Bording House Park Concert - 8/26/2007

From those who are with us no longer, we inherit a great deal. As the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre has written, "I inherit from the past of my family, my city, my tribe, my nation, a variety of debts, inheritances, rightful expectations and obligations." These give me my moral starting point. Yet we seem to lack a strong connection to our past, a connection that would, in fact, bind us closer to one another through an understanding of our shared human experiences.

Perhaps if we knew our past a bit better, our current situation would become clearer:

We might, having remembered how our ancestors labored for little in building these mills and canals and railroads, fight for livable wages and worker's rights.

We might be moved by our ancestors' experience of famine and disease to see that its persisting existence now around the world is not to the shame of those who hunger, but of those who do not and do nothing.

We might feel the frustration of injustice when a foreign government forces its will upon another people under the guise of good intentions, with but the worst of them.

We might not only recognize genocide when it has happened in the past, but while it is happening in now, and work to stop it.

There is so much more that is not talked about in political campaigns. Perhaps because our Supreme Court has ruled that money is a form of political speech. And all the lobbyists haven't stopped talking since: through PACs, groups of donors, or through the more traditional bag of unmarked political speech hidden in the freezer. These kind of now legalized bribes have turned upside down the idea of representative government. I am told that when the clerk calls the roll in the House of Representatives, members don't know whether to say "present" or "not guilty."

The answer is that real leadership in this country has been absent for quite some time and in its place have been officials guilty of the worst sort of provincialism. Wealth has become king of this country. In many of our public policies and private actions, we place profits before people, conflicting personal interests over our people's interest. Even education-- literally from the Latin educere, "to lead out of"--education which could give us the wisdom to lead us out of this moral cloud of darkness, has been called now to be run like a business. The other day a candidate called children the "products" in this analogy. I suppose our hope is that they are not outsourced to China. Economists have argued that for suppressing inflation, the unemployment rate-the number of people seeking work but unable to find it-is at optimal levels. They can say this because they have a job. Strange as it may sound, we must begin now to once again see people as people.

This requires a real recognition that not everything falls neatly within the economic calculus, that growth is good only when we have wisdom enough to know what to grow. All kinds of numbers can present a pleasant picture of growth and prosperity. But what is prospering? When a bridge collapses in Minneapolis, the ambulances, funerals, the clean-up crews and police details, reconstruction efforts and new cars all contribute to a higher national wealth. So what are we measuring? Business, yes, but busy at what? Do we really believe that with all the violence, war, famine and disease, the degradation of our environment, of that which supports all life on this planet-do we believe that we are headed in the right direction and that this is all really our plan? Or if it is not our plan, what is?

We hear proposals of regulating toxins and reducing emissions, of being less bad, but is this the answer? Suppose I were in Chicago yesterday for the Sox game and had to be back here in Lowell for this speech. I start off at eighty miles an hour flying on the highway west toward California and at some point during the drive, I realize where I'm going. Would it really help me to then slow down to twenty miles an hour? What we have before us is a question of direction.

President Kennedy set for our nation the goal of reaching the moon, yet as remarkable an achievement as it was, it is lunacy to still be shooting for it. We have one planet. We cannot throw it away and find another one. So the important search, then, is not for a new frontier but into the depth of ourselves, our creativity and imagination to find a new vision for this old world. And at the heart of this criticism is a deeper optimism, the idea that we can work toward a better vision:

A vision that sees to it that the resources we send up in rockets to space are spent right here at home to make this planet a better place.

A vision of education which develops all talents, imparts wisdom, clarifies convictions, opens opportunities, and empowers people.

A vision of health care for all which actually cares for the sick and the needy, improves the health and happiness of our citizens, encourages entrepreneurial enterprise, and empowers our people.

A vision of work that recognizes the need not only for a means of living, but for the development of personal talents, of a sense of purpose, of character, and for humility and pride in being part of a wider effort, a worthy endeavor larger than ourselves. A vision of work which empowers people.

A vision of a world where regulation is rendered unnecessary to protect our air, water, soil and trees because those in commerce have wisdom enough to not design toxic products that abuse our resources, pollute our earth, and create non-degradable waste. After all, as the man said, planning is best done in advance.

A vision of the world where the instruments of peace far outnumber the armaments of war, where there is finally a sense of family here, that we are all in this together, of shared sacrifice, shared resources, shared responsibility, of each generation caring for one another and preparing for all the generations to come.

When I thought of joining this race, I asked myself am I doing enough? The bartender asked was I serious? Had I had enough? My brother asked is there enough in it for me? I think my answer to Daniel might have more theoretical than he would have liked, but I decided it wasn't enough to have nice ideas.

What President Kennedy did know is that government can represent the expression of these aspirations if we are only willing to work to make it so. And so this campaign is less about independence, than interdependence. For if these words are to be heard over the billions of dollars spent on speech, we surely must work together and work harder, speak out and louder, and believe in our own natural power to shape this world in which we live.