Bush's Mandate

Yes, Mr. President, you DO have a mandate…

It is written in the U.S. Constitution: “…form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…” [Preamble to the U.S. Constitution]

Today, as you swear to uphold our Constitution, please consider this:

Form a More Perfect Union
· Help unite our divided American people. Listen to what all sides say, not just those who agree with you.

Establish Justice
· Appoint truly representative Supreme Court justices who have demonstrated allegiance to fairness, not to a particular point of view.
· Protect the individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Do not threaten or weaken them in the name of the War on Terror.
· Protect the weaker, poorer and less powerful members of society from the richer and more powerful members.

Insure Domestic Tranquility
· Help bring peace to our neighborhoods. The Wars on Drugs and Terror have failed to bring this peace precisely because they depend on a war mentality.
· Help strengthen families by providing the tools they need to be resilient, not merely by referring them to religion.

Provide for the Common Defense
· Protect us from real and immediate threats, such as crime in the streets and in corporate suites, hunger and homelessness; not questionable threats from distant lands, such as Iraq and Iran.

Promote the General Welfare
· See that the wealth of this great land is shared fairly and widely enough that no hard-working citizen is denied a stake in it.
· Protect our environment.
· Provide quality public education for grades K through college.
· Ensure that all Americans have health insurance.

Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and our Posterity
· Ensure that our liberty is protected not just from those outside our country, but also from those inside it.
· Consider the effect on the wellbeing of future generations when making today’s policies.

We, the undersigned, call upon you, Mr. President, to carry out this mandate.

To help Oregon PeaceWorks place this message as an advertisement in the January 20th edition of the Portland Oregonian, send a donation to Oregon PeaceWorks, 104 Commercial St. NE, Salem, OR 97301; www.oregonpeaceworks.org.