<\/a>Recently, Charlotte NC Mayor Dan Clodfelter proclaimed April 30, 2015 to be Honesty Day. In response, the editorial page editor of the Charlotte Observer–<\/a>Taylor Batten\u2014issued an invitation to readers to submit questions.<\/p>\n

One reader asked: \u201cWhy do you support such a liberal agenda?\u201d<\/p>\n

Batten answered honestly. And those of us who call ourselves liberals\/progressives would do well to make multiple copies of his response and keep it in our wallets, post it on our home screens, hang it on our refrigerators, and plaster it on t-shirts, mugs, and highway billboards. Well, it\u2019s a little too long for some of those locations, but you get the idea. Here\u2019s what Batten wrote:<\/p>\n

We believe that everyone is created equal.<\/p>\n

We believe that children should not bear responsibility for the sins of their parents.<\/p>\n

We believe that prevention is a heck of a lot cheaper than a cure.<\/p>\n

We believe people should not be treated as lesser citizens, with fewer rights, because of whom they love.<\/p>\n

We believe a thriving city, state and nation rests to a great degree in the quality of its public schools, and that every child deserves a dedicated, dynamic teacher, regardless of what ZIP code that child lives in.<\/p>\n

We believe discrimination is wrong in every instance.<\/p>\n

We believe in consistency, so if you are going to drug-test recipients of public assistance, drug-test them all, including the corporate chieftains who are the biggest beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

We believe that police officers should act professionally, under incredibly difficult circumstances, regardless of a suspect\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

We believe taxes should be kept as low as possible while still providing a sound safety net for the neediest, a robust education for all, decent health care for the elderly and the destitute, and other basics.<\/p>\n

We believe politicians of any party should keep their promises, avoid the appearance of personal gain from the public trust, and look out for the general welfare, not that of any one special interest.<\/p>\n

We believe there are people of worth beyond our tight circle and there are neighborhoods beyond our own, with different histories, perspectives and needs.<\/p>\n

We believe offenders have paid their price when their sentence is up and should be helped to assimilate back into society. And that that\u2019s better for the community than neglecting them and watching them commit another crime.<\/p>\n

We believe there are peace-loving Muslims.<\/p>\n

We do not believe President Obama was born in Kenya.<\/p>\n

We believe in the separation of church and state.<\/p>\n

\u2026We believe if you\u2019re a fan of a politician solely because he has a \u2018D\u2019 or an \u2018R\u2019 after his name, then you\u2019re not paying attention.<\/p>\n

We believe we have only one planet, and we should protect it for our grandchildren.<\/p>\n

If that earns us the label \u201cliberal\u201d in your eyes\u2026so be it. We approach the issues of the day with an open mind and guided by those principles, not by blind devotion to any political party. And that\u2019s the honest truth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wish I’d written that!<\/p>\n

[Hat tip to Black Max at Daily Kos<\/a>, for dredging this up and putting it where I could find it.]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, Charlotte NC Mayor Dan Clodfelter proclaimed April 30, 2015 to be Honesty Day. In response, the editorial page editor of the Charlotte Observer–Taylor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1575,77,2303],"tags":[1212,2439,221],"yoast_head":"\n