To articulate the future, the present and where we must go one must look at the vision of John Kennedy. The following passage is his political credo:
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
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I have come to the logical conclusion that modern man, is within reach of global peace and the permanent eradication of tyranny. Yes you heard it here, first.
However, 20,000 troops and 2 more years of time will not solve the violence that plagues the Iraqi people. To win in Iraq, I think we must open up our hearts and dig deep within ourselves.
Notice the problem nations: Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Somalia and Venezuela to name a few. What is their common denominator? What do they share? I find it is the fact that they are closed societies. Although different ideologies, these countries have built walls. And these walls hold their people as prisoners from the ideologies of Islamic fascism to communist distopia. These walls prevent collaboration, foreign investment and freedom. These people are prisoners to ignorance and poverty. In short they have no hope and we are talking about hundreds of millions of people.
Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela are not American problems. These are global problems and they must be dealt with globally. What George Bush should have done is gone to the United Nations and said there is no alternative than for the free world to help the Iraqi people. Its in everyone’s interest. To do this one needs credibility, and I believe we must dig deep to solve our credibility problems. We must free ourselves from the bondage of oil and demonstrate to the world that we have no economic interest in Iraq’s energy sector.
Look into your own souls and you’ll find society has invested almost decades of education into you. We are tolerant of one another and we love one another. I am a huge believer in the power of education. What the world needs is a vision beyond shooting bad guys as they spur up. We need to invest in education.
I agree with President Bush that we cannot lose Iraq. We cannot let Iran acquire nuclear weapons. However we need a vision beyond what Bush has proposed tonight.
Look at Kennedy’s words.