The American Dream

You may have missed the Democratic Convention speech last night of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz if you were watching on a channel that had talking heads interpret/interrupt the action for you (almost any channel other than CSpan).

I am privileged to be Mayor of Miami, a city built on the dreams of so many who have come to America searching for freedom and opportunity. I left Cuba at age six, arriving on my mother's lap. We didn't have a penny to our name, but I grew up to become mayor of one of America's greatest cities and president of the United States Conference of Mayors.

I believe in the American dream because I am a product of it. This is the only country in the world that inspires a dream. We provide refuge to those seeking freedom, hope to those seeking opportunity. Our nation's history is built on the stories of men and women who, from many, have become one. It does not matter what your name is, where you came from or what language your ancestors spoke.

Read the complete speech.

It is absolutely breath-taking how the people who have been running our country the last 8 years have been killing the goose who lays the golden eggs. They have been over-turning the American dream and throwing away the things that the rest of the world admired about us. Since the time of George Washington we had been the ones who did not torture and who gave quarter – did not kill soldiers who surrendered to us. Since the time of Thomas Jefferson we have been the place where the majority did not force their religious views on the minority. Since the time of Madison we have had three branches of government with checks and balances so as not to have too much power in one person's hands, in order to avoid being ruled by a despot like England's King George. Since the time of the Mayflower we have been the ones, in Mayor Diaz's words, providing refuge to those seeking freedom, hope to those seeking opportunity.

I just can't get over that these radicals who are over-turning all these long-standing American principles call themselves "conservatives." What exactly do they think they are conserving?