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[Page H2838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROMISE OF AMERICA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Washington (Mrs. Rodgers) for 5 minutes.
Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I rise today to reflect on
the promise of America.
What is the promise of America? What has it meant for us? And what
does it mean for us today?
America has been around for a few hundred years. That is really not
that long. In that short time, our dreams have informed the
imaginations of people around the globe.
It all started when our Founding Fathers drafted and signed the
Declaration of Independence. It set us on a path for our Nation to be
the greatest experiment in self-governance that the world has ever
known. Our Founders were our first innovators who risked it all for
America to be free.
I am sure there are times when we have fallen short, but our
experiment has been overwhelmingly for the good. It is here in America
that we have led and cultivated history's greatest breakthroughs. We
fought a war to end slavery. We liberated Europe from the Nazis. We
invented flight; put men on the Moon; split the atom; and invented the
microchip, the internet, and more.
At great expense, all this was accomplished by maintaining fleets and
armies for America to be a beacon of hope for freedom-loving people
around the world. We have done more to lift people out of poverty and
raise the standard of living than any nation in the history of the
world.
Madam Speaker, I am sure our Founders never dreamed that any of this
would be possible, but it was because they made their vision for
America a reality rooted in the promise that our rights are self-
evident, sacred, and undeniable.
America was born with purpose. It says it right here in the
Declaration of Independence. We all know the words, or at least we
should know the words: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.''
These are more than just words. It is a faith statement, a
distinctive national credo. The moment we fail to believe it, the
experiment is over and this Nation will fade away like all nation-
states that have lost belief in themselves and forgotten their
identity.
If we forget our purpose and let the promise of America be broken,
then we are lost. The future is lost.
It is our job and our highest responsibility to transmit the promise
of America to our children and to all who are a part of this great
experiment. It is not enough that we merely assert these as ideas. We
must live them as truths and show the world that they work.
America is where freedom has made its greatest mark. It is where
creativity is unmatched by any time in history. It is where justice
flowers more generously than anyplace on Earth.
The torch must be passed to the next generation. That is what
President John F. Kennedy said, and, Madam Speaker, we must do just
that.
I will keep coming back to this floor, to the people's House, to make
this case that the promise of America is for every person in our
country.
There is a battle going on right now for the heart and soul of
America, so it is worth repeating that we must never forget our
purpose. That is what unites us as Americans, and it is where I find
hope that we can come together around shared values that built our
great Nation.
I am committed more than ever to restore trust and confidence in the
promise of America. It is a promise that will keep us free, empower our
children in the next generation to shine, and strengthen the moral
fabric where our identity rests.
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