to out lives. For most of us, our small destinies, the shape our lives end up taking, are fairly prosaic….the Fates rarely interfering or even paying much attention.
This is not so with your life, sir!
You were in Vietnam and for worked for five years afterwards as a journalist. You have served in both the House and the Senate and so know the intricacies of the Congressional process (albeit in saner times!) and then of course, you served as Vice President. You know both our Government and the Fourth Estate extremely well. You have a singular and unique set of experiences of our systems and our times. Then, as you were poised to assume the highest office of the land after winning the 2000 election, your seeming destiny….the Fates DID take a hand. And as horrible as the last six years have been….in a very meaningful way, we owe them thanks.
For though things would be much different today if you had been President, you would not have been shaped into the man you are today. And the man you are today is exactly who our country and the planet needs to lead us. And there is no mistaking the fact that at this juncture in history, we desperately need a leader. I very strongly believe that both your past in government service and the last six years you have spent outside of the grind of politics have given you the perspective needed to be that leader. You are in unique position…one decreed perhaps by destiny….someone who knows the process of government and the media intimately, yet has managed to escape the bubble of politics that seems to blind an smother those inside it, and that seems to convince them not to be bold, not to be true leaders.
Destiny has led you to a unique perspective of leadership, has shaped and made you into the very individual the world and our nation needs today. A smart, tough, seasoned, smart, compassionate, smart, wisened and smart leader who understands the current and future varied, vast and daunting complexities we face. Ans who unlike our current leader….is smart.
Everyone with half a brain can see what is happening with our weather, and everyone who is paying attention can see the progression and accumulation of the Climate Crisis as various factors are complimenting each other to hasten the onset of Warming. For God’s sake, the Corporations see the melting of the Arctic ice not as a near dead canary in the coal mine, but as an opportunity to extract more fossil fuels! This madness must be addressed and addressed immediately.
But Global Warming is not the only madness that needs addressing, you have proven that you also CLEARLY see and understand the crisis our Constitution and our government (as evidenced here, in perhaps the best speech in our young century) is in and the consequences of that crisis as well. You are the only potential candidate that has directly addressed this issue. I’m sure that you have only grown more horrified as time has passed since that speech, as we have all witnessed the ongoing crimes and abuses of our Constitution and our Freedoms.
If the world has a chance to change, America must lead that change. Must lead as the beacon of freedom and justice it once was, not as the bully and oppressor of freedom it is now. I firmly believe that you and only you among all the candidates understand how important it is to restore the Rule of Law in our country.
As well as how vital it is to restore our nations standing in the world so that we can lead. Throughout your world travels on behalf of the planet you have become a de facto good will ambassador for our country, our only diplomat. I know you will continue to reach out diplomatically, and that the leaders of the world know and trust you and will be happy to work with you. We MUST partner with the entire world at this time, we have no other choice. We need to restore our good name and renew their trust in our country. You can accomplish that as well.
Indeed, it is not so much that our nation and this world needs repairing, in may ways we have moved beyond that stage. What we need now is to create a new paradigm. To in effect, create a new world out of the ashes of the world that George Bush has set aflame. To do that we truly do need a man of vision, a man of deep comprehension and understanding of the plight that we are in, and who sees clearly the dire future in store for us and future generations….IF we do not leave off the ways of war and division and find a way for the whole planet to work together. To work together to address the multitude of current and future problems we face, and to create a new way of being that is healthier for us all and that is truly sustainable. To create a world that we can pass along to our children and grandchildren and the next seven generations.
The candidates the Democrats have to offer are good men and women and ANY of them will be a marked improvement after the destruction that George Bush and Republicanism have wrought. We are lucky ro have them. But none of them have as yet to stand up and make the commitment to the planet OR the Constitution that you have.
None of them have the truly unique perspective and knowledge and skill set you do, none of them have the world standing and respect that you do, and none of them have the ability to make the immediate difference we so desperately need in turning this disastrous situation we find ourselves in around. I do NOT want to pin the label of savior or messiah on you.
A savior must work alone…..and you will NOT be alone. Every human on the planet is waiting for something to rouse us and rally us and give us a way forward, a real and meaningful way to work towards a better future. I know, you are just a human being too, although an extraordinary one. You are not a miracle worker….but you ARE our best hope. Destiny is calling you.
Destiny denied you the Presidency in 2000, because destiny was saving you for when you were really needed. Destiny seems to have led you on the quest to save the planet that you have so very nobly begun. Destiny has transformed you from the man you were then to the man you are now. Destiny has supplied you with an army of supporters and admirers who will work their fingers to the bone and dig holes in their pockets to support your work and your candidacy. We are all of us waiting for someone to stand up, to rally us, to point the way. For someone to say that there IS a way, that we CAN do this. Just point the way, and the country and the world will rise up to follow your direction. Destiny has made you into the man our country needs to lead us, the man the world needs, the man the planet needs.
I trust destiny to inform you when it is time to run. And I trust that you will listen to and fulfill that destiny. That you will heed destinies guidance….
For as you yourself said
As I stand here today, I am filled with optimism that America is on the eve of a golden age in which the vitality of our democracy will be re-established by the people and will flourish more vibrantly than ever. Indeed, I can feel it in this hall.
As Dr. King once said, perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.
Destiny is waiting for your announcement, as are we all.
These dark times owe us a hero. We are hoping it is you. For we ALL want to fight, we all want to work, we all want to see the world change. We all want to come closer to what we all know in our hearts this world CAN be. We just need a hero to fight beside us, to lead us into the battle we all know needs to be fought and fought soon. So we acknowledge it, we are asking much of you, the man. It will be a hard, long fight, even with us beside you, even with all of us working together.
But just stop for a moment as the time to make your decision closes in, stop and think not of the sacrifice and hard work…but….
…..think of the feeling you will have when we succeed! When all of us working together are able to turn the destiny of the planet itself away from destruction, and towards the creation of a new and better world, a new and better way. Think of what that will mean to all of us, and to every child who comes after us.
With all of us working together, working hard, we can do it. We WANT to do it. All we need someone to get us started, someone to show us how, someone to lead us onto the first step of the journey. We need someone to point the way and give us hope.
We need YOU, President Gore. Destiny is calling. All you have to do is answer, and we will answer too!