When a member of the United States military takes an oath of service, he takes that oath to serve our Constitution. Not in the service of a four to eight-year employee. When we say we support our troops, we can't begin to do that until we join in solidarity in pledging that same oath.
Should it concern us when animal rights activists become so hopeless in their efforts to gain consideration for animal rights, that they would attack equally well-intentioned scientists, who because their research involves mice, find their family homes and cars bombed by fellow Americans? Over MICE!
Now this may seem convoluted, but not if one tracks the cultural response of hostility from every passionate point of view that see a leadership which is itself prone toward unjustifiable violence and the un-American diminishment of the Constitution.
What do you think is going to happen? What do you think the American hopeless will do when there are further attacks on our Constitution? When Barack Obama and John McCain neglect enforcing the rule of law--which must NOT stop at the White House; that impeachment for them is off the table; that bombing Iran is on their table; we better ask ourselves what the fundamentalists within would put on our table.
If we leave it to them to be the last line of defense; if we leave it to violence to be the last line of defense against the diminishment of our Constitution and of our voice--then it is we who will have no excuse.
The solution, and our mission is to put all challenges on the table. NOW. And to do that, we must have open debate.
I believe. I deeply believe that it would be pure cynicism to suggest that the hope so many of our fellow Americans attach to Barack Obama's candidacy can be viewed comparably to dancing about architecture.
He is a great symbol of possibilities. There's no question that this elegant man has great potential as America's new ambassador to a fragmented world. But while those are two essential pieces of the puzzle, change will not and cannot come, if our reliance as a people is on the best political team on TV or any candidate whose record is so dominantly status-quo.
It is 'We the People' who must make change, and to do that we must grow our democracy through challenge, tolerance, respect and compromise--the achievements of open debate. And it is in that debate that we are not alone. The clear and responsible mind can recognize significant leaders of change and voices of a diverse nation.
They've always been with us.
There's no one in this room who is without a friend or loved one. Or perhaps some of your very lives were preserved by the advocacy for change of Ralph Nader. That's a claim that neither major candidate and very few other men and women of our century can make. We need that voice. In education. We need it in environment, economy, poverty, health care, nuclear energy, foreign policy, immigration, volunteer-ism ,human rights and a world of veterans issues that are coming our way.
(Applause)
For the moment, judge it as you will, but would say that Ralph Nader is in fact obligated to make a run for the Presidency. It is the American thing to do. If it doesn't suit your taste, or if it creates an inconvenience for you, there may be a time when other productive options are on the table, but no matter who your presidential pick is--for America, let's demand to hear the challenge of Ralph Nader.
Let's demand to hear all the voices for change that represent the needs of all Americans. We must demand it in our media. We must demand it of John McCain. We must demand it from Barack Obama. I'm sick of this High school, with suits on, called the Democratic and Republican parties. (applause)
I'm telling you, you go around and you've heard it. They brandish their party credentials by snickering away open debate like a clique of wormy snobs. We saw our republican brothers and sisters punked out by spin and marginalization which was brought to them by their pundits and public servants. They even allowed it to co-op their own thought.
But the Republican Americans are anything but our enemy. They are just as important to the fabric of this country as any of us.
