Address of Senator John F. Kerry
San Diego Democratic Party
Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner
November 26, 2001
[prepared remarks]

It is wonderful to be back in San Diego. I have great memories of my time here in the Navy – training at Coronado for Swift Boat duty in Vietnam. This city was full of the energy of young men preparing for and going to war– not unlike some of what you have felt these past weeks. I lived on Pacific Beach–surfed everyday until we dropped – I will certainly never forget returning from survival training in the mountains East of here to the greatest beer I ever tasted.

I remember fondly the deep throated roar of phantom after burners streaking out of the naval air station -- carriers dominating the harbor– Marine recruits surviving basic training. We felt the pulse of freedom in the power of our arsenal. We were young and invincible. Now – some of us – will have to settle just for being invincible!

I know we’re all very proud to be here as Democrats with a deep commitment to issues of enormous concern to our fellow citizens, but tonight we gather with an even greater sense of national purpose and pride than at any recent time– we are filled with awe at the courage and contribution of public servants who responded to the events of September 11th– we are grateful beyond words for the blessings of our nation– we remember with renewed understanding what sacrificing life for country really means and I know you will join me in affirming tonight and in the last days: Never have we been so proud to be Americans.

We are united -- one America – one President – one purpose – in waging this war. And no one should doubt – we will win this war – because we must.

But we must remember, the test for this war is not just victory over Al-Quaida. It will also be in the measure of the values we live here at home which were also targeted on September 11th.

The example could not be more clear. The victory of WW II was not just Allies over Axis powers. It was a time when America reached for and lived out a larger national purpose. The country that emerged from the war was fairer, more progressive – more involved than at any other time in advancing the democracy at home. The gap between rich and poor narrowed. The GI Bill opened doors. Women’s roles continued to change. The Middle Class was created.

And today, we celebrate the Greatest Generation not just for victory in the war – but for the way they responded here at home – their resolve in the face of depression, the fight for fairness in the social structure, their effort to give life to the ideas of fairness, justice, opportunity.

Even though the era of Vietnam was a contentious time – it too was a time when the people of the country were engaged with more than themselves – there was a feeling of shared national purpose. Great public issues were at the center of peoples lives. You could feel the spent energy of a nation wresting with civil rights, the environment, women’s rights, economic opportunity.

I know that what I fought for together with my brothers and sisters in arms and with generations before us, is an America in which our democracy is vibrant, nurtured, and protected– an America constantly moving forward, living up to its own values, informing the public and debating openly the choices we are privileged to make, each of us, in the spirit of our Republic.

That’s why I say to you with all the conviction that comes from knowing why I served– the values of September 10th and for which we have been fighting for so long, were not altered, changed or killed on September 11th in New York and Washington. If anything, those values are even more worth fighting for today.

And that fight is not a matter of partisanship. It is a matter of strengthening our country and keeping faith with our democracy– because as we know, the real strength of our nation does not come out of the muzzle of a gun, the belly of a B-52, the accuracy of a cruise missile, awesome as they may be. The real strength of our civilization comes from the education of our citizens,
the safety and nurturing of all our children, the empowerment of parents to create family and community at the same time, the full protection of rights under the law, the conservation for future generations of the earth we share with the other 94% of humanity. It comes from our literature, our music, our dance. It comes from our play. It comes from our freedom.

From the beginning of time, the world has struggled to answer the question of how we organize ourselves to create that better world. That struggle will not be interrupted or terminated by Osama Bin Laden.

And Al-Quaida must never be allowed to turn us into a Party afraid to put our aspirations for our country front and center in our national dialogue.

All of you here tonight know what we can do when we force our country into confronting the tough issues. For many of us politics were formed in the years after we came home from Vietnam. Those were years that tested our idealism. There was George Wallace and Richard Nixon – a Southern strategy -- a secret plan to end the War and a secret war in Cambodia -- and day by day more and more Americans drafted out of the rural poor and inner cities were coming home in wheelchairs and body bags. It made many of us angry - but it also made us believe that if we knocked on enough doors and raised our voices things could be different.

We had reason to be angry - but we also had reason to be hopeful. And our hope drove us to overcome cynicism and inaction.

It was during that time we heard the words of George Bernard Shaw that challenged America: “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask why not.”

I believe that now more than ever our party and our country needs to get back to dreaming things that never were and asking why not.

Rather than accept that the richest nation on the face of the earth will be the only industrialized country that doesn’t guarantee health care for all, why not have every child covered by health care? Why not have every citizen have access to decent health insurance?

Nothing should motivate us more to action than the plight of our children: more than 10 million still without health care; 5 million released from school each day to return to an apartment or house with no adult present until evening – if then; millions trapped in schools dependant on property tax for resources but with no tax base – a cycle of poverty and deprivation that we repeat for
lack of will to break it; millions of our young citizens who will be deprived the full measure of their citizenship because they are trapped by adults in a farm system for prisons.

I think we can do better than this — I think it is within our power to make real the words “leave no child behind” – and I think its high time we do it.

Rather than just talk about our commitment to leave no child behind, why not guarantee that every one of our children have immunizations and Head Start?

Rather than spend $50,000 a year per prisoner to house young people in jail cells for the rest of their lives, why not invest $5,000 a year per child in after-school programs for our children today and make them good citizens for life?

Rather than offer platitudes about family values, why not work harder to make sure that mothers and fathers have the time to spend doing the most important job in our country: parenting.

One of the great, enduring and distinguishing features of our country is our sense of fairness – the inherent decency and fair play of the American people. In the 1700's, DeTocqueville observed that “America is great because Americans are good.”

But when a group of ideologues in the House and Senate seize on the challenge of our economy as an excuse to throw billions of dollars to the largest corporations while hundreds of thousands of Americans are thrown out of work without health care or adequate unemployment benefits, I think they do violence to the relationship between government and citizen.

We cannot as Americans of conscience allow those who state they’re politically against any redistribution of wealth to now take from the poor and redistribute to the wealthy . That is a perversion that should embarrass every Republican of good faith. And it is a breach of faith with America’s promise that we cannot and will not allow.

Rather than pour billions into the hands of those who have gained the most, why not help those who have the most to gain?

Rather than offer false promises of jobs destroying wildlife refuges, why not challenge America to a new mission to the moon here on earth. Let’s put in place an energy policy of common sense – a policy that creates jobs instead of creating pollution -- a policy that challenges American ingenuity to produce the clean alternative and renewable fuels of the future.

This is an affirmative vision that will define our generation and leave a legacy we can be proud of (we can take pride in).

It is the vision of sustainable policies which protect the planet while providing literally millions of well paying, satisfying jobs. This is not pie-in-the-sky, tree hugging, do-gooder environmental day dreaming. This is real. Much exists today. Much is within our grasp. It is now. It’s happening across the country and across the globe. It awaits our leadership and commitment. I believe it’s time to turn the table on the naysayers and procrastinators who prefer the policies of the past which pollute, waste and kill.

And by the way – it’s not us who should be on the defensive – it’s them and it’s long since time to put them there.

In doing so – we cannot talk vague generalities. We must show real jobs, real costs, real transition numbers. We must win the argument with the truth and the facts – not a wish and a prayer. We must show the growth in demand in America and precisely how we will meet it, not just without loss but with gain in the quality of our lives. We must debunk the fear mongers who frighten people away from alternatives.

Those who are unwilling to open their eyes and their minds to the alternative to fossil fuel must get out of the way – they represent the past – a dangerous past that limits America’s possibilities, tying us to Middle East dependancy and diminished national security. America cannot drill its way to oil independence – we don’t have enough reserves. America must invent its way to independence – to the future – as we did in space – in weapons – in health care – as we have done throughout history.

This is a matter of will power, not capacity. It’s a matter of leadership, not fate. We must provide that kind of leadership for our country.

The last weeks have reaffirmed that we are a country in touch with the things which truly matter. Just as we are a country that does not hide from terrorists so we must never hide from our duty as citizens. It is one of the most important and powerful words in our language.

My dad was a member of the Greatest Generation that Tom Brokaw wrote about, the generation of citizen soldiers who left behind high school and college and girlfriends and young wives to go off to Europe and the South Pacific to fight
for their country.

During World War II my father flew DC-3's in the Army Air Corps. I’ve thought a lot about those years and my father’s generation – I thought about it last year when he passed away after a long and courageous fight with cancer. I thought about the way my father saw this country – his sense of patriotism, his convictions about what defined us as Americans.

In Washington, D.C., I drive past the monument erected to memorialize one of the most enduring acts of patriotism our country has ever known -- that remarkable moment when six young American men at the end of World War II – not far from being the boys next door – but suddenly transformed to manhood by the extremes of war – 6 young Americans – slogged their way through Japanese resistance – through withering machine gun fire, mortars exploding all around them -- they pushed on foot by foot, yard by yard, across the beach and up Mt. Suribachi – to plant the American flag on top of that bloody peak at Iwo Jima. Here they were – after 36 days – 25,000 American casualties – a defining moment in America’s heroic battle against Japan.

And the man with his back to the camera – the last in line -- he was killed the next morning. But Ira Hayes, one of the other 5, who came back a recognized hero, never forgot his friend and the sacrifice he’d made. These values were still evident years later when Ira – down in his own life – an alcoholic – still could not reconcile that his friend who died a day later never received
recognition for his heroism. His family never knew the peace of mind and heart that should have been theirs. So Ira Hayes on his own walked up to the Pearl Harbor highway in Arizona and hitchhiked across the state to New Mexico, all the way to Texas where he found Harlon Block’s mother Belle and brought her the news she’d waited for -- the pride and the bittersweet knowledge that her son had been there to raise the flag over Iwo Jima . And through that journey Ira gave something to all of us: the simple gift of keeping faith with his friend, with himself, with his fellow marines - with his country! His story is really the story everyone of us would like to believe is part of us. What he did is what each of us knows America is and what each of us hopes we would do for our brothers.

When I was in the Navy I learned about that kind of brotherhood -- the promises soldiers make to each other. The Army says they never leave their wounded. The marines say they never even leave their dead. Well, all of us need to be Citizen Soldiers again -- and as Americans we must never leave each other behind. That is what makes us different from the other party.

That commitment is what defines us. That’s what defined those very young Americans raising the flag over Iwo Jima – not just for one glorious moment, but for a lifetime. Much has been written about that Greatest Generation. Much should be. But I think it’s about time we started to ask what will be written about our generation. And only when we when we do -- and when we answer with real choices - and real answers for our fellow citizens – will we earn the right to lead and we will lead with the values we cherish. That my friends is what we need to fight for as Democrats in San Diego and in the United States of America. Good night and Godspeed.