Bush, Taft and DeWine, the Republican Leadership Team, have stood silently by while our state has lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs, while our communities are losing fire protection, police protection, and a traditional way of life. Their contributors have paralyzed them.
They have turned their backs on our families. Our young people are leaving our state in record numbers because we are not offering opportunities that make them want to stay. The Bush-Taft-DeWine team has failed our schools, from kindergarten to our great state universities.
We read about corruption?about a government that is unrecognizable to every government teacher in our great state, a cronyism that we believed ended with Tammany Hall, cast aside into the dustbin of history.
The pharmaceutical companies wrote the Medicare law. The chemical companies write environmental rules. The oil companies wrote the energy bill. Wall Street writes Social Security privatization legislation. Bankers and outsourcers wrote the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
Sometimes?in politics and in life?we have to choose sides. We have to draw a clear line between what?s right and what?s wrong. Between what works for the people of our great nation and what works for only the privileged few.
Most of us here chose sides years ago. We chose sides based on our faith?a faith in God, and a faith in our country to live up to the promise of America. Our faith demands that we work tirelessly for social and economic justice.
I learned about faith and social and economic justice not far from here, from my parents and my church.
My faith teaches me that The Beatitudes is not just the greatest sermon ever given, it may be the best political speech ever delivered. It teaches us about caring for the least among us, about being a shepherd for the less privileged, about fighting for social and economic justice.
My faith informs me which side to take.
In 1993, I chose the side of families and communities and workers against the outsourcing of jobs to Mexico. As a freshman Congressman, I helped form a bi-partisan coalition and stood up to the president of the United States, a president in my party, and fought against the North American Free Trade Agreement.
As your United States senator, I will fight even harder for fair trade.
Three years ago, I chose the side of our men and women in uniform when I demanded of Secretary Rumsfeld and Administrator Bremer that their first priority should be the safety of our troops in Iraq. That no soldier, no Marine should go into battle?EVER?without body armor.
As your United States senator, I will fight even harder for our troops and our veterans.
Two years ago, again into the wee hours of the night, I chose the side of America?s senior citizens, helped form a bi-partisan coalition, and stood up to the drug companies which charge Americans three or four times what Canadians pay for their medicine.
As your United States senator, I will fight even harder for affordable health care.
When you choose sides, you take the heat. The mark of true leadership is the ability and the willingness to stand up to pressure, to refuse to back down.
They have turned their backs on our families. Our young people are leaving our state in record numbers because we are not offering opportunities that make them want to stay. The Bush-Taft-DeWine team has failed our schools, from kindergarten to our great state universities.
We read about corruption?about a government that is unrecognizable to every government teacher in our great state, a cronyism that we believed ended with Tammany Hall, cast aside into the dustbin of history.
The pharmaceutical companies wrote the Medicare law. The chemical companies write environmental rules. The oil companies wrote the energy bill. Wall Street writes Social Security privatization legislation. Bankers and outsourcers wrote the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
Sometimes?in politics and in life?we have to choose sides. We have to draw a clear line between what?s right and what?s wrong. Between what works for the people of our great nation and what works for only the privileged few.
Most of us here chose sides years ago. We chose sides based on our faith?a faith in God, and a faith in our country to live up to the promise of America. Our faith demands that we work tirelessly for social and economic justice.
I learned about faith and social and economic justice not far from here, from my parents and my church.
My faith teaches me that The Beatitudes is not just the greatest sermon ever given, it may be the best political speech ever delivered. It teaches us about caring for the least among us, about being a shepherd for the less privileged, about fighting for social and economic justice.
My faith informs me which side to take.
In 1993, I chose the side of families and communities and workers against the outsourcing of jobs to Mexico. As a freshman Congressman, I helped form a bi-partisan coalition and stood up to the president of the United States, a president in my party, and fought against the North American Free Trade Agreement.
As your United States senator, I will fight even harder for fair trade.
Three years ago, I chose the side of our men and women in uniform when I demanded of Secretary Rumsfeld and Administrator Bremer that their first priority should be the safety of our troops in Iraq. That no soldier, no Marine should go into battle?EVER?without body armor.
As your United States senator, I will fight even harder for our troops and our veterans.
Two years ago, again into the wee hours of the night, I chose the side of America?s senior citizens, helped form a bi-partisan coalition, and stood up to the drug companies which charge Americans three or four times what Canadians pay for their medicine.
As your United States senator, I will fight even harder for affordable health care.
When you choose sides, you take the heat. The mark of true leadership is the ability and the willingness to stand up to pressure, to refuse to back down.
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