"What Robert Kennedy Said"
Today is Labor Day. All across America, millions of people are discovering that the best way to celebrate Labor Day is by not working.
Do you live to work, or do you work to live?
If you are married, look at your wedding album; are there any pictures in there of you at work?
And on your tombstone, do you want it to say, "I wish that I could have spent more time at work"?
Here is what Robert Kennedy had to say about this, 42 years ago:
"Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
"Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."
When Robert Kennedy said these words, the unemployment rate in America was 3.7%. Today, it is almost three times as high. Too many of our working brothers and sisters are out of work, thanks to over a decade of economic mismanagement. 10% of us are unemployed, and the other 90% work like dogs to try to avoid joining them. Which is just what the bosses want.
But it doesn't have to be that way. I look forward to a Labor Day where every worker has a job, every worker has a pension, every worker has paid vacations, and every worker has the health care to enjoy life.
My opponents call that France. I call it America, an America that is Number One.
Not #1 in wasted military expenditures.
Not #1 in number of foreign countries occupied.
Number One in jobs. Number One in health. Number One in education. Number One in happiness.
As Robert Kennedy famously said, "I dream of things that never were, and ask 'why not?'" Why not? Let's make it happen.
And then all of us who are Americans, including the ones today who are jobless, homeless, sick and suffering, we all can then say, "I am proud to be an American."
Are you with me?
Truth,
Rep. Alan Grayson
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5 comments:
Alan Greyson? A "great congressman"? You have GOT to be kidding. What a joke he is! His poll numbers are in the tank. He is a Florida embarassment! where is this coming from?
You know, life in this country is pretty good. It always has been. Yes we are having a recession right now---a very bad one---but that is the nature of economics. The more we intervene the longer it will take to recover.
Your belief that the government can be all things, and take care of everyone is unrealistic and you need to show me where in the world that actually works, and has worked for any sustainable length of time.
CJP, you do not strike me as a poor man. I bet you are pretty comfortable. How did you get that way? did the government do that for you? Or did you work for yourself or for a large company that afforded you a comfortable living?
Then why the Hell do you knock it now?
When Obama took office, the unemployment rate was about 7.8%. Now we are at 9.6% and for awhile there we were at 10% (and we were told that the stimulus would prevent the unemployment rate from going above 8%)You really can't keep blaming this on Bush. No one is buying it anymore.
Obama and his advisors have no clue. Overwhelmingly businesses are worried and not hiring due to fear of what is coming next from this administration. Taxes? Regulation? what is the healthcare bill going to cost them? Government intervention is killing us and killing jobs, and yet they just keep on going. disconnected and not caring.
I have a thought...Maybe our jobs would stay in this country if we didnt' have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world.
Even your beloved Europe is turning around. They are telling us that we are going in the wrong direction. Germany is reforming, government is stepping out of it, and is recovering.
By the way...France's unemployment rate is at 9.7%---so I would stop touting them as the model for us.
You Progressives would make me laugh if you weren't so consistantly wrong.
Last Note: Robert Kennedy was very much a free market kinda guy. He was not into Socialism.
"The Kennedy brothers were as committed to defending the American empire as any reactionary Republican"
THAT my friend comes from...(not Fox) the "Socialist Worker.org
What happened? I only submitted the above 1 time. Please remove the repeated posts...I don't know how to do it after the fact
"Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts as a last resource pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and happy to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority." Arthur Schopenhauer
Seems like the above reflects our caseybutch. Blind as a bat.
Yeah, keep on ranting and raving like a teabagger. LOL
Dear Casey:
As you requested, I've removed your duplicate comments. You've made your point, loud and clear.
As you yourself said: "Once Is Enough".
Happy Labor Day. Best Regards.
CJP
Oh Anon2. I think they need to pull your "honorary liberal card" Last time I checked calling a woman 'butch" was a derogatory term for a Lesbian. Are you a homophobe, anon2? Seriously. I don't use that term and you call conservatives narrow minded!
Lets go over this again...I am a straight woman, who really really likes men---I just am not a pathetic dependent woman that needs to be tied to one man for all eternity, to feel validated as a woman!
However---there is NOTHING wrong with being gay, and if you think it's funny or clever to make up ignorant nicknames, that demean gay women, then that's on you.
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