Ayer Community Consortium Debate - 8/6/2007

I have been asked in this campaign, would it not be better for me to wait? To run for city council first, make myself a name, build a base, raise money, wait. I hear other candidates talk about what they'll do in office-reform campaigns, end corruption, just you wait. I hear that no child will be left behind, the funds will come, the bus is leaving, and as for where we're going, just sit tight, and wait. I hear that jobs are on the way, the corporations are coming and job training too-but what's the difference, you've got time to wait. I hear that health care for all Americans is a right and just, but we must wait until the political will is there. I hear that environmental standards will be put in place, by 2020, by 2050, let's wait and see. I heard in 2005 that there was genocide in Darfur. We continue to wait. I heard that we'll bring the troops home from Iraq: when we have a Democratic Congress, in May or in September, perhaps in the spring or with the next Presidential election in November. Be patient. Wait.

Dr. Martin Luther King warned against "this tragic misconception of time." "Time," he said, "is always ripe to do right."

Our challenge awaits us. If we are to be a society which values peace and justice, we must work for it with all our power now. The time is ripe to do right now. Join me, join us now in this fight. We cannot wait any longer.