Dayton TEA Speech, 15 April 2009 ©

This is the speech I wrote and presented at the Dayton Ohio TEA Party. I would appreciate any feedback, pro and con.

As schoolchildren, many of us had to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States and recite it before the class. It was a tedious and boring exercise for students and teachers alike. Most of us have forgotten those words. However, they are very important words as they establish the principles under which our nation would be governed. The subsequent Articles and Amendments formulate the rules and regulations that permitted us to develop into the great nation we have become. Our founding fathers clearly established within the Preamble the character of the governing body of these United States. The Preamble states the responsibilities of the government to “We the People.” The Articles state how these responsibilities will be implemented to best serve “We the People.” The Amendments make our Constitution a living document as it assigns rights to “We the People.”

My presentation focuses on only one word out of the forty-five words in the Preamble. That word is “Posterity.” The single sentence Preamble ends “…the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” To believe in the Constitution is to believe that it is the responsibility of each generation to pass on to future generations a quality of life the same as or better than the one previously lived.

I was born in 1934 during the Great Depression which ranged from 1930 to 1939. Stock prices fell 40%, 9,000 banks failed and wiped out some 9 million savings accounts, 86,000 businesses failed, 25% of our population were unemployed, and the wages of those still employed decreased about 60%. Our economy was at a virtual standstill. In 1933 President Roosevelt resorted to deficit spending - mortgaging the life style of future generations – to spur the economy. When the war broke out in Europe in 1939 the US was still in the throes of depression.  Roosevelt’s deficit spending plan was a colossal failure.

The United States didn’t come out of the depression until we started to produce weapons for war. Almost immediately, American capitalism, not government directives, rose to the forefront and war goods were being churned out in lickety-split time. Our government used deficit funds payable by future generations to meet this challenge to our freedoms. Those funds went directly into the willing hands of responsible leaders of American capitalism. Driven by a sense of patriotism, not by greed or ego, they put the American worker back to work thus ending the Great Depression. When a large number of our male population was called up to serve in the armed services, women, out of a heritage of responsibility, willing took their place on the production line.

It is interesting to note that we are still paying off the WWII debt which numbered in the billions of dollars. Now that raises a puzzling question - and I’ll leave it to you to come up with your own answer: If the billions owed for the sixty year old war debt are still unpaid, how long will it take for future generations to pay off the trillions of stimulus spending implemented recently by Washington? How much debt can the American public carry without breaking? And what will be the quality of life for the American public during those trying times?

Americans love to put names to events, activities, and generations. We recently observed “March Madness” – before that the “Super Bowl.”  Another example is the name given by Tom Brokaw to the generation that preceded mine “The Greatest Generation.” And the generation produced by them was named “Baby Boomers.”

Since my generation has no name, I shall take the liberty to give it a name - “The American Dream” generation. I call it that because I do believe that my generation may well be the only generation to ever live the American Dream. And that thought saddens me. But to live that dream, my generation had to accept and support a fundamental creed that made this country so great – a dedication to responsibility:  A responsibility to God - to ourselves - our family - our community – our nation – our future generations. For whatever reasons, the majority of Americans in the generations to follow mine lost that dedication to responsibility. Perhaps greed, ego, and the ‘what’s in it for me?’ mentality played a part? As a nation, we have lost our sense of meaning for Duty, Honor, and Country.

I learned responsibility from parents of a generation which understood responsibility. They were forged from freedom, sharpened by duty, and honed by the Great Depression to accept responsibility. And that’s what has made America great!

We have a Statue of Liberty on the east coast to welcome to our home those who want what our country offers. What we need now, as a reminder to all citizens of these United States, is a Statue of Responsibilities on the west coast.  It would clearly state the responsibilities of the people, by the people, and for the people - as well as for those who govern ‘we the people’ – to maintain our sovereign nation in accordance with our constitution.

I am saddened that I cannot leave the United States in better shape for posterity than it is now when it is time for me to pass on.  In what shape will you leave it? What will be the legacy of your generation?