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Earn This

There’s nothing more to be said, I have nothing else to give you. This is one of those ‘day of days’ that we read about in the history books only we are actually living it. None of you will forget where you were tonight and what you are going to do tomorrow. Some say the world is watching for what happens here tomorrow, but I say they’ve been watching us for 228 years.

There were those in the days after 9/11 that New York should cancel its Mayoral election.

It did not.

There were those who doubted that we could ever again have public events in safety.

We did.

There were those who said we would always be looking over our shoulder that our minority Arab populations would be in camps.

They are not.

There were those who wondered in 2001 that the election in 2004 could ever take place.

And here we are.

It’s not like we’ve been underestimated before. It happens all the time. For 228 years, the world has always bet against the American people.

In 1777, what was then the worlds greatest army was stopped in its tracks by our back country irregulars in Saratoga New York. For the first time, the world took notice.

In 1789 the King of England said that "If George Washington would refuse to be king and accept the crown he would be the greatest man alive".

He did, and he was.

In 1860, the nation began a civil war that would the country deeply and the world said it could never be put back together again
In 1864, then unpopular president Lincoln after 3 years of the most bloody war in the nations entire history was reelected. The president said “ charity towards all and malice towards none” and allowed the rebels to go home with their weapons and honor intact.
The pundits were wrong. The south was defeated the union was saved and Lincoln was re-elected.

In 1944,Free men of the worlds democracies boarded small flat bottom boats and drove into the surf towards the maw of Nazi occupied Europe. The pundits said we would lose, that free men in democracies could not stand against the supermen of fascism.

They were wrong.

In 1945, the world said Germany and Japan could never be democratized and should be de-industrialized.

They were wrong.

In 1952, both countries held free elections.

In 1950, The Soviets and the Koreans did not believe that Americans would come to the aid of a small backwater country in Asia.

They were wrong.

In 2004 we are still supporting that country and through our support and their hard work have become a great economic power while their enemies to the north are a hellish concentration camp incapable of feeding their own people.

In 1980, The world said that Reagan was a madman for facing down the Soviets.

They were wrong.

In 1990, the Soviet Union ceased to be.

In 2001 we were attacked by religious psychotics and many around the world said that we would never be the same; that we would have to learn to live under threat of terror and that we would have to remove or limit our freedoms. Many said that we would have to learn to accommodate the Terrorists as they had done in their counties.

They were wrong.

In 2004, we are actively dismantling the structures of world terror.
In 2004, we are holding baseball games, football games, political rallies and conventions in major cities.
In 2004, we are voting for President.

Look how far we’ve all come.

My friends, fellow citizens. We are still here.
Despite all that has been thrown at us, We are still free men and women living in a Republic based in a democratic tradition. We have beaten the odds just by getting out of bed in the morning.

People toss about the phrase “Greatest Generation’ to describe the people who survived the great depression, then went on to fight the fascists and finally put on fight against the communists. I agree that they are certainly great, but I am here to tell you that I’m proud to be in this time, in this generation, in this struggle against tyranny.

Somewhere on the border of Iraq, sits an American, Brit, Pole, Italian or Aussie with a pair of binoculars looking across to Iran.

Somewhere on the border of Iraq, sits an American, Brit, Pole, Italian or Aussie with a pair of binoculars looking across to Syria.

Somewhere in Afghanistan an American, Brit, Pole, Aussie, German, Frenchman are looking across the hills of Warziristan.

Somewhere in Korea sits an American and South Korean watching across the border at the North Koreans.

On the other side of those borders sit worried packs of people who are living in fear.
Not just fear of American tanks, wire-guided munitions and warships the size of city blocks.

They live in fear of common every day Americans who are exercising their right to vote and the consequences that it will surely bring to their tyrannical masters.

Freedom is on the march. It is this generation that will see Gods gift to mankind, the enfranchisement of the entire human populace with the rights of citizenship, the right to vote, made into a reality. This will be the first generation without the existence of state-sponsored slavery.

The world thinks we cannot accomplish this goal.

They are wrong.

Tomorrow when we stand at the polls, we stand with the men and women of Afghanistan, we stand with the people of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and yes, Palestine.

Freedom is on the march.

Once the world said that Afghanistan could never have elections and that the population would reject western ways.

They were wrong.

The people in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and yes, Palestine are waiting for us to cast their vote tomorrow.

You are citizens of a democracy. Most of you came about it by birth, but now its time you earned your place in it. Show the world what free people do when put to the test. Show them what your grandfather showed the fascists; show them what your father showed the Soviets. Show them that free people are the most powerful force on earth.

The world thinks you will turn your backs on the poor and disenfranchised.

They are wrong. This is the “greatest generation”.

We’ve overcome a great deal just to get here. We’ve lost some of us along the way, but we are not going to stop now. We will win this fight because we don’t want our grandchildren to be living under the thumb of terror. We will live in freedom. The world will live in freedom.

I’ve got nothing else to say. Go do your duty, to yourself and mankind.

In the words of Captain Miller:

“I’ll see you on the beach...”.

Posted @ November 01, 2004 09:21 PM | Election 2004

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