Kerry New Year's Resolution: Take America Forward

sandnsea

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Thu Jan-01-04 12:34 AM
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Kerry New Year's Resolution: Take America Forward

�New Years marks a time when we can look back on what has happened in the past year and look forward with anticipation and hope to the year ahead.

�2003 was, at first glance, a bleak year for the American spirit.

�We�ve seen an Administration rush this nation into war with no plan to win the peace and protect our soldiers� lives � but with a full agenda for enriching Halliburton and other big corporations that have high-placed Republican lobbyists.

�We�ve seen the Administration pass another huge tax cut for corporations while cutting unemployment benefits and cutting veterans� health care � and while sticking the middle class with an ever higher share of the tax burden.

�We�ve seen the Administration look the other way when failed CEO�s with golden parachutes disappeared into the sunset with fat bonuses while leaving workers and small investors holding the bag.

�We�ve seen our children saddled with an enormous budget deficit and a shaky Social Security system because this Administration has tried to grease the wheels of the election year economy with hot checks.

�And we�ve seen our clean air and clean water rules thrown out the window to satisfy the whims of the polluters that fill this President�s campaign coffers.

�But that�s not all that happened this year � and we shouldn�t forget that. As Americans, we welcomed new babies into the world and watched our children graduate. We started businesses and organized our workplaces. We volunteered in our community and helped our neighbors. No one should doubt that, in 2003, the American spirit was strong as it�s ever been. People show courage and patriotism every day. And, in 2004, we should resolve to give Americans a government that has as much faith in the ideals of America as they do.

�Never doubt for a moment that we can do just that.

�There are times in our nation�s story when one year rolls over into the next, with little difference � more of the same. I don�t think this has to be one of those times.

�In December of 1775, America�s troops were embattled and people wondered whether the American Revolution would die in its crib. But in 1776, we declared our independence to the world and set out principles which still reverberate across the globe.

�In December 1931, we were in midst of a Great Depression that some people thought we would never recover from. But in 1932, we elected Franklin Roosevelt as President and embarked on the great journey to remake America�s government for a new age.

�In December 1963, we were a nation mourning the death of John F. Kennedy. But in 1964, we passed the Civil Rights Act and Medicare the year after.

�2004 can be one of those times in which America recaptures the imagination of our people and the world.

�The winter of 2003 can give way to the spring of 2004 and in the autumn � the fall of George Bush and Dick Cheney.

�This can be a year that will go down in our history � a year we can tell our children�s children about.

�We can tell them that this was a time when Americans reclaimed our destiny and our future.

�In which we reclaimed the truest ideals of our country � that we are all created equal and all entitled to equal rights.

�A time in which everyday men and women in Africa and Asia and the Middle East looked to our government with hope, not fear. In which our government was seen as a beacon of hope, not a bully down the block.

�This can be a time when we finally make health care affordable to all our people and break the grip of big oil and foreign dictators to make America energy independent.

�And we can not only tell our children�s children that we did this. We can tell them that we � we here today � were a part of making it happen.

�That�s the responsibility we have to them. That�s the duty we owe as American citizens.

�So this New Year�s Eve, let�s resolve that 2004 won�t be just another year � and that this won�t be just another election. Let�s resolve that here, today, in our time, American citizens will not just take America back � but that we will take America forward.