"We Democrats Still have a Dream" - A Must Read Flash from the Past

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/cuomo1984dnc.htm


Democratic Credo - Mario Cuomo - 1984

We Democrats still have a dream. We still believe in this nation's future. And this is our answer to the question. This is our credo:

We believe in only the government we need but we insist on all the government we need.

We believe in a government that is characterized by fairness and reasonableness, a reasonableness that goes beyond labels, that doesn't distort or promise to do things that we know we can't do.

We believe in a government strong enough to use words like "love" and "compassion" and smart enough to convert our noblest aspirations into practical realities.

We believe in encouraging the talented, but we believe that while survival of the fittest may be a good working description of the process of evolution, a government of humans should elevate itself to a higher order.

We -- Our -- Our government -- Our government should be able to rise to the level where it can fill the gaps that are left by chance or by a wisdom we don't fully understand. We would rather have laws written by the patron of this great city, the man called the "world's most sincere Democrat," St. Francis of Assisi, than laws written by Darwin.

We believe -- We believe as Democrats, that a society as blessed as ours, the most affluent democracy in the world's history, one that can spend trillions on instruments of destruction, ought to be able to help the middle class in its struggle, ought to be able to find work for all who can do it, room at the table, shelter for the homeless, care for the elderly and infirm, and hope for the destitute. And we proclaim as loudly as we can the utter insanity of nuclear proliferation and the need for a nuclear freeze, if only to affirm the simple truth that peace is better than war because life is better than death.

We believe in firm -- We believe in firm but fair law and order.

We believe proudly in the union movement.

We believe -- We believe in privacy for people, openness by government.

We believe in civil rights, and we believe in human rights.

We believe in a single -- We believe in a single fundamental idea that describes better than most textbooks and any speech that I could write what a proper government should be: the idea of family, mutuality, the sharing of benefits and burdens for the good of all, feeling one another's pain, sharing one another's blessings -- reasonably, honestly, fairly, without respect to race, or sex, or geography, or political affiliation.

We believe we must be the family of America, recognizing that at the heart of the matter we are bound one to another, that the problems of a retired school teacher in Duluth are our problems; that the future of the child -- that the future of the child in Buffalo is our future; that the struggle of a disabled man in Boston to survive, and live decently, is our struggle; that the hunger of a woman in Little Rock is our hunger; that the failure anywhere to provide what reasonably we might, to avoid pain, is our failure.

[LSparkle]

1. I remember that speech ... It was GREAT

Ranks right up there with Ted Kennedy's (perhaps even at the same convention, or maybe 4 years earlier) as one of the best speeches I've ever heard. Gives me chills just thinking of it...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. Yes. I think about him often. To me, he is the greatest articulator

of what we believe. I wonder where he is and what he is doing. I would beg our party to hire him to write every speech for every candidate.

[LSparkle]

5. I still wish he'd been our nominee instead of Dukakis

My dad used to say that somebody must have had "the goods" on him because he would have made such a great candidate...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Definitely. Ah, read what he wrote about B** and the was and

Saddam. From 2003 pre-invasion - How true:

The country is with you, Mr. President in your commitment to de-fang Saddam Hussein and to defeat Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and all terrorist groups."

"But war in Iraq would kill a lot of people, many of them American. It could destroy much of Iraq's infrastructure, make the task of democratizing the country more difficult and further destabilize the region."

"It would surely provide more anti-American terrorism as the radical Islamist noted the difference between the way we dealt with Muslim Iraq and non-Muslim North Korea..It wouldn't be a war that ends violence: it would be a war that invites violence, especially against our country."

"The best victory, Mr. President, for you and our nation, would not be in winning a destructive war over a weaker opponent, but in getting rid of Saddam Hussein without a war -- through intelligence, wisdom and political adroitness."

[FreedomAngel82]

12. Too bad Bush didn't listen but than

if he did they couldn't get the oil. Chaos is their best friend.

[mdmc]

13. He could hae been on the supreme court!

Love this guy:kick:

[mdmc]

14. He could have been on the supreme court!

Love this guy:kick:

[KoKo]

3. Thank you So Much for this post. I heard that speech and the tears

run down my face once again. I never understood why Cuomo vanished. There were rumors about mob ties or something...but he could give a speech that would light up the fires under our Dem butts...just like Ted Kennedy used to do.

This speech is his classic. :loveya: for posting it. It's a must read/re-read...in these times.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

4. yes, some skeletons in closet is all I remember too. Well,

maybe they aren't so bad in the light of 2008. Man, he sure was a good debater on the news talk shows too !

[KoKo]

11. Well ...isn't this a ReDux post...and "what the hell" might be important

here? :shrug:

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. beg your pardon?

[SongOfTheRayne]

7. "A government of humans"...if only...

If only...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. lol

[KoKo]

9. Hey Newbies ....let's read this and if you like then "Kick & Recommend!"

It's a Democratic CLASSIC and shouldn't go off to archives here like some post that says: "OMG...TWEETY SAYS..." (which I myself am guilty of posting).

THIS SPEECH IS A MUST READ!!!!

[New Government]

10. One hell of a speech...thanks for posting!....nt

[mdmc]

15. hey now! welcome to DU!

:kick: to the head!

[mdmc]

17. hi

[mdmc]

18. kick