SEIU-ULTCW President Laphonza Butler Addresses One Nation CA Crowd

One Nation West Coast!! — We Rock!

I AM A VALUES VOTER

I am a Values Voter: I value peace and tolerance in the community so that all children are free from bullying, all my neighbors are free from intimidation, and my community and my nation are strengthened through unity.

I am Values Voter: I value Freedom of Religion so that my neighbors and I may have a deep relationship with all that is most profound to each of us, in ways that are meaningful to each of us. I will vote for the men and women who recognize the sacredness of the right to freely choose what to believe in, how to receive the mystery of Life, and how to best acknowledge the gift of Life….

I am a Values Voter: I value air, water, and food that is free of poisons, so that all children are safe from the threat of diminished health and ability, so that my neighbors and I may experience the full vitality of health that we were created to enjoy. I will vote for those among us who will reveal the truth about the negative impact that under-regulated pesticides and chemicals have had on our health and our homes. I will vote for those who will clean up the toxins, and who will help redirect that industrial energy to organic and green practices, in city offices, at waterside docks, in abundant vertical greenhouses, and on peaceful fields.

I am a Values Voter: I value the wonder, complexity, and awe-inspiring beauty of the world. I show respect for the Creator –whoever or whatever that may be — by showing respect for creation. I vote for those who will protect our wild areas, who will integrate concern for wildlife and native plants in their plans, and who will make certain that all children can experience the world as it was created.

I am a Values Voter: I value stable communities, built on sustainable, honorable jobs. I will vote for those who will protect American jobs and who will demand fair pay and safe working conditions. I will cast my vote for those who support the health of authentic small, local businesses – not outsourcers, and off-shore operations disguised as small businesses.

I am a Values Voter: I value honesty and integrity in the business community. I know that putting a business suit on fraudulent and negligent behavior does not make it respectable. I will vote for those who do not collude with dishonest business interests. I will vote for those leaders who will oppose corruption, and who will enforce tough penalties on well-dressed crooks.

I am a Values Voter: I respect Life and will vote for those who seek to reduce violence in the home, on the street, and abroad. I will vote for those who know that killing, wounding, and displacing civilians overseas during the conflicts we wage is grievously immoral, and results in the creation of more enemies. I will vote for those who understand that this is dangerous for America and morally offensive to all citizens of the world, American and otherwise.

I am a Values Voter: I value sensible budgets and do not believe that more than one million dollars a minute spent on military related expenses (source: National Priorities Project and American Friends Service Committee) is the best use of our tax money. I will vote for those courageous enough to turn off the bloody spigot of endless, labyrinthine spending for endless war.

I am Values Voter: I respect Life and do not believe our biggest export should be the machines of death. I will vote for those who choose Life over death; those who will lead us to become the world’s greatest innovator in green, sustainable technologies and products so that Life on Earth may flourish, and we may begin again to export with true American pride.

I am a Values Voter: I respect privacy and do not believe that the government, or any of its contracted mercenaries, should have the right to spy on citizens without a warrant. I will vote for those leaders who will pull the plug on the shadow government and end unjustified surveillance of Americans.

I am a Values Voter: I respect Life and so I will vote for leaders willing to work hard to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, to promote adoption and fostering, to end child abuse and neglect, to see that no child in America is malnourished, cold, homeless, or trafficked.

I am a Values Voter: I respect Life and so I vote for those who are willing to work with communities to provide meaningful activities and involvements for youth; to create environments that promote healthy self-respect and that provide for youth the tools with which to accomplish great dreams.

I am a Values Voter: I respect Life and so I want every child to have a decent start, with safe places to play and good schools to attend. I will vote for the men and women who uphold education as a national priority, and who will help communities provide the libraries and activities to our children that inspire and encourage them to explore, learn, and mature into wise adults.

I am a Values Voter: I value my elders. I want the elderly of my community to be treated with respect. I do not want the elders of any community to live alone in fear. I will vote for leaders who will protect Social Security, and who will find new ways to enhance the quality of life for our elders, and facilitate their involvement in society.

I am a Values Voter: I respect the First Nations whose home this land is, and has been, for thousands of years. I understand that my beloved United States is a young nation, and one that has made brutal and ignorant mistakes. I know that acknowledging this will make us stronger, braver – more moral as a people, and better able to build a strong tomorrow. I will vote for leaders not afraid to acknowledge that truth.

I am a Values Voter: I know that First Nations Americans, and those of many races whose ancestors were brought as indentured servants or slaves, have the right to a full and accurate accounting of history, to have their ancestors and their story valued and respected. It is their right and their gift as Americans to help define a greater vision of hope and unity than would ever be possible without this full awareness. I will vote for leaders with the moral courage to call on the vision of all Americans to create our future.

I am a Values Voter: I know that all Americans, except First Nations Americans and those who were brought by force, are immigrants. I know that every immigrant came hoping for a better life, whether we came three hundred years ago or yesterday. I know that hope defines the American dream; it is the hope of living without fear of oppression, free from religious intolerance, and free from exploitation and abuse by profiteers. That is the American dream and only together can we realize it…. Only when we face the ways in which we ourselves oppress and profiteer, will we ever fulfill it. I will vote for leaders who have not lost sight of the dream that makes us — Americans.

I am a Values Voter: I value the power of innovation and the free exchange of ideas to move us, as a nation and as a world, into a new Renaissance. I will vote for leaders who will return the educational system to the people, making advanced education accessible to all; leaders who will again embrace the challenge of raising a nation of thinkers, wise in their understanding and broad in their knowledge.

I am Values Voter: I value freedom and do not believe that government has the right to tell consenting adults who they may marry, and who they may not — who they may love, or who they may not love.

I am a Values Voter: I believe that healing is a sacred calling – not a stock market asset. I believe that all people have the right to seek healing and that no one should be denied healing; including healing that is not limited to manufactured drugs and surgery, but includes time-tested traditional methods of working with the body through nutrition, exercise, natural plants, mind, emotion, and energy.

I am a Values Voter: I respect creation and do not believe that the government has the right to outlaw one natural plant, placed on this earth by the Creator, while making perfectly legal thousands of manufactured drugs and chemicals that sicken and kill us every day through side effects, drug interactions, and pollution.

I am a Values Voter: I respect Life and will vote for those who will acknowledge the intolerable brutality of factory “farms,” as well as the human health dangers and the pollution they create. I will vote for those who will close these nightmares down, and who will promote sustainable, humane farms.

I am a Values Voter: I believe in community. I will vote for those willing to restore our infrastructure in such a way that our re-emergent communities are human-scale and nature friendly; with thought given to creating opportunities for healthy human interaction, with safe places for people of all ages and walks of life to come together and enjoy the gifts of community.

I am a Values Voter: I believe in the dignity and worth of human Life and I reject the abandonment of our nation’s growing number of homeless individuals and families. I will vote for leaders who will help us find a way to create affordable housing, and who will work with those who have been knocked down to find a way to climb back up the precipice.

I am a Values Voter: I value Truth. I expect truthfulness from my leaders, from the media, and from those with whom I do business. I will vote for those who will oppose deception, and who will pull back the curtain to expose the powerful forces that spread the seeds of hatred and discord to further their own ends and divide our nation.

I am a Values Voter: And I am not a fool. I know perfectly well that corporations are not people. I expect my leaders to see the obvious also, and proclaim, “The Emperor has no clothes.” In fact, he is not even a human being. I further know that there is no true legal precedent for this posturing; only a comment made in a header by a court reporter (Santa Clara County vs.Southern Pacific Railroad; Thom Hartmann, Unequal Protection), and yet our nation is imperiled by the flood of corporate and foreign money being injected through this falsehood into our domestic elections and into the pockets of our Senators and Representatives. I will vote for those men and women who will clean up this outrage against the real people – we the American people.

I am a Values Voter: I value the right to vote as much as I value my citizenship. I will demand that my leaders safeguard free and fair elections by taking secretive, proprietary black boxes out of our election booths – and putting a clear, transparent paper trail back.

I am a Values Voter: I believe that meaning in life derives from how I relate to my family and friends, and whether I have a positive impact on my community and the world – not from how many riches I amass for myself. I will vote for leaders who share that moral perspective.

I am a Values Voter: I believe in the power of Love over hate, kindness over cruelty, creativity over destruction, honesty over deception, cooperation over greed, and hope over despair.

I have Values – and I Vote.

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