Back in 2006, we launched Unite Our States, the PAC which preceded the launch of the Biden for President campaign. Back then, Senator Biden had a basic theme he wanted to push. There were no red states or blue states. All the states were purple. By the end of the Democratic primaries, the Obama campaign had set that stage perfectly and we all know what happened next.
In reality, there are red states and blue states, politically speaking. More accurately, there are red people and blue people in various concentrations throughout the country. And there are purple people growing in numbers in many locales. They vary in shades of purple - swing voters, independents, moderate Democrats, moderate Republicans (a dwindling lot).
And then there are those, some red, some blue, some colorless, but not odorless, to whom the purple people are a problem. I call them the Purple People-Eaters. Liberal Democrats think purple Democrats are sell-outs. They would eat, digest and spit out every purple Democrat in their likeness if they could. The media find purple people a distraction at best. They like the world full of controversy-- black and white, red and blue, black and blue. They eat purple people for lunch and most end up on the cutting-room floor.
Conservative Republicans, particularly those of the Tea Party stripe, hate purple people. They are trying to take over the country and are willing to devour any purple Republican who stands in their way, let alone the rest of us. But they are not the worst of it.
The principal carnivores of the purple infestation are the Machiavellian "Red Monster Squad." You know some of their names: Rove, Norquist, the Koch brothers, to name a few. These are the big red people to whom the purple people represent a threat to their way of life. When the purple people are happy, Democrats tend to win elections. When the purple people are afraid, uncertain, running for the hills or forced into the camps of the red and blue, Republicans tend to win.
Purple people don't see the world in red and blue or black and white. They know that "no new taxes" is a political slogan and not a panacea. They know that not all wars are justified. They do crazy things like...vote for the person! They are, after all...purple.
Right now, the Red Monster Squad is trying to panic the purple people. Unlike wild animals, the purple people are easier to catch when they're running scared. The Red Monster Squad has gotten very good at setting traps and using big nets to haul in big numbers of panicky purple people. Red foxes catch them when they scamper into the woods. When they are in a group, purple people look stronger and are more confident. They keep the foxes at bay.
The purple people are worried about President Obama. They thought he was one of their own back in 2008. They thought he would help rebuild their zone of comfort, the one that 9/11, Bush and Cheney, sub-prime lending and credit-default swaps took away. They thought Obama would show them the way to help themselves survive and thrive. They thought he had a plan. But they haven't heard or seen much of that plan. Until now.
But the Red Monsters are lurking. They scream at the purple people every night through their TV sets. You have to be red or blue! You can't be purple!
This is a blog for the purple people. The whole world is watching you.
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