Never Forget
Never forget that in 2008 America elected a BLACK MAN President. By a decisive margin. And re-elected him, in 2012. Again, by a decisive margin.
Never forget that the Queen of Soul sang "My Country, 'tis of Thee" at the Presidential Inauguration in 2009. And that again in 2015 she sang at the national cultural awards ceremony known as Kennedy Honors, and moved that President and an entire auditorium of eminent people to tears of joy.
Never forget that in 2015 a brilliant young musician of Puerto Rican heritage penned a libretto and music based on the life of a Caribbean immigrant who became one of the architects of American freedom, and broke the mold of Broadway, winning every possible award and blazing across the national cultural consciousness like a comet.
Never forget that >>write in your "so proud of my country and its accomplishments in evolving towards greater unity and greater humanity" accomplishment in a response, and I'll update this post with as many as I can<<
Never forget these things because THEY ARE AMERICA.
More than anything since, they represent the truth and the vision of who we are as a nation.
In 2016, a potent foreign enemy won a crushing victory against America. All the more so because although the attack was made in plain sight, Americans would not recognize it for what it was.
During the Soviet era, Russia built a vigorous and all-too-effective disinformation program against its principal adversary, America.
Soviet intelligence fabricated, produced, and disseminated information specifically targeted at two objectives: One was to sow distrust and opposition in the community of nations, toward American goals and actions. Any time America committed a mistake, or ended up with a lesser-of-evils options set, the Soviets would exploit it. If there was nothing to exploit, they would distort and fabricate. They were all too successful, all too often.
The other Soviet objective was to sow disunity and distrust within America itself, to exploit the fault lines in our diverse culture and population to exacerbate tensions already manifest as we Americans struggled to evolve towards universal civil rights, respect, and equity. Racism was a particularly beloved fault line and the Soviets created and encouraged all kinds of sham organizations, events, distorted press coverage, rumors and gossip to exacerbate the fault line.
Of course, in the early 1990s, "the Soviets" were no longer a factor.
But they never went away. They became simply "Russians."
And in the churning smash-and-grab oligarchy-building era of Russian political evolution, they had less time and energy for their old foreign adversary, until one oligarch managed to claw his way to the top.
And once he'd consolidated sufficient power and eliminated potent rivals at home, Putin set about rebuilding the Soviet empire, without the Soviet, of course. But something was standing in his way.
America had been a potent opponent of Russian hegemony for more than fifty years. And America was a big, fat, vulnerable target.
Sure, communications methods had changed a lot since the old KGB days. But the principles remained the same: Sow distrust, use disinformation. Use rumor and innuendo. Exaggerate and exploit real mistakes. Fabricate plausible fantasies. Aim them strategically. Use the new, cheaper, and woefully less secured new digital methods to the max.
Combine that with the same old, same old- exploiting human assets, using kompromat and bribery and subversion to build networks of enablers and useful idiots and willing shills. Move tools into ever-more-strategic positions.
Russia isn't new at this. They have decades of successful experience. Putin isn't new at this, and he's highly motivated.
This attack has been building for a long time.
And in November of 2016 it looked as though he'd won a major battle in his larger strategy.
Here's the deal: I don't think he's as happy with his victory now as he doubtless was in December of 2016.
Because for all the tools he's suborned and nurtured and moved carefully into position, America as a whole remains AMERICA.
We are too big, too complicated, too chaotic, too American to yield tamely and universally to the kind of subversion the Kremlin delivers.
Too many of us know that although darkness may endure for a night, MORNING COMES. And those things we will not forget, do not forget, those things we love and value, they remain.
And with the slow return of Light, those memories will power a renaissance of American evolution:
We will free our scientists to tackle the challenges of climate change, in concert with the world's best minds.
We will invite in the hopeful, the hardworking, the aspirational immigrants who will help us build a new American infrastructure.
We will reinvent health care and education to serve everyone.
We will reinvigorate economic development and evolve new ways to distribute entrepreneurial brilliance and its benefits more broadly.
We will work creatively with allies and even with adversaries to ensure that the whole world sees hope and experiences greater freedom and security.
We can do all of that, if we NEVER FORGET.
Keep the flame, my dear ones.
Keep the flame.
determinedly,
Bright
= new reply since forum marked as read
"..Too many of us know that although darkness may endure for a night, MORNING COMES. And those things we will not forget, do not forget, those things we love and value, they remain.
And with the slow return of Light, those memories will power a renaissance of American evolution:
"We will free our scientists to tackle the challenges of climate change, in concert with the world's best minds.
We will invite in the hopeful, the hardworking, the aspirational immigrants who will help us build a new American infrastructure.
We will reinvent health care and education to serve everyone.
We will reinvigorate economic development and evolve new ways to distribute entrepreneurial brilliance and its benefits more broadly.
We will work creatively with allies and even with adversaries to ensure that the whole world sees hope and experiences greater freedom and security.
We can do all of that, if we NEVER FORGET.
Keep the flame, my dear ones. "
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Wonderful, lovely, also very inspiring, thank you for posting.. !!!!!!!!!!! 
