I HAD THE HONOR OF MEETING CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA JORDAN ONE NIGHT AND SPENDING SOME TIME WITH HER. SHE WAS THE REAL THING---SOMEONE WHO REALLY WANTED TO SERVE HER COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE FOR PURE REASONS.
TOO BAD ALL OF THAT IS GONE NOW.
People who reach high office today are rabid dogs who are power hungry---and I'm speaking of politicians in both parties. The good ones, who really care about people, don't run because it's too dirty. They also don't want to subject themselves or their families to the degrading public spectacle.
Barbara Jordan was a lawyer and educator who was a congresswoman from
1972 to 1978—the first African-American congresswoman to come from the
deep South and the first woman ever elected to the Texas Senate (1966).
In 1966, Jordan finally won a
seat in the Texas legislature, becoming the first black woman to do so. In 1972, her fellow lawmakers voted her in as
president pro tempore of the state senate. Jordan became the first
African American woman to hold this post.
Advancing in her
career, Jordan won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in
1972. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, she was thrust into
the national spotlight during the Watergate scandal. Jordan stood as a
moral compass during this time of crisis, calling for the impeachment of
President Richard M. Nixon for his involvement in this illegal
political enterprise.
Jordan
had reportedly hoped to secure the position of U.S. attorney general
within Jimmy Carter's administration after he won the election, but
Carter gave the post to someone else.
Announcing that she
wouldn't seek reelection, Jordan finished up her final term in 1979.
Some thought that she might have gone farther in her political career,
but it was later revealed that Jordan had been diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis around this time. She took some time to reflect on her life
and political career, penning
Barbara Jordan: A Self-Portrait
(1979). Jordan soon turned her attention toward educating future
generations of politicians and public officials, accepting a
professorship at the University of Texas at Austin. She became the
Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair of Public Policy in 1982.
She served as a special counsel on
ethics for Texas Governor Ann Richards in 1991. In 1994, President Bill Clinton
appointed Jordan to head up the Commission on Immigration Reform. He
also honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom that same year.
She passed away two years later, on January 17, 1996, in Austin, Texas.
Jordan died of pneumonia, a complication of her battle with leukemia.
HERE IS ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE SPEECHES EVER DELIVERED AT A CONVENTION. THIS IS 1976, and now, in 2016, our world had gone to Hell in a handbasket, and our conventions are circuses....... (you could really treat yourself and watch it on youtube)
Thank
you ladies and gentlemen for a very warm reception.
It was one hundred and forty-four years ago that members of the Democratic Party
first met in convention to select a Presidential candidate. Since that
time, Democrats have continued to convene once every four years and
draft a party platform and nominate a Presidential candidate. And our meeting
this week is a continuation of that tradition. But there is something different
about tonight. There is something special about tonight. What is different?
What is special?
I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.
When -- A lot of years passed since 1832, and during that time it would have
been most unusual for any national political party to ask a Barbara
Jordan to deliver a keynote address. But tonight, here I am. And I feel -- I
feel that
notwithstanding the past that my presence here is one additional bit of
evidence that the American Dream need not forever be deferred.
Now -- Now that I have this grand distinction, what in the world am I supposed
to say? I could easily spend this time praising the accomplishments of
this party and attacking the Republicans -- but I don't choose to do that.
I could list the many problems which Americans have. I could list the problems
which cause people to feel cynical, angry, frustrated: problems which include
lack of integrity in government; the feeling that the individual no longer
counts; the reality of material and spiritual poverty; the feeling that
the grand American experiment is failing or has failed. I could recite
these problems, and then I could sit down and offer no solutions. But I
don't choose to do that either. The citizens of America expect more. They
deserve and they want more than a recital of problems.
We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in
search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community.
We are a people trying not only to solve the problems of the present, unemployment,
inflation, but we are attempting on a larger scale to fulfill the promise
of America. We are attempting to fulfill our national purpose, to create and
sustain a society in which all of us are equal.
Throughout -- Throughout our history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their
problems and to uphold the principles of this nation, many times they have
turned to political parties. They have often turned to the Democratic Party.
What is it? What is it about the Democratic Party that makes it the instrument
the people use when they search for ways to shape their future? Well I believe
the answer to that question lies in our concept of governing. Our concept of
governing is derived from our view of people. It is a concept deeply rooted in a
set of beliefs firmly etched in the national conscience of all of us.
Now what are these beliefs? First, we believe in equality for all and
privileges for none. This is a belief -- This is a belief that each American, regardless of
background, has equal standing in the public forum -- all of us. Because -- Because we
believe this idea so firmly, we are an inclusive rather than an exclusive
party. Let everybody come.
I think it no accident that most of those immigrating
to America in the 19th century identified with the Democratic Party. We
are a heterogeneous party made up of Americans of diverse backgrounds.
We believe that the people are the source of all governmental power; that the
authority of the people is to be extended, not restricted.
This -- This can be accomplished only by providing each citizen with every opportunity
to participate in the management of the government. They must have that, we
believe. We believe that the government which represents the authority of all
the people, not just one interest group, but all the people, has an obligation
to actively -- underscore actively -- seek to remove those obstacles
which would block individual achievement -- obstacles emanating from race, sex,
economic condition. The government must remove them, seek to remove them. We.
We are a party -- We are a party of innovation. We do not reject our
traditions, but we are willing to adapt to changing circumstances, when change
we must. We are willing to suffer the discomfort of change in order to achieve a
better future. We have a positive vision of the future founded on the belief
that the gap between the promise and reality of America can one day be finally
closed. We believe that.
This,
my friends is the bedrock of our concept of governing. This is
a part of the reason why Americans have turned to the Democratic Party.
These are the foundations upon which a national community can be built.
Let all understand that these guiding principles cannot be discarded
for short-term political gains. They represent what this country is all
about. They are indigenous to the American idea. And these are
principles
which are not negotiable.
In other times
-- In other times, I could stand here and give this kind of exposition
on the beliefs of the Democratic Party and that would be enough. But today
that is not enough. People want more. That is not sufficient reason for
the majority of the people of this country to decide to vote Democratic.
We have
made mistakes. We realize that. We admit our mistakes. In our haste to do all things for all people, we
did not foresee the full consequences of our actions. And when the people raised
their voices, we didn't hear. But our deafness was only a temporary condition,
and not an irreversible condition.
Even
as I stand here and admit that we have made mistakes, I still believe that as
the people of America sit in judgment on each party, they will recognize that
our mistakes were mistakes of the heart. They'll recognize that.
And now -- now we must look to the future. Let us heed the voice of the people
and recognize their common sense. If we do not, we not only blaspheme our
political heritage, we ignore the common ties that bind all Americans.
Many fear the future. Many are distrustful of their leaders, and believe
that their voices are never heard. Many seek only to satisfy their private
work -- wants; to satisfy their private interests. But this is the great danger
America faces -- that we will cease to be one nation and become instead a
collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region,
individual against individual; each seeking to satisfy private wants. If
that happens, who then will speak for America? Who then will speak for
the common good?
This is the question which must be answered in
1976: Are we to be one people bound together by common spirit, sharing in a
common endeavor; or will we become a divided nation? For all of its uncertainty,
we cannot flee the future. We must not become the "New Puritans" and reject
our society. We must address and master the future together. It can be
done if we restore the belief that we share a sense of national community,
that we share a common national endeavor. It can be done.
There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American
people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals, and if we
do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto
that decision.
As
a first step -- As a first step, we must restore our belief in
ourselves.
We are a generous people, so why can't we be generous with each other?
We need to take to heart the words spoken by Thomas Jefferson:
Let us restore the social intercourse --
"Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and
that affection without which liberty and even life are but dreary
things."
A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the
responsibility for upholding the common good. A government is invigorated
when each one of us is willing to participate in shaping the future of
this nation. In this election year, we must define the "common good" and begin
again to shape a common future.
Let each person do his or her part. If one citizen is unwilling to participate,
all of us are going to suffer. For the American idea, though it is shared
by all of us, is realized in each one of us.
And now, what are those of us who are elected public officials supposed
to do? We call ourselves "public servants" but I'll tell you this: We as
public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical
for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the
common good if we are derelict in upholding the common good. More is required --
More is required of public officials than slogans and handshakes
and press releases. More is required. We must hold ourselves strictly accountable.
We must provide the people with a vision of the future.
If
we promise as public officials, we must deliver. If
-- If we as public
officials propose, we must produce. If we say to the American people,
"It
is time for you to be sacrificial" -- sacrifice. If the public official
says that, we [public officials] must be the first to give. We must be.
And
again, if we make mistakes, we must be willing to admit them. We have to
do that. What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that
government
should do everything and the idea, the belief, that government ought to
do nothing. Strike a balance.
Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind
of a national community. It's tough, difficult, not easy. But a spirit
of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers that we
share a common destiny; if each of us remembers, when self-interest and
bitterness seem to prevail, that we share a common destiny.
I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.
I have confidence that the Democratic Party can lead the way.
I have that confidence.
We cannot improve on the system of government handed down to us by the
founders of the Republic. There is no way to improve upon that. But what
we can do is to find new ways to implement that system and realize our
destiny.
Now I began this speech by commenting to you on the uniqueness of a
Barbara Jordan making a keynote address. Well I am going to close my
speech by quoting a Republican President and I ask you that as you listen
to these words of Abraham Lincoln, relate them to the concept of a national
community in which every last one of us participates:
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master." This
-- This -- "This expresses my idea of Democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the
extent of the difference, is no Democracy."
Thank
you.
