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FOIA Number: 2006-0462-F
FOIA
.MAR
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library Staff.
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.
.
Collection/Record Group:
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Subgroup/Office of Origin:
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FolderiD:.
Folder Title:
Re: CIA [Central Intelligence Agericy] Introducing Crack Cocaine to black America 10/96
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10/IOj;/t
[On Charges Regarding the CIA]
When I first heard that there were news accounts alleging the CIA was involved in
introducing crack cocaine to black America in the 1980s (to raise money to fund an army
in Central America) was remarkably not surprised. One, because however unfair, there are
few charges made against the CIA that would surprise me- both because the CIA has a
long history of having conspiracy charges leveled against it and because one or two or
them have turned out to be true. Two, because as an African-American, I'd heard this
charge before- that is that the government was involved in introducing illegal, immoral or
otherwise destructive forces into black communities.
Somehow, though, I didn't think this story had "legs" as they say. But it has turned
from a story in the press to calls for congressional and other investigations to rising
temperatures in African-American communities, particularly in California. Before this story
gets off in a direction that could lead to even greater division between the races, let's, all of
us, consider a few things:
On October 16, 1995, President Clinton delivered a speech on race in America.
He said a lot of important things in that speech but none so important than when he said
"[i]n recent weeks, every one of us has been made aware of a simple truth- white
Americans and black Americans often see the world in drastically different ways- ways
that go beyond and beneath the Simpson trial and its aftermath .... "
He was talking, of course, about the fact that some polls showed most AfricanAmericans believed O.J. Simpson was innocent and most white Americans believed he
was guilty. A similar division seems to be emerging now. Commentary on this issue has
found little middle ground. Either African-Americans are injudiciously overreacting to a
self-generated paranoia without substantiation or support (as some commentary goes) or
the United States government under the Reagan Administration was covertly involved in a
scheme to introduce crack cocaine into black neighborhoods in a deliberate effort to kill
them off. I am in no position even to speculate on the detailed accounts of interviews and
documents reported on in various newspapers. Besides, I have confidence in General
McCaffrey's commitment "[i]f there is wrongdoing there, it should and will be punished."
But I also think an unchecked manipulation of either potential reality is dangerous and
unproductive. Worse, we may be missing the point.
However unhappy a truth this may be to some, all Americans must consider that
the basis upon which concerns have risen over this issue- and caused African-American
leaders like Maxine Waters and Jesse Jackson to call for investigations- is real. By that I
mean African-Americans were borne to this nation as a giant state-sponsored "conspiracy"
to be denied their basic human rights- that was called slavery. After slavery was
abolished, schemes to undue what Mr. Lincoln had done abounded, in law and later in
fact. Thus, the fact that African-Americans might: (l) believe charges that the CIA may have
sponsored or supported the introduction of destructive elements into black communities in
an attempt to undermine their communities, and (2) demand an investigation into such
�charges, shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone, really. Neither, however should
African-Americans be surprised by incredulity on the part of an America that desires or
chooses to believe we've overcome our dismal history.
It is manifestly important to examine charges that an entity representing the United
States of America was engaged in something so horrific, either deliberately or
inadvertently. According to interviews by Gary Webb, his Mercury News series doesn't
actually say the CIA knew anything about the drug trafficking. But now the charge is out
there. It is also critical that whatever the reality, we still need to address an undeniable
reality- the belief as Courtland Malloy describes- "that drugs and alcohol are the way out
of the afflictions that so many are so desperately seeking to escape."
But what I'm concerned about is that we may be missing a bigger picture- not that
this one isn't big enough. That is that race relations in America are still raw and bitter and
fragile. The wounds are deep and formidable. That's what President Clinton attempted to
address last year when he said to white American "[we] must clean our house" and to
black America "[w]e must be one." Maybe we should have paid better attention.
So, I have a suggestion. In his September 4, 1996 letter to Congresswoman Waters,
CIA Director Deutch said he asked his agency's Inspector General report to be completed
within sixty days. Let's try to get through this now unavoidably difficult time keeping in
mind the following:
1) The rifts between blacks and whites that still exist today- the fact that "white
Americans and black Americans often see the same world in drastically different ways"
-as President Clinton has said, "rooted in the awful history and stubborn persistence of
racism." For many African-Americans a story like this will not only be real- it will be true,
whatever an investigation ultimately reveals. Thus, the resulting complications are the
same: cocaine use is a huge problem in the black community, as are other problems of
substance abuse, and racial tensions persist. However tempting it must be for some to be
dismissive of all three, we need to fix all three problems, as a community, or suffer the cost
of continued division.
2) Thus, it does little good to continue to go back and forth about whether readers
read more into the Mercury News story than the writer intended. The House lntell igence
committee, the CIA Inspector General, and the Attorney General Inspector General offices
have all launched their own investigations. We will know more when these investigations
are concluded. But we don't have to wait to remember what Clinton said a year ago. In
the past "[w]hen divisions have threatened to bring our house down, somehow we have
always moved together to shore it up." These divisions still exist today and we can't expect
a congressional investigation to solve them- we need to move together to shore up our
house.
Leslie T. Thornton
�1· ..
FOIA Number: 2006-0462-F
FOIA
MAR~tc~R
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administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library- Staff.
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Subscrics:
OA/ID Number:
10981
FolderiD:
Folder Title:
Civility [ 1]
Shick:
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�Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
AND TYPE
001. memo
SUBJECTffiTLE
DATE
To President Bill Clinton from Benjamin R. Barber re: SOTU (partial)
(I page)
01/06/95
RESTRICTION
P6/b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speechwriting
Teny Edmonds
ONBox Number:
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FOLDER TITLE:
Civility [I]
2006-0462-F
1071
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C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
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PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
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RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
�. ;JI'It ftjp·~td Equivalent of Apollo
Can't,w~ help oth~r:.Americaris back from the dark side of the moon?
.
:
.
•'
·.,•.
'
.
:.
BY }0 NATHAN ALl' ER
'
:;
~.
··Bu(this<development 4> not at odds with the ·message of·
Apollo:Js:i:In fact;. the small quality-circle. teams of Houston· :i
technicians on the ground anticipated 1990s-style problem solv7 . ,
ing; At one_: point they saved the crew from fatal CO. poisoning:
-byfeye~hJ.y improVising a deVice with duct tape, thim askirig :- ·
the as~onauts to replicate their experiment. It 'worked. They · ,
litei:ally fit!!-:square peg into around hole.
, . ,o,,
:; •·-~
> • Social·-prc:iblei:iJ.-JsdlVi.ng is often just a variation on theser~'
' cllalle!J.g~~(\Simplistio as it was, Ross Perot had a point when he •· ·•·
· irl '1992 that we need to
under the hood, identify
willl;leciuu;atiorl, ;vv~Jj:are and
··
I
dying
diplomas they cant
.-:. ~o~.---.. -- argues that Washingt~~simply
to chai:J,ge· those conditions. ""·u..vu-GU
.
No. way.· And qon't dal-e com-, ';
. . . . .. .. .t_o JFK's gOOls for spac::e. If thestat~s .war}(>
· . · ·.: try, fll],e, ,but forget the idea of a nafiqnal mission/.}{
··~~~· y.- .. · · · If this kirid of thi:nkirig ~pplied•to the sp:ice pr~ ·;
·.
.
wmud still be or'bitiilg with.three . :
, o:<;>u.u."""''"·· Texas w~ not abci~t to rescU.er-.l,~rnrll'\
... figured out another way to get JacL ·
The private sector coUld not havdhah-'
·.
understands this; spac(explqratiori.
is' an
to
thinking about the role of the federal_
government. He supports it.
· ,
' · .·.. •
It's the implications of that distinction that are·so troubling. ""
Are LOvell, Swigert and Raise somehow more American; more' F
deserVing .of heroic national efforts, than the rest of us, ju,st).
trying to get prepared for brutal re-entry into the global wol:k?:';
force? Ofcouxse, struggling Americans Ultimately have to:llJ.ak~tB
their ownWa.y backfrom the dark side of the moc:iri., just:as'tli~~;:
crew of Apollo 13 did. But they, too, could use a little help;frorii': ~
those imaginatiVe federal bureaucrats on the ground. To\V(Il~;:~
liam James's moral equivalent of war, add the social equiviilent ',
of Apollo. If the plastie- doesn't work, try the duct tape. That's ' _·,
our nation up there, and as the clock ticks down, the mission has ·
not been completed. Failure should not be an option. · · .
�7/3/95 9:30 p.m.
PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
A NEW COMMON GROUND
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
JULY 6, 1995
I have asked you here
~oday
to discuss a matter of deep
importance to America. You, who have done so much to build
community across this land, understand our national need to find
a new common ground.
It is fitting for us to talk here at Georgetown.
learned about finding common cause here.
I
As a student,
I
When I arrived in 1964,
already had some understanding of this -- from my schools, my
church, my home. I grew up in the South at a time when so many of
us struggled to live together against a past that drove us apart.
But, I learned so much more during my time here, as our country
confronted new obstacles to our age-old striving to give meaning
to "E Pluribus Unum."
We saw it in the clash of cultures and
generations. And we saw it in the rage and fear and
violenc~
that
erupted in the streets of this city after Dr. King was slain.
Fortunately, we also learned something here more uplifting and,
I
believe, enduring about the American spirit. Sitting where you
now sit, I heard the words of a professor named Carol Quigley. He
taught that America was the greatest country in history because
our people have always believed in two great ideas: first, that
the future can be better than the present.
And second, that each
of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.
�I ran for President to apply that lesson to our effort to meet
the challenges of a new century. I returned to Georgetown in 1991
to call on Americans to forge a New Covenant based on opportunity
and responsibility to overcome the obstacles of our own times.
When I ran for President, we had too many Americans who saw the
global economy as a dog-eat-dog world. Too many Americans
believed they could lose everything in the next minute. That they
were out there all alone -- without the help of a government that
cared and without the ties of community or, too often, even
family to help. They had stopped believing that the future could
be better than the present. Or that they could take personal
responsibility to change that course for the better.
For the past
two~and-a-half
years, we have worked hard to change
that, to provide more opportunity and demand more responsibility
from everyone. We have strengthened our economy, expanded
educational opportunities so hardworking people can compete and
win
~n
the global economy, increased trade, and created jobs that
will keep our citizens and our families strong. We have fought
against violence and the tools of violence that threaten the
safety and security of our people. In all this, we have worked to
keep the American Dream alive for our children and grandchildren
as we enter a new century.
In my administration, we have helped our schools teach better
2
�citizenship, responsibility and values. We have created
Americorps, our national service initiative, to give new meaning
to the old American principles of community and country. And I
have spoken out, on many occasions, to say that we are all in
this together and we shall rise or fall together.
But, for all we have done, it is not enough. The great irony of
our age is that the forces of opportunity lifting us up also
contain within them the power to tear us apart. The new global
economy which holds out so much promise in ideas, technology and
jobs, also places tremendous pressures on our families, our
communities, our values. Pushed too far, mobility can become
dislocation. Industriousness can become overload. Those pressures
can lead to frustrations, and those frustrations can lead us to
turn against one another in blame, rather than toward one another
in common purpose. Most Americans do their dead-level best to
cope with those frustrations in their daily lives. But we have
seen, in the shadow of Oklahoma City, how some people who live at
the margins of our society express their frustrations through
violent acts that strike at us all.
Some people, in and out of politics, want to look around for
someone to blame -- whether it is the government, or the
entertainment industry, or global corporations. Some who are rich
say it is the poor. Some who are poor say it is the rich.
3
�The truth is, we all must share the responsibility. As President,
I have spoken out often on the need for greater responsibility in
all sectors of our society. I am proud that many in my
administration, including Tipper Gore, the Vice President's wife,
have led the way to bring more responsibility and stronger values
to many parts of our lives.
They have shown this is a time not for pointing fingers but for
joining hands. We have watched old walls of tyranny and hatred
torn down abroad. This is no time to build new walls at home. The
real question now is not, who is to blame, but, what are we going
to do about it? And that is why I want to talk with you today.
With your help, I want us to put aside partisan politics and
unite this country in a massive effort to promote civility, stop
violence and rebuild the American community.
We learned more in Oklahoma City than just the force of hatred
and violence and division.
We saw the best of the American
. neighbor helping
spirit .
concern for one another .
neighbor
. understanding and caring and tolerance.
the American spirit.
That's
That's what keeps the American Dream alive
for our children.
It should not take chaos or catastrophe to bring out our
character. We must revive the search for virtue and the common
4
�good in our everyday lives. The message is clear: Here, at the
edge of the 21st century, let us unite to condemn hatred,
intolerance and violence.
Let us rebuild .a new common ground of
respect, civility and civil order. That is what makes America
strong. That is the best of America.
I believe we can do this, because I know we have done it before.
Many of you were fortunate enough to have the experience I had of
growing up in places where people did come together to help one
another. My grandparents and my parents taught me about equality,
justice and the worth of every individual. It did not always come
easily for all of them, but many of the people I grew up around
believed we could work in unity -- and because we believed it, we
helped to move one another forward.
But we must not believe those who would have us think we can
simply wish our way back to the way things were. Life is not that
easy, and the forces the world places on us are not that simple.
Our challenge is to reapply our basic values in the context of
different times. We must do everything we can to transform our
thoughts, our words and our actions, so that we promote civility,
community and common purpose, not rancor, division and hate.
We should begin with the way we think about one another. In many
ways, we havebecome a nation of "others."
White, black. Men,
women. Liberal, conservative. We have all come to categorize the
5
�other person, to count them out of our group and into another
group that we suspect of not sharing our values, our concerns,
our virtues. Some of this came out of the best of impulses:
People of like backgrounds or interests have, in recent decades,
found a new freedom to express their shared heritage and
strengths. And much good has come out of this, for all of us. But
we must make sure that our diversity remains a strength for all
of us, and not a force for divisiveness.
If you see yourself as other, you are less likely to feel you
have a stake in building a common future of harmony and
prosperity. We must not forget the sternest lessons of our
century: The danger that can arise when peopl~ think of each
other as categories of difference.
We must begin by letting go of the presumptions we make about
people whom we do not know -- whom we regard as too different.
Let me put this in personal terms.
All of us have been guilty of
false presumptions. Think about the presumptions that apparently
led to the Oklahoma City tragedy. Many of those who died were
hardworking government employees, who have been routinely and
derisively referred to as "bureaucrats.'' When Hillary and I
visited the loved ones of those workers who had been killed, I
realized that they gave their lives performing the most vital
services to people -- sending out pension checks, ensuring public
safety, taking care of our children. And I vowed right then and
6
�there never to use the term "bureaucrat" again derisively.
That
is the kind of presumption I am talking about.
We all must take personal responsibility to suspend our
presumptions about people who are different than we are, to stop
treating each other like enemies. We are all Americans. That is
the best presumption to start with.
Beyond our thoughts, we must take responsibility for our words.
Words have consequences. Words and discussion and debate are the
very currency of our democracy. Democracy does not mean we all
agree with one another, or share a single set of ideas. If it
did, we would never change in this country and never make
progress. But democracy does mean we have pledged not to permit
our disagreements to destroy our community. It means we have
promised to respect one another even when -- especially when
our ideas are different.
That is what the Speaker of the House and I reaffirmed in New
Hampshire last month. Everywhere I have gone since that
discussion, people have told me how impressed they were with the
civility of that moment. They told me how good it was to see us
meaningfully debate our differences, without the angry words and
name-calling so much a part of political debate in our country.
I challenge all of our political leaders to tone down the
7
�rhetoric and to remember that hate is not a family value. Beyond
left and right, there is a frontier of civility that we must
defend. And we must be vigilant in the face of the people who
would breach that frontier, whether they speak from the left or
the right, through microphones or newspapers or in front of
television or movie cameras.
When voices advocate racism or sexism or dehumanization of
individuals of any kind, it does not matter that they are our
allies on other issues or that they attack others with whom we
disagree. We must reject their attacks outright. We must do that
if they are the voices of the left [Farrakhan, with quotes to
come] or of the right [NRA, with quotes to come]. If we do not,
how will we have the moral authority to teach our children they
are wrong when they use the worst kind of racial epithet in a
high school yearbook as a sick joke, which is what happened in
one high school recently?
When our words become weapons in angry hands, we lose our
capacity for cooperation and compromise. When speech is a club,
clubs become knives and guns, and violence replaces speech as the
broker of our differences. We cannot afford that in our
democracy.
Finally, beyond our thoughts and words, we must take the actions
to renew our sense of community. As President, I have worked to
8
�rebuild community across our country. Americorps.
Community
development banks. Empowerment zones: All reflect our larger
commitment to help people make the most of their lives and to
give them the tools to work together.·
But my actions as President must go beyond all of that, because
what it takes to rebuild community and civility is about much
more than government action. I believe my responsibility is to
show that there are real, concrete ways for us to work towards a
stronger American community. And I want to convince our people
that there is far more that is right and good about what we are
doing as Americans -- and what we still can do -- than what is
wrong about America and divides us. As I said when I was
inaugurated as your President: There is nothing wrong with
America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America.
That is why I will devote time in the weeks and months to come to
celebrate and focus on the best of America -- what is working to
help pull us together. When I travel across this country, I meet
many people like you. In every town, community and state I visit,
I meet remarkable people who are doing their part and urging
others to do more. The community leader bridging racial divisions
through a sports league. The principal who makes her school into
a place for youth to play and study in the evening. The
entertainer setting up a foundation to reach at-risk children.
This is what works in America. These are the real American
9
�heroes. And I want America to know about them and be inspired by
them.
We must challenge everyone to do more. And that is especially
true of leaders from sectors of influence in our lives. Business.
Entertainment. Media. Sports. Education. I will meet with leaders
from these and other sectors of American society and challenge
them to join me in our efforts to renew the American community.
I will ask business leaders to build on examples of corporate
responsibility -- providing on-site day care to make our people
good workers and good parents and investing profits back into the
training of the most important asset any business has: its
workers. I will not demonize entertainment leaders. That is too
easy. The hard part is to find ways with them to use our media
and entertainment outlets to strengthen families, reinforce
values and provide positive role models. I will remind those in
sports and entertainment of the responsibility that comes with
fame and rewards.
I want to meet with American citizens across this nation who are
working everyday to build bridges and promote healing.
People
who understand that citizenship means more than paying your taxes
and mowing your lawn. It means behaving with decency, restraint
and deep caring for one another as fellow Americans in a diverse
but unified nation.
10
�We must do all this in the face of real and profound challenges.
We know that. But our challenges are no greater than those we
have faced -- and overcome -- together throughout our history.
Think of all the times we have come through. We did it a
generation ago during civil rights era. We did it in winning the
Cold War. We did it in the great fight against fascism in World
War II. We did it in Oklahoma City.
We must never forget, we have faced up to our challenges before.
Abraham Lincoln, who saved our Republic in its hour of greatest
need and redeemed the promise of our freedom, said something very
important in his first inaugural.
The country was coming apart
at the seams over the issue of slavery. We were headed into our
deepest conflict. But he had the understanding to say:
not enemies, but friends.
"We are
We must not be enemies."
I say to you today, my friends:
Let us find a new common ground.
Let us stand up for the future of our children.
And though we
may disagree, let us take up our greatest responsibility to one
another: Let us not be enemies, but friends.
Thank you and God bless you.
11
�·JUL-
s~gs
WED 9:40 .
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FAX· NO. 2023370864
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(
.
I believe we can fmd the answer within our American experience; We can find
.
'
the answer by recognizing, promoting and celebrating what is bes1 about America. In
both thought -and word and deed. · As I said in my Inaugural Address, ''there is nothing
'
I,
.
. wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right about America." Today I want
to discuss, what I believe can be a critically important effort for our natio~.
As we stand on
~f the 21st .Century buffeted and battere,d by the
the threshold
pressures of a modem world ~~ let us Ia_urich a national effort to find and recognize and
I·
. highlight and learn and_ be inspired by what is best about America. .
[GO BACK TO 2ND GRAPH]
�P. '04
FAX NO. 2023370864
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JUL- 5-95 WED 9:40 ·
G R E E R, M A R 0 0 J, I a,
MITCHELL, DURNH
CMMB&A
& A 5 S 0 C::: l A T E N, I N C.
MEMORANDUM
TO:
DONBAER
FROM:
FRANK GREER
DATE:
JULY 5,1995
RE:
SUGGESTED LANGUAGE
· I really believe we should use this kind of language at some point.
Now. as the voices of hatred and di~ision seck to weaken our nation, let us renew
to assure a sense of com~unity.
our dedication
As the voices of division'try to appeal to
. appeal to fears and hatred and division, let us reach out and appeal to what iS best in .
America; a sense' that we are all responsible to one another, that we all have a duty tq
responsible citizenship. We are all in this together and we shall rise or fall together.
I believe we can create a chorus of harmony that
will drown out the shrill voices
/
of hate. We can celebrate and gain strength from our diversity because that is the genius
.
·'
.
.
'
I
of America.
. That is why today, I. am issuing a challenge to all of America. Let us put aside
partisan politics ... let us understand and
f~us
on what is best in America... Community,
opportunity, responsibility and citizenship. Beginning roday, all across tllis country. fm
going to seek out and find
th~se
examples of what is best in America. To highlight them.
to focus attention on them, and to· inspire all of us wilh ~eir example. '
"As we stand on the threshold of the 21st century, we must rebuild the American
community. again with a new call to responsible citi~nship.· First. we must offer a new .
.•
covenant between the government and our citizens.
We musr provide ~ore opportunity
'and demand,
more responsibility of
everyone. To the .hard. working middle class fa!Jlilies
'
.
who play by the rules. who struggle to raise tQeir children and· help their" neighbors, we
------····
... ,....
- -------:-_;--.,-·-··"·•
·.··
··------·
--- ............... ----
�JUL- 5-95 WED
P. 05
FAX NO. 2023370864 .
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9~40
must provide the opportunity for a· good job with good bcnefit'i. and reward their hard
.
.
work and their responsible _citizenship. And we must provide the quality education and
job training that will allow us to compete and win in global competition.
·It is our responsibility· to put an· end to the violence that threarens the safety arid ··
~curicy
of these hard working families. It is our responsibility to provide safe streetS and
safe communities and secure retirement. That-is our common responsibility to each other ·
'
•\
and, every American family ... To give them an opportunity to pass along the Anierican
Dream to their children and grandchildren.
And we must challenge the business
community .to be responsible citizens as well~ The entrepreneur, the CEOs and the plant
managers. · You have a responsibility to your employe1s ~··
to
AmeriCan workers to·
provide good jobs and to build quality products that can compete and win in the world
markets.
There is a serious and devastating crisis in America ·today... Working family
incomes are going down. we're working harderfor less money and having more difficulty
at record
supporting their families ... while corporate profits and the stock market are
levels. We must challenge the business com'munity to build and create good jobs here at
· horne -- not overseas. To provide good jobs and wages that reward productive work and
provide a good life.to America's fnmilics. And all of us have a responsibility to provide
.
'
'
the public serVices and the infrastructure that our businesses
and our economy. need to
.
grow. We have a responsibilitY to expand trade and stand up to unfair trade.· To open
markets for American products and American workers.· But. those businesses that benefit
·'
.
from
the~
government actions also have a· responsibility
to provide good jobs a~d good
.J
wag~s.
And we
all have a responsibility to protect our·environmenr...
'
and clean. water and better health for our families ... and to preserve
[0
provide clean,air
our~ national
heritage
for our children and their children. That to is how ·we keep the American dream alive ..
. ..
.
~
.,
.. ,.. , ....... .
= ·~~--------~--------------.. : ... ·----~--·--- .. --~-:- -::__·_:-··_::'~ :-····~~======~~=·-·=-~--~··~·
··~_ ...
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=
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.. .
�.JUL- 5-95 WED 9: 41 .
...
'GMMA ·
FAX NO. 2023370864
'
. f
P. 06
'
.·
.Media, Entertainment Industry, the Religious Community._.
we all have a
responsibility to responsible citizenship. Community leaders and Jndividuals who today
(
.
are demonstrating·, what is best about Ariterica. With the kind of caring; community,
compassion and citizenship ~t the local level. [Find examples.]
�JUL-
5~95
WED 9:41
GMMA
FAX NO. 2023370864 _
The Best of America Campnfgn
Community, Opportunity, Respon_sfbiUty and CJtlzenshlp
· .Focusing on what is best about America. There .are those who have tried to appeal to the
w?rst in us, to fear and hatred and division. Our task, as we stand on the brink of the 21st
..
century. is to reach out· and appeal
to the best . in America. This is not
about partisanI
.
, .
politics, this is about what is best in America. This is about a shared responsibility, a
sense of community, people working together to improve life for every citizen and taking
'\
responsibility for each other.
P. 07
�JULY 6 1 RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP SPEECH
MEETING AGENDA
1.
VENUE/TIME -
Georgetown University
Gaston Hall, in Healy Hall, 37th & 0 Street
11:00 am
Guest call time - 9:30 am
2.
AUDIENCE -
400 seats in the main hall {without risers)
334 seats in the balcony
() 'f[J DYlO Vo.n -7
3.
PROGRAM
4.
PRESS/COMMUNICATIONS/AMPLIFICATION PLAN
5.
FUTURE MEETINGS - Friday - 12:00 room 180
Monday/Tuesday - conference call?
rows
�THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
OFFICE OF
SPEECHWRITING
PHONE: (202) 456-2777
FAX: (202) 456-5709
TO:
I
FROM:
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RECEIVER FAX:
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***WARNING***.
Unauthorized use of these materials is subject to federal prosecution
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
�\
,
I
THE WHITE HOUSE·
WASHINGTON
·
OFFICE ··OF·
SPEECHWRITING
)
TO:
PHONE: (202) 456-2777
.. . , FAX: (202) 45(5-5709 ·
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NUMBER OF PAGES' (INCLUDING COVER SHEET):
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***WARNING***
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\ ... '
.
�·---.
0 It k MR., MA RO.~~-~
~~!)~ E IJ J,, H tl k N R
GMMB&A
& 1\ t> Hut~ lATE B•.. ~ NC.
MEMORANDUM
TO:
DONBAER
FROM:
FRANK GREER
·DATE:
RE:
JUNE l7, 1995
SUGGESTEDLANGUAGE .
Frank dictated this to me very quickly and he has not seen the final product yet ·
This is a rough draft and I'm sure. he will talk with you abOut it and want to offer changes.
"Today is when we prepare to celebrate Lhe founding of our nation. Let us honor
the best in America. Let us honor what has made-this nation great. inspired the world for
over 200 years... A dedication by each generation to keep the American Dream alive.
and a commitment
to
rebuild the American community with shared values and shared
purpose and common goals. This year's tragedy in Oklahoma City united our nation
against the forces of hatred and violence and division. And it reminded us of what"is best
about America.
Responsible citi1.cnship, neighbor helping neighbor, concern and
compassion, caring for one another. understtlnding and tolerance.
A trUe sense of
community. That is what makes America great. Now as the voices of hatred and
division seek to weaken our nation, let us renew our dedication to assure a sense of
community. A sense that we are all responsible to one another, that we all have a duty to
responsible citizenship. We are all in this together o.nd we shall rise or fall together.
I believe we can create a chorus of harmony that will drown out the shrill voices
of hate. We can celebrate and gain .strength from our diversity because that is the genius .
of America. Tolerance, our strength and understanding. That is what makes America
strong. That is the best of America."
1010 Wisconsin Avenue, NW • Suite 800 : Was~i-~~ton, JX~ 20007 • (202) 338-8700 • FAX (202) 338-2334
2110 Main Street· Suite Z03 • Santa Monica, CA 90405 • ,(310) 314-4800 ·FAX (3lO) 314-4803
�c
At this point, we should lay a campaign to celebrate and illustrate and focus on.
what is best about America. Comn1unity, opportunity, responsibility and citizenship.
"B~ginning
today, all across this country, I'm going to seck out and find those examples
of what is best in America. To highlight them, 1.0 focus attention on them. and to inspire
all of us with their example.
"As we stand on the thre..~hold of the 21st century, we must rebuild the American
community again with a new call to responsible citi?.enship. First, we must offer a new
covenant between the government and our citizens. We must provide
~ore
opportunity
and demand more responsibility of everyone. To the hard working middle class families
who play by the rules, who struggle to raise their children, and help their neighbors, we
all must provide the opportunity for a good job with good benefits, and reward their hard
work and their responsible citizenship. And we must provide the quality education and
job training that will allow us
lO
compete and win in global competition. It is our
responsibility to put an end to the violence that threatens the safety and security of these
hard working families.
It is our responsibility ·to provide safe streets and safe •
communities and secure retirement That is our common responsibility to each other and
every American family ... To give them an opportunity to pass along the American Dream
to their children and grandchildren. And we must challenge the business community to
be responsible citizens as well. The entrepreneur. the CEOs and the plant managers.
You have a responsibility to your employees ... to American workers to provide good
jobs and to build quality products that can compete and win in the world markets.
There is a serious and devastating crisis in America today... Working fami1y
incomes are going down. we're working harder for less money and having more difficulty
supporting their families ... while corporate profits and the stock market are at record
levels. We must challenge the business community to build and create good jobs here at
home~-
not overseas. To provide good jobs and.wages that reward productive work and
provide a good life to America's families. And all of us have a responsibility to provide
�lhe public services and the infrastructure that our business and our economy need to
grow. We have a responsibility to expand trade and stand up to unfair trade. To open
markets for American products and American workers. But those business that benefit
from lhese government actions, also have a responsibility lO provide good jobs and good
wages. And we all have a responsibility to protect our environment. .. to provide clean air
and clean water and better health for our families ... and to preserve our national heritage
for our children and their children. That to is how we .keep the American dream alive.
Media, Entertainment Industry, the Religious Community..
we all have a
responsibility to responsible citi1..enshjp. Community leaders and individuals who today
are demonstrating what is best about America. With the kind of caring, community,
compassion and citizenship at the locallevcl.[Find examples.]
�-.
·.
The Best ofAmerlca Campaign
Conununlty, Opportunity, Responsibility and Citizenship .
Focusing on what is best about America. There are those who have tried to appeal to the
worst in us. to fear and hatred and division. Our task, as we stand on the brink of the 21st
century. is to reach out an~ appeal to the best in America. This is not a partisan thing,
this is a~out what is best in America.
Beyond politics. this is about a shared
responsibility, a sense of community, people working together to improve life for every
citizen and taking responsibility for each other.
�BENJAMIN
BARBER
,
OT-01-95 .
413 298 4364
16:43
WHAT CITIZENSHIP ASKS OF US:
For the President via Bill .Galson and Don Baer
From: Benjamin R. Bmrber
July 3 1 1995
Telephone: 413-298-3410
Fax: 413-298-4364
[What follows are three sets of remarks, written in
speech format but intended as ideas for a speech rather
than that speech itsllf; I have found it easier in the
short time available to write as if I were co~posing a
speech rather than in abstractions about what one might
include in such a speech. ·
I.have not incorporated into these remarks, but
discuss briefly at the end, the barest outlines
a ''campaiqn for renewed citizenship" might look
Clearly, such themes need to be integrated into
speech itself.
do
of what
like.
the
May I finally suggest that if you can get hold of a
copy of my ~each in ~ague (a copy should be available
at the USIA), there are themes there that might well
be relevant to this speech -- ditto the essay on CIYIL
SOCIETY in the February/March 1995 THE NEW DEMOCRAT)
---
I. Themes ana
i~eas
.
for the speech;
We ask much of our democracy: that it preserve our freedoms,
that it achieve our common goals, that it administer the
common good, that it govern in our name and for our ends;
and aalso that it leave us alone! But democracy does not .run
on automatic pilot: it is fueled by our active engagement.
It gives much but in return is asks much of us -- above all,
it asks us to be c.itizens.
We are a diversified country -- pluralistic from the very
beginning. We celebrate our many differences and so we
should, but those differences can also become fault lines
along which we divide and separate from one another. We
·cherish our liberties and so we should, but these liberties
can become sanctuaries of selfishness and an excuse for
isolation. We revel in free speech, and so we must, but free
spee~h can also incite and anqer and divide and polarize.
Our differences call out for common ground; our liberties
demand the counterweight of responsibility; our free speech
requires civility.
In a diversified and free society then there is a special
need for the glue that holds democracy together: the glue of
common citizenship •
..If· .1.
t-01.11{
P.01
�B,ENJAMIN BARBER
413 298 4364
07-01-95
16=44
There are three vital dimensions of citizenship:
1. What we say and do as individuals who wish to speak
and act as citizens;
2 .• What we say and do as members of institutions and
qroups that have collective civic responsibili~ies;
3. How we speak when we speax as citizens, as against.
how we may speak as self-interested individuals or members
.
of corporate collectivities that are not part of civil _
society.
1. Citizens are made not born: de Tocqueville spoke of
an arduous apprenticeship of liberty·. To be a citizen means
much more than just voting or paying taxes or writing a
letter to a politician. When Jefferson spoke of government
for, by and of the people ·it was citizens he was thinking
of. Citizens are people ••• plus: people plus a concern for
others; people plus an understandinq of how we affect one
another's lives; people plus an acknowledqment·of· our
membership in a hundred different coamunities large and
small, from our families and neighborhoods right up to the
global community of huJilankind.
The individual citizen takes responsibility for the
community not out of altruism or charity but because she
knows she is part of the community and without her active
engagement and responsibility, it cannot flourish or be
free. Responsiblity is how we earn our freedom -- because
liberty isn't free. It is perhaps the hardest thing on earth
to win, and too often it is the easiest to lose.
In a nations of citizens who take responsibility for
themselves, their neighbors and the extended communities of
state and nation to which they belonq, there is no need for
heros. Democracy is government without heros. We may feel
sorry for the country that has no heros, but we ought truly
to pity the country that needs heros. tn a democracy,
·ordinary women and men do the work of goverance, with the
help of accountable representatives. Your elected officials
have a grave responsibility to you: but you have a still
gra~er responsibility to yourselves and your neig~bors.
Responsibility may sometimes may seem a tired old civics
idea. But the currency of responsibility is power. To take
responsibility is to grasp the means to make a difference,
to be empowered to do thinqs without waiting for others to
do them for you. A responsible citizenry is an empowered
citizenry. A powerful citizenry needn't scapegoat leaders or
blame others for their failures for it can take power into
its own hands and make the crucial difference.
P.02
�.~ENJAMIN
BARBER
413 298 4364
07-01-95
16=45
There is alot of understandable anger and cynicism abroad in
our land today. But much of it is the result of a sense of
powerlessness on the part of Americans who have lost a grasp
on their own agency, their own citizenship. As we take on
some responsibility, we sense our own democracy power -- and
the clouds of cynicism and resentment recede. This
government belongs to us: it is ours. As we take ·
responsibility for it, it becomes responsible.
I do not mean to call on the American people to take the
responsibility from my shoulders: we, your elected
officials, have heavy constitutional duties to carry out
your will. But electing us is the beqinninq not the end-of
your responsibility as citizens. We govern as your. agents
and your delegates, but we cannot remove from your shoulders
the ultimate responsibility for the welfare of our nation.
America is not a bunch of me's; it is a ttwen to which we all
belong.
2. America is the common collllllunity of its citizens; and it
is the sovereign nations represented by·those of us you have
privileged by ~oting us into office. But between you as
individual citizens and your government -- between you and
me -- there is a vital domain of community organizations and
civil associations and foundations and schools and churches
and business corporations that are also.citizens of our
civil society. On their shoulders too fall the
responsibilities of citizenship.
By themselves individual citizens cannot address all of our
common problems. By itself, your government cannot solve the
myriad challeng~s that confront our communities throughout
our nation. Much of what has gone riqht with America, and
some portion of what has gone wrong, is also the
responsibility of our common associations and civic
organizations and business enterprises. And each of us
belonq not just to a family or neighborhood, but have a
place of worship and a place of work; a circle of friends
and a circle of fellow workers and business associates. our
civic responsibility do•s not stop at the end of our nose or
at the front door of our homes. For where there is power
there is responsibility and where thE!re is responsibility
there is citizenship. This is a lesson every younq member of
Americorps has learned during the period they have served
·•
America's communities.
It is time for our foundations and corporations and unions
and companies to think about their membership in the wider
society. Not just what they can get but what they can give
to America. They profit from our qreat land of freedom and
owe a debt of responsibility to the liberty they enjoy. We
are not a country disposed to censorship: is there no way
Hollywood and Madison Avenue and the corporations that
P.03
�BENJAMIN BARBER
413 298 4364
07-01-95
control them can be brought to understand that the education
of future generations of Americans is in their hands as much
as it is in the hands of our educators? When will our
popular music artists and those who packaqe and sell them
begin to understand that they also shape and mould the
tastes which, in the name of the free market, they pretend
only to serve? When will the companies that move their ·
plants abroad and downsize their labor forces and covert
fulltime workers with pensions to part workers at minimum
waqe recognize that they have a responsibility to full
employment and good health and a society capable of paying
for the goods they produce and not just· to the short-te~
bottom line?
These are not demands for altruism or sacrifice. They simply
recognize that liberty carries with it responsibility -- for
groups and individuals alike. They ask our common
associations and business corporations to acknowledge that
they are part of a free society and benefit from its
freedoms and have a responsibility to sustain those freedoms
through responsible behavior. Henry Ford figured out that
higher pay for his workers created greater demand for his
cars, a healthier society and a more productive workforce -all of which helped Ford prosper in the long run.
Citizenship is the lonq-term perspective of liberty. It
teaches the Hollywood studio that short term profits and the
exploitation of violence and sexuality will not in the lonq.
term nur·ture an America for which it will want to or be able
to make films. It teaches business that an America that does
not share in its productivity and profits will not in the ·
long run be either a market fro~ which it can profit or a
society that will support it.
3. Finally, if citizenship is the glue that hold democracy
together, talk is the binder that holds citizens toqether.
But talk, like citizenship itself, is an art. Civic talk is
not any old talk, but talk that listens as well as it
articulates; talk that seeks out some one else's position
even as it asserts one's own; talk that respects even when
the other side seems morally repuqnant; talk that is civil
even when it uncovers fundamental differences.
America certainly is not short on talk today. But much of
the talk is agression by other means, assault by words,
co:mmunication·as intolerance. Radio hosts on both sides.of
the political divide demonize their adversaries and
encourage callers to dismiss opponents as fools and idiots
and, what is worst of all, traitors. Too often we talk
neither to persuade nor to learn but to overpower and
intimidate.
Talk is democracy's most precious commodity; it has been
badly debased. Every night· you can tune into television
P.04
�~ENJAMIN
BARBER
413 298 4364
07-01-95
P.0S
shows where three Washington experts spend a half hour
talking about a current event-- all three.talkinq at the
same time, outshoutinq one another, waiting for the chance
for the last word, the loudest word, the angriest word. This
isn't the kind of talk that.nurtures democracy or gives us a·
common currency of symbols to bridge our many policy
differences and plural values. Those who support the rights
of women to choose when to qive birth are not murderers~
those who believe abortion is morally noxious are not
fanatics. Those who believe in the possibility of government
to _make a contribution to the-public qood are not co~munists
or socialists or traitors to America; those who believe
there is too much government are not fascists or anar.chists
or traitors to America. The arqument·over the proper size
and duties of the Federal Government is as old as the
Founders. When we make that argument a basis for productive
discourse and use it to discover new ways of doing business,
its serves us well. When we use it·to demonize our opponents
and expose the 11 bad faith .. of our adversaries, we permit it
to destroy us and the possibility of living together in the
face of our many differences.
We need to restore talk to its proper function as the .
. mediator of our democracy7 the carrier of our mutual respect
and tolerance; the key to our civility. Civility is the
essence not just of civilization but or democracy. It is the
water in which democratic citizens swim without drowning. It
allows us to mediate our differences and find common ground
in spite of.our divisions.
If we can restore to our national life a sense of our
responsibilities as inQividual citizens, a recognition of
the obligations of communities and civic associations and
business corporations to the public good as well as their
own ends, and a belief in the necessity of civility -- talk
as bridge rather than talk as sword -- perhaps we will once
again be in a position to tap our democracy's qreatest
asset: we the people of the United states of America.
II. A "Camgaign
tor Beneweg Citi;enshi,pu
I think it makes good sense to see the Thursday speech not
simply as an important attempt to address the issues, but
also as the beginning of a Qcampaiqn" aimed at engaging
Americans as individuals and in their· communities in
reviving their sense of civic respon~ibility. For this to be
meaningful, there need to be s~cific tasks, .
responsibilities and commitments that individuals, qroups
and corporations can take on.
~==·=-=·-=----------
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· B}.::NJAMIN BARBER
07-01-95
413 298 4364
They do not have to all be invented from the top down
many can be chosen by those wishing to respond to the call
for engagement. One,miqht say in .the speech somethinq like:
"You do not have to be a Peace Corps or an Americacorps
member to make the co~itment to citizenship. There is
room in your everyday life for citizenship, which is a
state of mind as well as a set of responsibilities. ' 1
But.there does need to be a common device: perhaps a
"Covenant of Citizenship" in which Americans pledge NOT TO
THEIR GOVERNMENT BUT TO ON£ ANOTHER to take responsibility
in their neighborhoods, their schools or places of worship,
their workplace, for some· of the problems that afflict
America. It is important that such a commitment be seens ~OT
as a SURROGATE for 9overnment, but as a partnership with
government, a sharing of responsibility, not the government
saying "now that YOU are responsible citizens our job is
done 1••
·
During the war organizations and companies contributed to
the democratic war effort (even as in many cases they
profitted· from war production). How can we call on business
today to make a peace-time commitment that mirrors the
responsibility they took for liberty durinq the war? Is
there a "corporate covenant"? What miqht be asked of them?
Ditto for the media -- which at least in some localities has
committed to things like "Family news broadcasts .. -- but
more qenerally has taken little civic responsibility for its
educational and informational responsibilities.
Obviously, the Thursday speech can only point to a campaign
-- which will then have to be worked out. aut as long as it
makes clear that the speech is a beginning point, not an end
in itself, and that you plan to ask America to join in a
civic partnership of individuals and qroups, the details can
come later.
on talk, it would be valuable to think of a kind of "pledge
to civility" that media companies, co1tllllunications and
entertainment corporations and other might take -- which
self-restrained them in specified ways.
There are finally many groups and associations already out
there doing important civic work that might become symbolic
leaders of such a campaign since they already have taken on
the responsibilities of citizenship.
~~
~~
P.06
�Plenary Address by Benjamin R. Barber at the Civitas Meeting
Prague, June, 1995
I am honored to be among you today. You represent women
and men doing the real work of democracy, many in countries
with far less good fortune than my own, with less time to
make democracy work -- history more often against you than
with you.
I am also grateful to Joe Duffey and Penn Kemble for
asking me to join you.
For they know I am a mischief-maker,
someone unlikely to to talk in "have-a-nice-day" cliches
about democracy, in America or anywhere else. I think they
encourage me because they know that more than anything else
democracy is about making mischief: asking questions,
confronting power, challenging dogmas -- even when they are
the dogmas of democracy. They also appreciate that after two
hundred years we Americans are not necessarily closer to
realizing democracy fully than nations with only twenty
years' or two years' experience. Old issues of race and of
class as well as new issues of gender still hang over .
America. When Kemble addressed this gathering yesterday and
asked those from coutnries still troubled by ethnic tensions
to raise their hands, I raised my hand.
But then it is in the nature of democracy that it is a
process not an end, an ongoing experiment not a set of fixed
doctrines. Its ideals, unless we repossess them generation
to generation, fossilize ande become little different than
any other ideology. The "Open Society" is a society without
closure; a society open to challenge and criticism. When a
nation announces: 'the work of democracy is finished!' it is
usually democracy that is finished.
In the skeptical spirit of democracy, I would like this
afternoon to ask some hard _questions: questions whose
answers affect old democracies no less than ne~ democracies.
Let me pose and then try to address four related questions:
1. Is democracy exportable? Is it a formal commodity
that can be delivered by post or fax or E-Mail by those who
possess it, to those who do not?
2. Is democracy a function of political institutions
and written constitutions and bills of rights? Can libe~ty
be won by borrowing a document or redesigning a parliament?
3. Is democracy synonymous with markets? Does the
defeat of communism and the triumph of capitalism guarantee
the establishing of democracy?
4. Does democracy depend on heroic leadership?
Extraordinary politicians and noble statesmen? On
Churchhills and Roosevelts and De Gaulle's and Havels?
�2
The short version of my talk today is: no, no, no and
no. The beliefs that democracy can be exported, that it is
no more than a form of government, that it issues directly
our of capitalist markets, and that it depends for its
success on heroic leaders represent four of the most
seductive and ingenious as well as mistaken and dangerous
myths of today's would-be democrats. Let ~e say something
about each of them.
1. THE MYTH OF EXPORTABILITY:
It is we Americans and West Europeans and not those of
you in Eastern Europe and Russia and other transitional
societies who most need to remember that democracy is never
a gift of one poeple to another but the hard won fruit of
costly local struggle. It is something to be taken not
given, as you have again shown us. Moreover, while there are
universal ideals that undergird the struggle everywhere,
democracy's forms are as various as the struggles through
which they are won. In the years before the American
Revolution, Puritan Massachusetts developed one
constitutional system, progessive Pennsylvania another and
the royal charter plantation-slave colonies still others;
our regional institutions are marked by these differences
even today.
Democracy grows up indigenously and country to country
it is always distinctive. The Swiss celebrate communal
rights rather than individual rights, gemeindefreiheit not
abstract personhood. Great Britain has no seperation of
powers though we Americans think such a separation is
indispensable to the preservation of liberty; Ethopia's new
constitution must address the problems of tribalism, Poland
is a deeply Catholic nation and like Ireland has no
separation of church and state. Germany is federalist while
France is unitary and centralist. Given this indisputable
diversity among the old democracies, why then should the new
democracies not find their own appropirate institutions and
democratic identities? Surely they too can afford to look to
their own histories and cultures for sources of inspiration.
Is there some localist promise to be found in the Russian
village mir? How about Romanian fraternal organizations?
After all, Robert Putnam discovered a linkage between North
Italian choral societies and later attitudes towards
democracy! Yes, even the old Russian idea of the worker's
council -- the sov~et -- in its pre-Bolshevik, plural
manifestation may hold some promise. To reject communism
need not mean throwing away alternative economic strategies
that diverge from capitalism: say Employee Stock Ownership
Plans (ESOPs) or consumers cooperatives.
In the ancient world, prudent skeptics used to say
"distrust the Greeks, especially when they come bearing
gifts." New democrats might do well to distrust old
democrats, especially when they come bearing the gift of
advice -- and I include THIS advice as a fit subject for
�3
skepticism! The only way the unique American experiment in
democracy can be imitated or borrowed is to make sure each
nation sees its own experience with democratization as
equally unique, equally experimental, equally special in its
own right. Other nations can no more establish democracy on
a strictly American template that America established its
democracy on a strictly English template. Common ideas and
old institutions play a role, to be sure, but there must
always be a sense of fresh experiment -- what Jefferson
called a little revolution every nineteen or twenty years.
This emphasis on experiment becomes even clearer when we
look at the question of whether democracy is an matter
primarily of political institutions and a written
constitution.
2. THE MYTH OF FORMAL CONSTITUTIONS:
The belief in the exportability of democracy rests
largely on the myth that democracy is no more than certain
formal political arrangements that can be plopped down like
a tent more or less on any soil anywhere in the world. That
it is a used car to be handed over from generation to
generation, an old reliable heap that, with a few new parts,
a little accomodation to climate and conditions, can be
driven anywhere. Well democracy is not an automotive
universal, not a blueprint to be followed regardless of
conditions. It cannot be imposed top down. It grows bottom
up, and anyone hoping to design survivable democratic
institutions needs first to understand the landscape and
topology on which their structures are to be erected.
A constitution cannot create democracy, democracy
creates a constitution. Bills of rights do not create
rights, they codify rights already defined, fought for and
won. America had one hundred and fifty years of experience
with local civic culture and civil liberty and municipal
freedom before it codified that experience in a federal
constitution. Switzerland's nineteenth century constitutions
followed on the heels of 600 years of experimentation with
confederalism and communal liberty. Britain still hasn't
gotten around to writing down the evolving principles of
constitutional liberty by which it has lived for nearly
eight hundred years since Magna Carta!
What is a bill or rights but a piece of paper?
"Parchment parapets" said James Madison -- paper castles
from which no defense of real liberty could possibly be
waged. For that reason, Madison thoughtt the American Bill of
Rights was a poor idea -- the constitution and the
experience it codified WAS a bill of rights he said! Without
citizens there can in any case be no rights and no liberties
and without a civic culture and civic education there can be
no citizens. The logic of liberty leads from citizenship to
rights, not the other way round. The struggle for
citizenship~ the struggle for rights!
�4
This is why your work a civic educators and community
organizers and NGO advocates is so vital: "democracy," said
John Dewey, "is not a form of government but a way of life."
It is a set of engrained attitudes, a culture of independent
thinking as well as cooperation, of conflict as well as
consensus. Such attitudes need to be taught: democratic
culture is an acquired trait not a natural attribute. We may
be born free on paper, but in reality we acquire our liberty
through a long and arduous apprenticeship -- Tocqueville
called it the apprenticeship of liberty.
The ·old Soviet Union had a quite impressive bill of
rights but without the apprenticeship of liberty there could
be no true Soviet citizens, and in their absence the Soviet
Constitution was a fraud, empty promises and vacant rhetoric
that only exposed the hypocrisy of a tyrannical party
leadership. Today Russia has many of the formal institutions
of democracy (indeed, it had some during the Soviet era),
but the struggle there is to give these institutions a
foundation in civil society, to root them in the culture of
democracy, in an education in liberty and in a civil
religion -- what Justice Black once called in America
"constitutional faith" and what Jurgen Habermas has labeled
"Verfassungspatriotismus" or constitutional patriotism. Your
task is much more daunting than simply announcing a
multiparty system and declaring the press free and telling
everyone they can vote for whomever they wish. Cultivating
the 'habits of the heart' associated with the democratic way
of living takes time. Patience is democracy's foremost
virtue but a virtue always in short supply. You are expected
to do in six years or six months what we have not yet
finished doing in sixty or six hundred. Hurry hurry hurry
along the road to democracy, we implore, knowing our road
was long and tortuous and was best traversed by those moving
slowly and deliberately. Yet in the modern world there is
less time, and after long decades of tyranny far less
patience.
Moreover, yours is no easy task, even if you can afford
to be patient. For there are rivals to the civic educators
of our time and they are awesome and irresistable
competitors for the attention of the young. The true
pedagogy of the post-modern era is plied neither in school
or family or church but in television and films. Can an hour
of civics once or twice a week rival the twenty-four hour a
day mind-whacking of MTV? Can an election campaign attract
as much attention as a prime-time soap opera? How are we to
teach peace when films celebrate violence so seductively?
What are 25,000 NGOs compared to one,Walt Disney Company or
a Microsoft Corporation or the global McDonald's network?
Last night at the splendid banquet in the Spanish Hall
of the old castle, John Cooke of the Disney company reminded
us that for better or worse film is the great tutor of our
times, and that the most we could hope for would be to get a
future film-maker in our classroom for a while. What a
sobering, lugubrious thought! And did you notice that among
�5
the film clips he screened showing Hollywood's devotion to
civic values, almost all of them were more than twenty years
old, and many were thirty,· forty or fifty years old? None
were from the last few years. How could they be? The lessons
of Oliver Stone and Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenhagger
are not civics lessons. Nor can they be. The aim of
Hollywood is as plain and straightfoward as the aim of
Madison Avenue: a profit on investment. They are not selling
democracy, they are selling tickets. Which is as it should
be, as long as we do not pretend that films can become our
civics teachers.
Which brings. me to the third myth:
3. THE MYTH OF MARKETS:
No, democracy is not a synonym for the marketplace. The
freedom to buy a coke or a video of the Lion King is not yet
the freedom to determine how we will live and under what
kind of regime. Coke and McDonald's and MTV are in
undemocratic Singapore and China as well as in semidemocratic Russia and the democratic Czech Republic.
Historically, it is not capitalism that produced democracy,
but democracy that produced capitalism. Capitalism needs
democracy but does not know how to create or sustain it and
frequently produces circumstances that may undermine it.
The myth of the market is our most insidious myth
because so many believe it, because the market's invisible
shackles are so comfortable. It is so easy to believe that
the replacement of communism and its command economy with
capitalism and its market economy is all there is to
securing democracy. For that makes it possible for many to
prosper and assume that their prosperity is the same thing
as democratic equality and justice.
There is today a disastrous confusion between the
moderate and mostly well founded claim that flexibly
regulated markets remain the most efficient instruments of
economic productivity and wealth accumulation, and the zany,
overblown claim that naked, wholly unregulated markets are
the sole means by which we can produce and distribute
everthing we care about, from durable goods to spiritual
values, from capital development to social justice, from
profitability to sustainable environments, from private
wealth to the essential commonweal. This second claim has
moved some to insist that goods as diverse and obviously
public as education, culture, penology, full employment,·
social welfare and ecological survival be handed over to the
profit sector for arbitration and disposal. To solve
problems by the logic of this myth means ... to privatize.
Yet markets are simply not designed to do the things
democratic oolities do. Markets aive us orivate rather than
public modes of discourse, allowing us as consumers to speak
via our currencies of consumption to producers of material
goods, but preventing us from speaking as citizens to one
another about the social consequences of our private market
�6
choices. Markets advance individualistic rather ttlan social
goals, permitting us to say, one by one, "I want a pair of
running shoes" or "I need a new VCR" or "buy Yen and sell
dollars!" but not allowing us to say, in a common voice,
"our inner city community needs new athletic facilities" or
"there is too much violence in the movies" or·"we should
rein in the world bank!" Markets preclude "we" thinking and
"we" action of any kind at all, trusting in the power of
aggregated individual choices (the invisible hand) to
somehow secure the common good. Consumers speak the
elementary rhetroic of "me." Citizens invent the common
language of "we."
Markets are also contractual rather than communitarian,
which means they stroke our solitary egos but leave
unsatisfied our yearning for community, offering durable
goods and fleeting dreams· but not a common identity or a
collective membership. The disastrous consequences that
follow from patterning political reforms on macro-econnomic
theory are patently visible in countries from Russia to
Latin America and Africa where according to Guillermo
O'Donnell, a leading Latin American political scientist "as
the private sphere flourishes ... the public sphere
crumbles." To him, the matter is simple: privatization is
not democratization." Period.
So not only do we need, beyond our markets, the virtues
of democracy; but our markets need democracy too if they are
to survive. Nor can they, by themselves, produce it. They
are as likely to undermine as to sustain full employment,
environmental safety, public health, social safety nets,
education, cultural diversity and real competition.
Capitalism depends on such public goods for its private
functioning, but it does not and cannot produce them.
The great danger in ex-comrnunist,societies is that,
along with the seductions of the market, the fear of
communist statism and totalitarian government will breed a
fear of all intervention in the name of the common good, a
fear of democratic government itself. I have noticed how
reluctant people are here in Eastern Europe to speak of
community or solidarity or even of citizenship -- terms
redolent of tainted notions of comaradeship and party
membership. Even civic education may remind us of government
indoctrination programs to be avoided as a new form of
official propaganda. But as Solzhinytzyn has warned us, and
as modern Moscow too often reminds us, wild, unregulated
capit.alism can be as savage it its own fashion as communism,
and under it real freedom can become equally elusive -especially since there is the appearance of choice. To fear
democracy is to fear ourselves.
What then is to be done if democracy is not to be
borrowed, or fashioned from a few political reforms or
secured by privatization? Will it take heros to bring us
real liberty?
�7
4. THE MYTH OF HEROIC LEADERSHIP:
The quality of democracy, I believe, depends on the
quality of citizens not the quality of leaders. Fascist and
communist regimes -- dicatorships -- need great leaders to
survive. All they have is their leaders. Democracies need
effective citizens. In Bertolt Brecht's play Galilee one
character remarks "pity the country that has no heros;"
another retorts, "no, pity the country that·needs heros."
Democracy is government without heros: ordinary women and
men doing extraordinary things on a regular and continuing
basis.
Back in the 1890's, the American populist leader Eugene
Debs was addressing a particular grim meeting in a
particularly dour era where things had gone badly for the
movement. Voices from the crowd urged him to "save us, lead
us out of the darkness!" Debs replied in a fashion democrats
everywhere need to engrave on their hearts: "I will not lead
you out of the darkness. I cannot. And if I could, I would
not. For if I could lead you out, I could lead you back in
again." Charismatic leaders are problematic in a democracy.
We Americans, "we get in the most trouble," said Garry
Wills, "under the leaders we love best." "Strong leaders,"
said Emile Zapata, "make a weak people."
No, our work here must be our work -- the mundane taks
of civic education and community organization and the
establishment of a global civil society. In the words of the
old Negro spiritual, "we are the ones we've been waiting
for."
We can start by renaming "NGOs". No good thing can come
from entities defined in the negative by what they are not.
Non-governmental organizations are not just nongovernmental, they are also non-corporate, non--private.
They are voluntary yet public, free associations devoted to
common goods, non-coercive without being indifferent to
justice. The civic associations and international
organizations you represent are our strength, and a crucial
counterbalance both to international anarchy and to the
incipient monopoly of multinational corporations. Our
transnational civic associations (TCA's?) occupy a third
space in between overbloated governments and overbloated
private corporations; they represent old fashioned civil
society, a space where we can breathe together the air of
liberty.
. This domain belongs to us. Civic space is our space,
but it exists today mostly in our imagination, especially in
the international sphere. In reality we have malls and
shopping arcades and voting booths and movie houses and
bureacracies but little real civic space like the space we
have created here in Prague over the last four days.
�8
Our session today is labeled "the future of civil
society." I am not sure what kind of future civil society
has. I am a little pessimistic, in part because the myths I
have talked about this afternoon are s'o widely shared. I do
know that without a robust civil society and a will to push
it beyond national boundaries, there will be no citizens,
only consumers of goods and subjects of bureaucratic states.
And without citizens, there will be no democracy.
The good news is that we do have a choice. That the
educators and organizers in this room, and people like them
everywhere, can make the difference. But the work is hard,
the obstacles are multiplying, the myths still spreading.
Liberty, wrote J.J. Rousseau, is a food easy to eat but
hard to digest. If we are not careful, in New York and
Washington no less than in Prague and Moscow, we may produce
not free civil associations and democratic societies but
only an enduring civic indigestion.
�Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
AND TYPE
001. memo
DATE
SUBJECTrfiTLE
To President Bill Clinton from Benjamin R. Barber re: SOTU (partial)
(I page)
01106/95
RESTRICTION
P6/b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speech writing
Terry Edmonds
OA/Box Number: I0981
FOLDER TITLE:
Civility [I]
2006-0462-F
1071
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�BENJAHIN BARBER
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MEMORANDUM TO:
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON
DIRECTOR OP SPEEcmt.RITING, DON BAER
FROM: Benjamin R. Barber
Director, The Walt Whitman Center for the CUlture
and Polities of Democracy, Rutgers University
[00\j
PAX,
~:;ce _:: ~~~~J!3s~~(;\~~~<
_ fl~'::~·~~''"h+-t
TELEPHONE: Office -- 908-93:2-6861
Home
;
RE: Your Fax dated January 4, 1995 inviting suggestions for
the State of the Union
Date: January 6, 1995
Thank you for inviting comments on the President's
upcoming State of the Union. The suggestions offered here
are based on the premise that what Americans who are
emerging from an angry and divisive election and who retain
a hostility to government most need from their President
right now is a sense of PERSPECTIVE: historical context that
reassures them that things are not SO ~ifferent; a powerful
civics lesson that reminds them that in a democracy, theirs
is the ultimate responsibility; a trans-partisan appeal that
recalls them to an affirmative and cooperative view of
America's democratic prospects.
I have tried to suggest a distinctive language that
allows the President to stand above the fray without seeming
opaque or irrelevant; a language that challenges those who
have tried to capture recent events with negative, antigovernmental or anti-Clinton rhetoric, a language that
appeals to the better angels of America's nature.
The language I deploy is. one in which terms like civil
society, democracy, citizenship, civility, deliberation,
responsibility and fairness (which I have tried to treat in
the context or the others, since it is not presently a
viable issue!) can be used without seeming ho13:ry or oldfashioned. My assumption is that the President can best
serve and intluence the nation at this polarized moment
through the exercise of moral leadership and long- term .
vision.·A seer is finally simply some one who can~. With
Congress in the hands of others, the Presidenct. must· use the
bully pulpit as a vantage point from which to see both
deeply arid to distant horizons_
.
This President is .a natural teacher: eloquent without
being protessorial or scholast{c; capable of grasping and
articulating complexity without sacrificing sincerity,
Teaching may be a more effective way to lead .than. trying to
vye with Republicans for legislacive paramountcy. For
�~8ENJA~IN BARBER
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P.01
2
legislation and policy reforms grow out of a v1s1on, and he
who controls the vision ultimately controls the political
process -- (which is how Reagan dominated a Congress
controlled by Democrats) .
Without seeing the linkage between specific policies
like national service, health care, welfare reform and crime
and a larger vision of America, Americans will not support
policy reforms at all, whoever authors them and however
impressive their techicai merits. Called to action by such a
vision, there is almost nothing they will not undertake -who knows, they may even prove willing to raise taxes _for a
vision in which they truly belive!
For all their anger, Americans desperately want
leadership from those they elect, yearn for a vision of
themselves and cheir country that will pull them out of
cynicism and alienation.and allow them to become active
agents and responsible citizens again. That is why national
service has been such a.success.
A ·state of the Union that begins to fashion a new
vision using the fresh and affirmative language of
citizenship and civil society would then be a powerful way
to initiate a Presidential counterpoint to the noisy
antigovernmentalism of the new Congress. Although a common
thread runs through them, I have grouped my specific
suggestions -- (far more I am sure than you have any use
for) -- under several different headings to facilitate
review. r am happy to have you ransack these suggestions for
words, phrases, sentences or whole paragraphs, as you see
fit. Or to discuss the language here. I know speechwriting
at this level is a collaborative art, and that many
interests need to be represented. It is the tone and spirit
of the specifics below that are, to me, most important.
1. SPEAKING TO LARGER CIVIC THEMES OF CIVIL SQCJETY.
CITIZENSHIP AND DEMOCRACY:
"These are not easy times for our democracy, but
democracy is never easy. Tyranny owes as much to laziness
and complacency as it does to power and dominion. There is
less certainty and security today than ever before, but
liberty and certainty are often in tension, while security
can sometimes signal the end of opportunity -- doors closed
on change, newcomers excluded from contributing. A traveller
once said that you can always tell when you cross the
frontier or a dictatorship because of the silence. Democracy
is full or welcome noise: loud, raucous, a little unseemly,
even vulgar. And that is as it should be.
"It is true that politicians are not held in high
esteem by many, but then George Washington was villified as
a tyrant while Thomas Jefferson ~as called names at which my
friends on talk radio would shudder. Distrust of governors
is the mark of free women and men and only tyrants need fear
it.
�BENJAI'IIN BARBER
413 298 4364
01-05-95
18!01
P.Ol
3
"The tumult of democracy means that as Americans, we
often seem to be at odds with outselves. But it is still not
easy, even after 200 years, to live with our freedom.· As
Rousseau (the French democratic philosopher) observed,
liberty is a food easy to eat but hard to digest. It is not
so surprising that from time to time we suffer a little
indigestion -- or that others around the world, newly
introduced to democracy, should have jumbo belly aches.
"Not to belittle the special problems of our times:
there are legitimate grievances that need our attention -mine, Senator Dole's, Speaker Gringich's, but also yours.
Many of you have worried that government has grown too big
and bureaucratic, unresponsive to your needs; and some of us
have worried that this has in turn made y~ forget that
government belongs to you; not just your country council or
municipal government, but the Federal Government here in
Washington. It too belongs to you, we are merely its
s~ewards, serving at your pleasure -- or not serving, as
some of us learned in November! What this means is that
government at its worst as well as at its best is nothing
more than American citizens engaged in common activity,
doing things together no one individual or group can do
alone. In a democracy the buck stops not here -- I can be
voted out -- but there where sovereignty lies, with you, the
citizenry, to whom this government, lock, stock and barrel,
belongs.
•
"We cannot allow Government to become an "It." You
cannot allow government to become a "them." In a democracy,
government is always a "we." Politicians and civil·servants
have to work at remembering who exactly the "we" is that
they serve. Citizens and ordinary people have to work at
remembering that the government belongs to them -- that they
are the "we" -- and can never succeed unless they take
responsibity for tt~~t\o~G'.
"Many of you are waiting for .better leaders. I
understand. But we need to remember, in the words of the old
civil rights anthem, "we are the ones we've been waiting
tor ... We need to make government work but we need also to
make citizenship work.
.
"Responsibility comes hard to politicians and citizens
alike today, because we have so little civic space. Civic
space -- our democratic forebearers like Alexis de
Tocqueville or John Locke might have called it civil society
-- is that precious place between government and the private
sector where we can encounter one another as citizens. Like
the private sector it is free and voluntary -- but it is not
private! It is public space, neighborhood space, where we
are in public without being in government, in conversation
without becoming adversaries, in action, without becoming
bureaucrats.
"Civil society is the space where we learn
responsibility, where we nurture cooperation, and where we
cultivate citizenship. It is where we practice what
Tocqueville called that "most arduous of all
�.
BENJAl11N BARBER
413 298 4364
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18=02
P.02
4
apprenticeships: the apprenticeship of liberty." To rein in
big government does not mean we have to give up our public
space or reduce every public ideal to a private calculation.
Less government can mean more space for our churches and
synagogues, our foundations and voluntary associations, more
room ror civil society, more room for citizens to run their
own aftairs. Government is only one expression or our
commonality: there are many others that help Americans feel
like a "public," like one people, one nation indivisible. In
our rush to thin down and streamline government, let us not
undernourish civil society or give our common nationhood
short shrift. Citizens should not feel merely like clients
o! governments but nor should they feel merely like
·
customers of commercial markets ...
2 SPEAJ:IHCj ABOtrr QUI Im.tJC'fABLI AHP GRO!IllCi
IHTDDIPIR])IICB BO'l'll WITBIN AMEJtiCA AND
1lfl'UNAT40HALLX:
I
We need one
American na
togetba~. We have som
~ 1
continent by con) uri ng pictures of a solita:ry ...c nos
a
·~
wagon heading west. Yet Americans headed West n t alone but
±n wagon trains; we settled our great country no just
homestead by homestead but village by village, t wn by town,
helping one another raise the barns and build th schools.
One by one, our forbearers certainly looked like
and
special people; but only together could they hav
this
unique and special country.
11
As we make government smaller and return.
states and localities, we cannot afford to lose our sense of
community. There are many task that government cannot do
that individuals, one by one, cannot do eithe . To privatize
should not mean to isolate, to carve up our ivil society
into pieces so small and groups so selfish hat we can no
longer do common work together.
11
Interdependence is our condition, a d
politics that recognizes that condition. n recent years, we
hav
ld·walls of tyranny and hatred bein torn down
ab~: surely this 1B no c~; ~ ~= baila~ng new ~alls here
at. home Iri a world that ge
s 1 r every year, 1n a
country where no one can succeed or fail alone, there is no
wall high enough to insulate the prosperous from poverty;
the healthy from public plagues like Aids, the suburbs from·
the effects of urban violence, the old from the anger of the
young, the young from the indifference of the old.
nsome people ·have toyed with the illusion ot
withdrawal: pull out of civil society into some gated and
fortified sUbdivision with its own police and school and
sanitation service. Such strategies are as harmful to those
who withdraw as those they leave behind in underfunded
public schools and overcrowded cities. Though America has
many parts and pieces, it is a single vesse~: we wander its
11
�BtNJAHIN BARBER
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01-05-95
5
decks in ones and twos harboring the illusion that we can
come and go as and where we please. But if the boat
founders, we all go under together. The illusion of our
indepandan~~ is exposed.
11
The same is true across the porous borders of the
modern world. When the peso falls, American investors are
stung; when the Brazilean rain forest burns, our oxygen
supply is depleted; when Yugoslavia falls into civil war,
the security of Europe is theatened and we-too are at peril.
"It is not altruism but realism that compels our
engagement in the world. We are not in the United Nations as
do-gooders but to protect our own interests; we must
sometimes put our soldiers in harm's way not just to
guarantee the liberty of strangers but to secure our own.
Foreign Aid is a misnomer: it is a domestic insurance policy
that serves Americans no less than people on the other side
or the globe. Interdependence has made it so. Isolationism,
whether internationally or in the suburbs, rests not on
selfishness but illusion -- the illusion that selfishness is
possible in our interdependent world."
J. SPEAKING TQ COMPETENT CITIZENSHIP AND THE NECESSITY
OF CIVILITY,;,
"The success of our democracy depends on the quality of
its leaders, but far more than this it depends on the energy
and commitment of its citizens. In Brecht'S play Galilee a
soldier sighs "Pity the country without heroes." "No,"
replies his comrade, "pity the country that needs heroes."
It is tyrannies and dictatorships that need heroes to
function against the odds; democracy is government without
heroes, government in which competent citizens in and out of
public office do the work themselves.
"Effective citizenship in turn depends on the quality
of our democratic conversation -- the power of our civil
discourse. Here I w
to s are with ou a wor
about the
deterioracian of rn1r democratic talk. Civil1ty is not JU t a
nicecy of life:_it is a necessity of democracy. Words are
the currency or our cprnmnality, we ~d them bocn to clarity
our-confl~cts and to discover what we share. Words are bonds
tha~hold us together, .make us-- for all our-diversity-one people, under God. In the beginning, the Good Book tells
us, ~ the Word! And for good reason.
"So when words are depreciated, when the become
weapons in angry hands, we lose our ca acit fo
ion
an compromx e.
spe
1
a c
, clubs become knives
and guns, and violence replaces speech as tne broker ot our ·
diff~f.e~es.
does not mean we all agree with one another,
or s are a single set of values f.:::..It means we have pledged
@
not to permit our disagreements to destroy our commu~~~ it
means we have promised to respect ~e ~other even w
especially when -- our values diverge. There are good honest
nen:.ucracy
�BENJAHIN BARBER
413 298 4364
01-05-95
1a:o5
P.01
6
Americans who believe deeply that abortion compromises
sacred life;' there are good and honest Americans who believe~eCf1
taking from women the right to choose when and where they
will bear children compromises sacred liberty. Neither
epithets nor the bullets epithets call forth can settle such
deeply felt conflicts over the sacred; what they can do is
to unsettle and undermine the civility that allows us to
live with them.
"When we brand the religious as zealots or call those
with compassion for the poor'socialists,~ when liberals and
conservatives each expatriot the other as "un-American,"
when "crypto-fascist" and ''femi-nazi" become everyday ways
of dismissing those to whom we no longer want to listen,-we
debase our civic language and put democracy itself at risk.
"I call on my friends and my critics to restore
civility to their public voices. We are blessed with a plain
and frank language that does not need personal insult to
dress up disagreement. Let us challenge views we oppose
without dismissing our opponents. Let us confront the issues
that divide us without making divisiveness the issue. Let us
argue in public as loving family members do in private: with
a conviction leavened by affection; with frankness marked by
respect. Only thus can our nation both recognize its
plurality and hold together as a civil -- I mean ctvil -society."
ltliLLY, SPBAXIHG TO IHE YOQNG, which might be a
power!ul device in one section, perhaps the end of the
spe,ech.
"I want in closing to speak in particular to our young
people. To Chelsea, to your children. To all ~ children.
For you are us, our future, America written into time. Many
of you are tonight serving your communities in Americorps or
Vista but too many more are on drugs or in prison; millions
are in school but how many of you are drop-outs, or
considering it? I am glad to tell you we have promised to
get tough with criminals, three strikes and they're out. But
many of you may feel you have three strikes against you long
before you are ~ old enough to commit a felony. For
though you represent who we will become as a nation, we have
not always made you the measure of our legislative aptitude.
"Yet surely you are the markers of our success and
failure. When you flourish, we know we are succeeding. When
you are hurting, we are in trouble. And the path leads in
both directions: as we feel cynical, you reel betrayed. As
we quarrel and recriminate, you lose hope. As we punish you
for our failures, send you to jail because it is easier to
put you out of our minds than get into you~ as we watch
some of you buried and mourned rar too soon because we have
responded to your anger and pain much too late -- as we give
up on you, you give up on America. And we forfeit our
£u'ture.
�.
BENJAHIN BARBER
413 298 4364
01-05-95
18:07
P.01
0
7
"I want to say to you tonight that we know that wit~lOI.J.L
you wa have no future. That it is our job -- I don't mean
government, I mean your country, you~ parents, the citizenry
you will soon join -- to give you a world free of drugs and
Aids and debt so that you can perhaps give to your children
a world of health and prosperity and peace. I want to tell
you that we will not forsake you by neglecting you~ schools
or walling off your neighborhoods or insulating ourselves
from the turmoil of your coming of age.
"You will be the acid test of our policies and action.
Many of you have risen to the challenge of national and
community service. National service is also ~ task.
Because only when you are served by us, can you hope to
inherit an American worthy of your service. Noc so much as
your President, but as a citizen who calls on the activity
and agency of every American, I pledge to you unceasing
service to your cause, our cause, this blessed nation's
future. 11
END
�REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
JULY 6, 1995
I have asked you here today
importance to America. You,
community across this land,
our national need to find a
to discuss a matter of deep
who have done so much to build
understand as well.as any Americans
new common ground.
It is fitting for us to talk here at Georgetown. As a student, I
learned about finding common ground and common cause here.
When
I arrived in 1964, I already had some understanding of this -from my schools, my church, my home. I grew up in the South at a
time when so many of us struggled to live together against a past
that drove us apart.
But, I learned so much more during my time here, as our country
confronted new obstacles to our age-old striving to give meaning
to "E Pluribus Unum." We saw it in the clash of cultures and
generations. And we saw it in the rage and fear and violence that
erupted in the streets of this great Capital after Dr. King was
slain.
Fortunately, we also learned something here more uplifting and, I
enduring about the American spirit. Sitting where you
now sit, I heard the words of a Professor named Carol Quigley,
who taught that America was the greatest country in the history
of the world because our people have always believed in two great
ideas: first, that the future can be better than the present.
And second, that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility
to make it so.
believe~
I ran for President to apply that lesson to our effort to meet
the challenges of a new century. And I returned to Georgetown in
1991 to call on Americans to forge a New Covenant to overcome the
obstacles of our own times.
When I ran for President, we had too many Americans who saw the
global economy as a dog-eat-dog world. Too many Americans
believed they could lose everything in the next minute. That they
were out there all alone -- without the help of a government that
cared and without the ties of community or, too often, even
family to help. They had stopped believing that the future could
be better than the present. Or that they could take personal
responsibility to change that course for the better.
For the past two-and-a-half years, we have worked hard to change
that, to strengthen our economy, to expand educational
opportunities, to increase trade, and to create jobs that will
keep our citizens and our families strong. In my administration,
we have worked hard to help our schools teach better citizenship,
responsibility and values. We have created Americorps, our
1
�national service
initiative~e
new meaning to the old American
principles of opportunity and responsibility, community and
country. And I have spoken out, on many occasions, to say we must
come together now to meet the demands of change, that we are
going up or down together.
But, for all we have done, we know it is not enough. It is the
great irony of our age that the forces of opportunity that are
lifting us up also contain within them the power to tear us
apart. The new global economy that holds out so much promise in
terms of ideas, technology and jobs, also places tremendous
pressures on our families, our communities, our va
Pushed
too far, mobility can become dislocation. Industriousness~~an
become overload. Those pressures can lead co-frttstrati~and
those frustrations can lead us to turn against one another in
blame, rather than toward one another in common purpose. Most
Americans are doing their dead-level best to cope with those
frustrations in their daily lives. But we have seen, in the
shadow of Oklahoma City, how some people who live at the margins
of our society express their frustrations through violent acts
that strike at us all.
Many people, in and out of politics, want to look around for
someone to blame -- whether it is the government, or the
entertainment industry, or global corporations. Some who are rich
say it is the poor. Some who are poor say it is the rich.
The truth is, we all must share the responsibility. As President,
I have spoken out repeatedly on the need for greater
responsibility in all sectors of our society. I am proud that
many in my administration, including Tipper Gore, the Vice
President's wife, have led the way to bring more iesponsiblity
and stronger values to many parts of our daily life.
As they have shown, this is a time not for pointing fingers but
for joining hands. We have watched old walls of tyranny and
hatred being torn down abroad. Surely this is no time to be
building new walls here at home. The real question now is not,
who is to blame, but, what are we going to do about it? And that
is why I want to talk with today.
' h your h e 1 p, I want us to
\._/r!)AA.__
'
'
Wlt
put asl'd e partlsan
po 1'ltlcs
an d
unite this country in a massive effort to promote civility, stop
violence, and rebuild the American community.
We learned more in Oklahoma City than just the force of hatred
and violence and division. We saw the best of the American
spirit ... concern for one another ... neighbor helping
neighbor ... understanding and tolerance and love. A true
resurgence of community. That's the American spirit. That's
what keeps the American Dream alive for our children.
2
�It should not take chaos or catastrophe to bring out our
character. We must revive the search for virtue and the common
good in our everyday lives. The message is clear -- Let us unite
to condemn hatred, intolerance and violence. Let us rebuild a
sense of community with respect, civility and civil order.
I believe we can do this, because I know we have done it before.
If you go back to the beginning of this country, the great
strength of America has always been our ability to associate with
people who were different from ourselves and to work together to
find common ground. Many of you were fortunate enought to have
had the experience I had of growing up in places where people did
come together to help one another. My grandparents and my parents~
taught me about equality, justice and the worth of ev
·~
individual. It did not come without resistance,
ut many of the ~
people I grew up around believed we could work in unity -- and
.
because we believed it, we helped to move one another forward.
~.
But we must not believe those who would have us think we can
simply wish our way back to the way things were. Life is not that
easy, and the forces the world places on us are not that simple.
Our challenge is to reapply our basic values in the context of
different times. We must do everything we can to transform our
thoughts, our words and our actions, so that we promote civility,
community and common purpose, not rancor, division and hate.
We should begin with the way we think about one another. In many
ways, we have become a nation of "others." White, black. Men,
women. Liberal, conservative. We have all come to categorize the
other person, to count them out of our group and into another
group that we suspect of not sharing our values, our concerns,
our virtues. Some of this came out of the best of impulses:
People of like backgrounds or interests have, in recent decades,
found a new freedom to express their shared heritage and
strengths. And much good has come out of this, for all of us. But
we must make sure that our diversity remains a strength for all
of us, and not a force for divisiveness.
If you see yourself as other, you are less likely to feel you
have a stake in building a common future of harmony and
prosperity. We must not forget the sternest lessons of our
century: The danger that can arise when people think of each
other as categories.
We need to begin by letting go of the presumptions we make about
people whom we do not know -- whom we regard as too different.
Let me put this in personal terms. All of us have been guilty of
false presumptions. Think about the presumptio
hat a arently
led to the Oklahoma Clt
ra e
any o those who lost their
lives were ar wor lng government employees, who have been
routinely and derisively referred to as "bureaucrats." When
Hillary and I visited the families and loved ones of those
3
~
�workers who had been killed, I realized that they gave their
lives performing the most vital services to people -- sending out
pension checks, ensuring public safety, taking care of our
children. And I vowed right then and there never to use the term
11
bureaucrat 11 again derisively.
That is the kind of presumption I
am talking about.
We all must take personal responsibility to suspend our
presumptions about people who are different than we are, to stop
treating each other like enemies. We are all Americans. That is
the best presumption to start with.
Beyond our thoughts, we mu~t take responsibility for our words.
Words have consequences. Words and discussion and debate are the
very currency of our democracy. Democracy does not mean we all
agree with one another, or share a single set of ideas. If it
did, we would never change in this country and never make
progress. But democracy does mean we have pledged not to permit
our disagreements to destroy our community. It means we have
promised to respect one aonther even when -- especially when -our ideas are different.
That is what the Speaker of the House and I reaffirmed in New
Hampshire last month. Everywhere I have gone since that
discussion, people have to-ld me how impressed they were with the
civility of that moment. They told me how good it was to see to
the two of us quietly, meaningfully debate our differences,
without the angry words and name-calling that have become so much
a part of political debate in our country.
I challenge all of our political leaders to tone down the
rhetoric and to rememeber that hate is not a family value. Beyond
left and right, there is a frontier of civility that we must
defend. And we must be vigilant in the face of the people who
would breach that frontier, whether they speak from the left or
the right, through microphones or newspapers or in front of
television or movie cameras.
When voices advocate racism or sexism or dehumanization of
individuals of any kind, it does not matter that they are our
allies on other issues or that they attack others with whom we
disagree. We must reject their attacks outright. We must do that
if they are the voices of the left [Farrakhan, with quotes to
come] or of the right [NRA, with quotes to come]. If we do not,
how w~ll we have the moral authority to teach our children they
are wrong when they use the worst kind of racial epithet in a
high school yearbook as a sick joke, which is what happened in
one high school recently?
When our words become weapons in angry hands, we lose our
capacity for cooperation and compromise. When speech is a club,
clubs become knives and guns, and violence replaces speech as the
4
�broker of our differences. We cannot afford that in our
democracy.
Finally, beyond our thoughts and our words, we must take the
actions that can renew our sense of community. As President, I
have worked hard to rebuild community across our country. Our
support for Americorps. For community development banks. For
empowerment zones: All reflect our larger commitment to help
people make the most of their lives and to give them the tools to
work together.
But my actions as President must go beyond all of that, because
what it takes to rebuild community and civility is about much
more than government action. I believe it is my responsibility to
show the American' people that there are real, concrete ways for
us to join together to work towards a stronger American
community. And I want to convince them that there is far more
, ~ ~
that is right and good about what we are d ·
·
--~La
and what we still can do -- than t a divides us and pulls us
·~
down. As I said when I was inaugurated as your President: There
is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is
right with America.
That is why I will devote time in the weeks and months to come to
highlignlwhat is good in America -- what is working to help pull
us together. When I travel across this country, I meet many
people like you·. In every town, community and state I visit, I
meet remarkable people who are doing their part and urging others
to do more. The community leader bridging racial divisions
through a sports league. The principal who makes her school into
a place for youth to play and study in the evening. The
entertainer setting up a foundation to reach at-risk children.
This is what works in America. And I want America to know about
it.
We must challenge everyone to do more. And that is especially
true of leaders from all sectors of influence in our lives.
Business. Entertainment. Media. Sports. Education. I will meet
with leaders from these and other sectors of American society and
challenge them to join me in our efforts to renew the American
community.
I will ask business leaders to build on examples of corporate
responsibility -- providing on-site day care to make our people
good workers and good parents and investing profits back into the
training of the most important asset any business has: its
workers. I will not demonize entertainment leaders. That is too
easy. The hard part is to find ways with them to use our media
and entertainment outlets to strengthen families, reinforce
values and provide positive role models. I will remind those in
sports and entertainment of the responsibility that comes with
the fame and rewards of their work.
5
�More than anything, I will meet with American citizens across
this nation who ~re working everyday to build bridges and promote
healing.
People who understand that citizenship means more than
paying your taxes and mowing your lawn. It means behaving with
decency, restraint and deep caring for one another as fellow
Americans in a diverse but unified nation.
We must do all this in the face of real and profound challenges.
We know that. BBt are real. But, our challenges are no greater
than those we have faced -- and overcome -- together throughout
our history. Think of all the times we have come through. We did
it a generation ago during civil rights era. We did it when this
nation put an American on the moon. We did in in winning the Cold
War. We did it in the great fight against fascism in World War
II. And we did it in Oklahoma City.
We must never forget, we have faced these challenges before.
Abraham Lincoln, who saved our Republic in the hour of its
greatest challenge and redeemed the promise of our freedom, said
something very important in his first inaugural.
The country was
coming apart at the seams over the issue of slavery. We were
headed into our deepest conflict. But he had the understanding to
say: "We are not enemies, but friends.
We must not be enemies.''
I say to you today, my friends:
Let us stand up for the future
of our children.
Let us stand up for the unity of our nation.
And though we may disagree, let us take up our greatest
responsibility to one another: Let us not be enemies, but
friends.
Thank you and God bless you.
6
�,!rl•
GREEX{, MARGOLIS,
MITCHELL, BURNS
.CMMB&A.
&ASSOOIAT.ES. INa
j.
MEMORANDUM
TO:
PRESIDENT CLINTON
FROM:
FRANK GREER
DATE:
APRIL 27, 1995. ·.
It£:
THE NEXT STEP
·... ,·.
·.
. .You have been a superb ,Presidc~~tin ~ f~. of -this tragedy. .:You have 0 ·, ··
·. c:omforted IUld .inspired
the nation.·. You Wive been ~aring and compassionatp YC: tough.·· ...
and decisive and firm.
•The LOrd WOlkaJn Mysterious Ways...
· Out of this' . tt:agedy . and .·. sufferlng, I believe we bave . an opportunity · 10. ·_ • ·
fnndamentally change attitudes. in tltis country. If we seize the challenie, it' can be· a
tuming point for America and for your Presidency.
'
.
What we as a nation need to hear is not just _denUnciation - we need inspiration.
•.
-what we saw· in Oklahoma City was not only the forces of hatred and violence
and division. We sa.w the. best of
the
American splrlr. ••• caring and compassion -·.
concem for ooo another •• ~ neighbor helping neighbor ... understanding and tolernnc:e and
'
~
love -A true resurgence of community. That's the American Spirit. That's what keeps
the American Dream alive fOr our children."
•And now we need to unite and inspire the nation with a Crusade to StOp the
Yioleoce 8.I)d Bebnild tlw American. Commuotn:."
I believe you could launch thls crusade with your speech at Michigan State
University on May 4th. You could issue a challenge to tbe nation-· to conununlties and
neighborhoods plagued with crime, to parents and teachers in our homes and schools. to. ·
Ministers and Rabbis in our, church e.." and synagogues. to the media and the movie
1010 Wisconsin Avenue, NW • Suire 800 · Washington, DC 20007 · (202) 338-8700 • FAX (202) 338-2J34
2110 M:Jin Srret::t · Suire :!OJ · S:uu~ Monica, Ci\ 90405 • (310) 314-4800 ·FAX (J!O) J l4-4803
I.
I
�··- .....
........ .-·~-f
. p,... .. ,_ ..
~
I'·
;..
.... ..
····.'
. (
..
...
I
I
('
I
.
· .· ma.~~:Bm. lhe writers IUld the. talk. show hosrs.,.
To i~& of every political persuasion -:
·
.•
left· oc right.
.,·
"Now is tllc tUiw to. put aside pard,san palliics ,and unite. this country fn ~
~paign to stop the vtotence ~d ·Rebuild the American C:Omln~ty'imd restore the ··
American Dream. The ~ge is ~lear·~ Let us unite td oondenin. ·hatred. hltoluat\Ce
.
.
and Violence. Let us rebUild a sense of commllliity. with understanding. tolerance and . . ..
:
.
.
.
\
.·
~~.and ~passion.and love f~ on6 &nOtbet. nei&hbor helping neighbOr. ·We
... :
.\.
can restore a sense of civility and' civil ocder. We can. become a natiooal faiiii1y again."
· : This·· does nOt. reqUire legislation.: ·It requires. a .volunteer ·mobilization·.~~· ~
massive scale. BegJnbJng with a White HOuse swlunit. S~ summits convened by. the
. Governors, Oty aummits. with the Mayor.s.
You
'
could~ rOI' a Hollywood summit to ehallen~e the movie and television
industries 'to redoce Yiruence
on air and
screen.
Clu1rches; synagogues, -schools and
.
. .
.
uni~ties woUld be Uked to develt,p programs to fmd wayS to reduce_ Violence and .
'
teach toletance.
.
Bvery American could be· asked to spend
.
.
tiJne learning
and then
teaching peaceful conflict resol~tion ... the possibilities are tremendous.
I belie-ve you baVe an opportlmity to seize the "bully pulpit" and unite the nation
in a crusade to Stop the Violerice and R~d tliD American Community.
Let's seize it.
c::c:
HAROLD ICKES
ERSKINE BOWLES
. GEORGE STEPHANOFOULOS
MARK OE.ARAN
DONBAER
,
.·
-.
�REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
JULY 6, 1995
Tt is fitting to come to Georgetown for this speech. As a
student, I learned about finding common ground and common cause
here.
When I arrived in 1964, I already had some understanding
of this -- from my schools, my church, my home. I grew up in the
South at a time when so many of us struggled to live together
against a past that drove us apart.
But, I learned so much more during my time here, as our· country
confronted new obstacles to,our age-old striving to give meaning
to "E Pluribus Unum.'' We saw it in the clash of cultures and
generations. And we saw it in the rage and fear and violence that
erupted in the streets of this great Capital after Dr. King was
slain.
Fortunately, we also learned something here more uplifting and, I
believe, enduring about the American spirit. Sitting where you
now sit, I heard the words of a Professor named Carol Quigley,
who taught that America was the greatest country in the history
of the world because our people have always believed in two great
ideas: first, that the future can be better than the present.
And second, that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility
to make it so.
I ran for President to apply that lesson to our effort to meet
the challenges of a new century. And I returned to Georgetown in
1991 to call for a New Covenant to help us overcome the obstacles
of our own times.
When I ran for President, we had too many Americans who saw the
global economy as a dog-eat-dog world where they could lose
everything in the next minute. Too many Americans believed they
were out there all alone -- without the old ties of community or
neighborhood or, too often, even family to help. They had stopped
believing that the future could be better than the present or
that they could take personal responsibility to change that
course for the better.
For the past two-and-a-half years, we have worked hard to change
that, to strengthen our economy, to expand educational
opportunities, to increase trade, and to create jobs that will
keep our citizens and our families strong as we approach a new
century. In my administration, we have worked hard to help our
schools teach better citizenship, responsibility and values. We
have created Americorps, our national service initiative~ive
new meaning to the old American principles of opportunity and
responsibility, community and country. And I have spoken out, on
many occasions, to say we must come together now to meet the
demands of change, that we are going up or down together.
1
�..
I
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Isn't it wonderful.. I told my Wife, Beverly, to pinch ~e because I may be
dreaming: ·But it is real. Family-friendly legislators are now in control of the Congress.
Voters did reject Clinton liberalism in favor of'family values, lower taxes and tough
measures against crime. The liberal Washington establishment has been turned on its
head and sent packing. Now conservatives have the opportunity to govern expediently.
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TVC is involved in the transition process in Washington D.C. and I am personally
making sure that the "family values" issues are given proper priority and advancement.
will have
Right now we are developing a series of positive pro-family initiatives that
introduced into Congress. In the -meantime, I am accelerating a project that we began
last summer. It is important that we unite together to achieve an, important goal.
we
Please ·join· n national effort spearheaded by Congressman Cliff Stc!arns .of Florida
cmd TVC to remove Dr. Joycely:n Elders as President Clinton's Surgeon General.
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Elders' hate-filled, malicious attacks on heterosexuals and Christians are. of the
same· spirit and caliber as the bigoted statem.ents made by the nation of Islam's
spokesman, I<hallid Abdul Muhammad, about people who are Jewish~ This coWttry
reacted with outrage at :t\o{uhammad's comments. Even members of his own faith~-for.
whom he claimed to be speaking-renounced him. Yet, when Elders assails Christians,,
slie goes unquestioned and the President does not act to restrain her. This behavior is
'indefensible and must be put to:a stop with her removal from office ..
the
With the change of leadership in
Congr;ess, I believe we have an outstanding
opportunity to have Dr. Elders restgn .. Her slanderous comments against Christians and
outrageous ideas of providing condoms and R-r~ted sex education in public schools puts
all of otir children at risk. As parents, grandparents and citizens, we must fight back.
, · . Please join my ·efforts in dumping Dr. Elders by signing the attached petition and
sending _it back to me: Your signature, combined with thousands of others will create
·
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. a snowballing· effect for this effort.
I
Could you please als.o en dose <~.special fina_~_~ial gift to -assist in this effort? We,
must contact hundreds of thousands of pro-fa'rnily supporters to activ~lte the grassroots.
This takes money for postage, printing~ phone calls, etc.· I know you will send what you·
C'ctn., Without your finandal.support; we cannot complete this p.roject successfully. ,
Su~geon General Joycelyn Elder~ has done just what we warned. With astounding
· regularityJ she has used her position to malign and insult. people with deeply helq.
religious convictions. Her diatribes have nothing to do with the health of this nation's
citizens but rather ars:· a way for her to promulgate her own religious bigotry .. \
. 100 S. Anaheirn Rlvd., Suite JSO, An:lhcim. CA 92805 (714) 520-0JOU
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Dr. Elders' stat!IDJents are more \han words, they r!!flect a deep hatred for people·
based on their religious beliefs. In our country she is free to hold -these views, but as a
high level, government official, she and her superiors must be held accountable for the ·
impact those yiews, when publicly revealed, have on our nation. There is dearly a
double standard. What is unacceptable for anyone else to say is apparently "politically
correct'' when Joycelyn Elders says it.
She has had the audacity of celebrating legal abortion as a positive way to reduce
the number of children born with Down's Syndrome. As the grandfather of a precious.
disabled child, I find that assertion frighteningly reminiscent of Nazi Germany; where
people considered ''inferior" were eliminated. Arid she has callously suggested that
increased funds to combat diseases that afflict the elderly are not. nece~sary because "they
will probably die with something sooner or later.''
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Clearly, the contempt in whkh she holds those with whom sl\e disagrees is such
· a problem that it interferes with her ability to do the job she is paid to do. She has spent
far more time taking potshots at her adversaries than in promoting good health. Let's
·tell President Clinton: "Americans have had enough, your Surgeon General must go."
.
While Surgeon Generals are meantto be leaders in it;tcreasing awareness of health
issues, Elders has concentrated on sex. While she has done little to inform Americans .
of the dangers of heart disease, leukemia, prostate cancer, tuberculosis; etc.; she has gone
out of her way to promote sexual activity to underage and unmarried people.
Elders contends that contraceptive distribution clinics in public .schools will
eliminate teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases; Concerning AIDS education _
Elders has said: "We can't teach them about AIDS without telling them ubout sex. We taught
them what to do in the front seat -(of a car). Naw 'it's time to teach the11J what to do in. the .
back sent," (National Commission on Children Video, 3/4/92). ·
As you can see w~ must force the resignation of Dr. Elders. Please join the efforts ·
of Congressman Cliff Steams and TVC by signing your petition and mailing it back to
me TODAY so we protect our ·country's children and uphold our religious liberties! .
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Also, could you please pray for our efforts? We need your undergirding.· One lAst
) thing. We are fh,ancially drained because of otlr activities associated with the election.
Could you please enclose the petition along with a special financial gift? We need
you now more than ever.
Yo~oice at
cr-~·
Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman
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Till' AMFRII ·,\N CfNTEii- FUR J.AW ANO )USTICI·'
r.o. lkix ti44N, VIRU!NIA 1\iA( :II, VIRI i\NIA 2~67-«19
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When the IRS launched a blatant attempt to
gag "politically incorrect" churches,
ACLJ attorneys took immediate action to keep
it from happening to your church •••
*******************~************************
·Dear Friend,
Recently, Jay Sekulow and other American Center for Law and
·Justice attorneys climbed the steps of a federal court to defend
people of faith in what may be our most important case yetJ
This case ultimately aff_ects every church, synagogue,
moague, ministry, ,g..mt. . P..ara:....church o:r:ganization in America •
. It pits the ACI.J squarely against. one o·f the most feared of
.all federal agcrtcics -- the Iriternal Revenue Ser~ice.
John ~ar•hall, an early Chief Justic~ of the Unit~d States
Supreme Court, knew the dangers of taxation when he wrote in an
early 19th century ruling that, "the power to tax involves the
power to destroy."
·
Over 100 y~ars later, another Chief Justice, ~liver Wendell
Holmes, Jr. , took this sta tcment one importa_nt step further when
he wrote, ·"the power to tax is not the power to des·troy while
this C,ourt sits."
·
Justice Holmbs knew that taxatirin without restraint could.
lead to abuse and danger. He also knew that the judi~ial system
wo,e a key deterrent to con.trolling punitive t~.xallon. · Which
'
brings us to the. case I l!H::Julloncd...
·
This case centei:"_~;i,_around Pierce Creek Church of Binghamton,.
New York, which had its tax-exempt .status revokedby the IRS.
Pierce. Creek Church co~sponsored an ad which ran in USA
Today and Tlle Washington Times fou·r days before the November 1992
presidential -~lP.r.tion.
The ad posed a nunwer of moral questions regarding the
candid.:1ey of Bill clinton 1 but fell short of reconunending that
Mr. Clinton not be elected. Pierce.Creek Church wa3 identified
as one of the co-sponsors at the bottom of this ad. There was a
brief· reference to tax-deductible donations being accepted.
In a move that .falls nothing short of being a blatant
attempt by the IRS to "gag" politically incorrect churches·,
{Continue on the next page, please ... )
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Pierce Creek Church's -tax exempt status was revoked _;... not just
from the time the ad ran and forward, but from the ~eginning of,
1992, elev~n months earlierl
Can you imagine how devastating this must have been to the
church? All of 1992's donations no longer tax-qeductible?
Now, imagine the far-reaching implications this IRS action
has for all religious institutions.
~For years, peopl~ of faith h~ve been told to keep their
beliefs and vi~ws behind the walls of the Church:
·
'
·"'Don't dare peaceably assemble
abortionlw •••
to
protest the horrors of
"Don't even think about getting access to public bui·ldirigs
otherwise accessible to 'non-religious' groups· •• ~ ·
•oon't try to restore moral sanity and the pre-eminence of
the family I• •• • ·
,.Educators ·and bureaucrats know_what's best for our
children, 'not parents or pastors~~···
Every time we have- he a rei phrases like t.his,. we ha"e j umpe,d
int.o·action.
And in little more than four short years, the ACLJ has
forged victory after victory·-- while serving notice to America's
new social engineers and historical revisionists that their
designs will be met at every juncture and challenged.
, But now the-battle is taking a new turn-- right back toward
what is the very heart and soul of the'Churchl
For if' the Church is not permitted,to speak out against
moral isauea ••• if the Church can no longar: ldxpose abhorrent
behavior •.• if the Church cannot confront sin ••• if the Church no
longer, raises a standard for soc~ety to strive for and
attain ... then, just what is the Church?
Pi~rce Cre~k·s pastor responded to the IRS' threats.the way
the.Church of Jesus Chri.st'must always respond: The1L hischurch
was merely doing what the Church has been doing for centuries -warning people of moral dangers if they m~ke the wr~ng decisional
Now, the IRS seeks nothing less than to "silence" this brave·
church. But if the IRS is succe~sful in "sile~cing~ Pierce Creek
,Church, a frlghlen~nq precedent w~ll be established that will be
called up whenever andwherever there is achurch, synagogue, or
mosque whose views. differ. from those in political l~adership.
It may seem an extreme comparison, but the former Soviet
(Turn to the. nexi· page, please .•. )
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--Page Three-Union was successful in creating a "manageable" Church whose
believera·were fed a "gospel" in line with government orthodox~
a'nd practices.
· Likewise, the Peoples Republic. of China has authorized a
"Patriotic Church," and has made sure that it is led by
politically correct·priests who attend to its.needs.
Even the earliest Christians were. "encouraged," sometimes to
the point of martyrdom, to "sanitize" Christianity's me~saqe, so
that it fit with the .Prevailing_ moral and cultural. attitudes.
Yet the Church has never backed off before
ever retreat from speaking. the tr_ut.h. . .
nor can it
But the IRS ·has.found a powerful tool to level at American
churches when their messages don't conform with politically or ·
religiously correct standards -- revok~ the church•s tax-exemet·
status, thereby forcing it to operate as a business enterprise.
We recognize that there have been occasional ;;._buses._ by
churche.s that may have blurred the line between tax-exempt -and
£6r-p~ofit activiti~s .
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. But philanthropy has flourished in America, ~s in fe~ other
places, because our government has made it advantageous for
gerierous pe~ple to support religious and social activities they_
believe in. And, in so doing, a large portion of needs that
might have to be otherwise met by.government programs are served
by what is referr~d tQ as the n6n~profit sect~r.
·
'If lP..;t unchallenged, this IRS ruling will impact America
severely.
Firat, ~he Church will live in fear as to what it can preach
or teach. Next, charitable donations will decrease when the tax
benefits to philanthropy are revoked. And, finally, trtith will
be impeded when an all~powerful agency like the IRS can make taxexemption detei:n1lna.tions whenever a church S. message is at odds
with the nation's leadership.
·
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This is why the Pierce Creek Church c·ase aga,inst the IRS
be the most significant case yet undertaken by the _ACLJ.
This case will not go down easily.
opponent.
may
The XRS is a powerful,
frighteniq~
·It ha~ the r~sources to fight on for_years . . We cannot let
the IRS. outlast us in this,battle, so we must take str~tegically
measured steps on behalf_of our client and, ultimately, America's
teli9ious institutions.
·
Just our initial effdrt, which includes the full atlentions
of chief counsel. ·Jay Sekulow and four to s.ix other le-gal
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(Plea5e continue on the final page ••• )
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associates, will require perhaps thousands of hours.·. Now that
ACLJ attorneys have begun, there can be no turning back.' Too
much is at stake.
.,
The seriousness of this case, and its implications for ·ali
people of faith in America, requires that we urge concerned .
people like you to do four things to help us m9unt an effective
and successful challenge against the IRS:
First, we ask you to complete . the American Opinion S.ur.vey
we'Ve ·enclosed. Your opinions are extremely important. They
c6unt. And, thet will sena a strbng messag~ to both our
opponents and the American people. ·
Seeond, we need your regular, ongoing prayer. While our
attorney's are highly skilled .in the law and the American judicial
system, we know our strength~ comes from the Lord •.
Third, we need the most gen~rous gitt y6u can send
$25, $100, $500 or whatever is possible --.right now!
$50,
"
Fourth, and finally, we ask you to show.this letter to your
pastor and to your chutch's leaders. It is imp6rtant t6at ~our
church be informed about this threat, and even consider helping
us through intercessory prayer for the ACLJ and the Pierce Creek
Church, as well as with financial sup~_ort.
Pierce. Creek Church has been dealt·the equivalent to a death
blow by the Internal Revenue Service. And, the Pierce Creek
Church tax-exempt,revocation will become a dangerous weapon
·against the American Church. Perhaps against your church,· also,
one day.
Please respond quickly.
Thank you.
\
A. Fournier, Esq ..
utive Director
P.S. When you complete and return your American Opinion Survey,
please indicate your desire to receive my booklet, Fighting
for Law and Justice. · This 34-page booklet is yours, free, .
j~st for the asking.
In it,.I t~ll tha exciting story of
how the ACLJ became one of the foremost public intere~L law .
firms in America.
Our work is expensive, and thls case against the IRS m~y be
our costliest yet. Yet as a publi~ inte-rest law firm, we ·do
not _charge for our legal services . 1 Please let us, hear from
you today by completing the survey
requesting your, .
· booklet .•• praying for us •... sending the most generous gift
poesible ••• and,letting your. church leade~s know about this
caec. · Again, thank you and may God bles~ you.
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Christian Coalition
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M9nthly Gift Card
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··Righteousness exalts <1 nation, ~u~ sirr is a disgrace to ilny people.·· P1ovcr1Js 14:34
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0 Enclosed is my gift for the month of:
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May
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Amount enclosed: S --~~
0 l understand that my continued supp()n entitles me to receive The Christian American.
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Monthly_ _Message
OFFICIAl
RECEIPT :i
. Carol, the Senate will soon vote on President Clinton•s
choice for Surg~on General ·- Dr. Henry Foster.
confirmed. Foster will be the first
u.s.
Surge~ri
abortion~.
If
Geneial
to have ·actually personally performed
In
addition,
Foster
is
a
strona.
advocate
of
the
failed
"safe
sex 11 philosophy which inclu es explicit. sex. educ::a tion for.
children as young as kindergarten and the mass
·
distr~bution of birth control to yo.ung children through
.
the schools (without the consent of parents).
Foster is. the darling of radic:d organizations like the
NATIONAL ABORTION RIGHTS ACTION LEAGUE. We cannot afford
to let the Fo~tet nomination stand because. if he'sconfirmed, the Left will trumpet this as a devastating
defeat for the pro~family cause. Pleas~ call your two
Senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote against
Foster•s confirmation.
Pat Robertson
1>1case make your check payable to l.:lll'islilm Coalition. Thank yort. '
·
P.O. Dox 1990 • Chesapeaxc, VA 23l27
·
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Please retsin this
I portion for your
I records.
I .
~1-1~-·
I . Date
:$-.. .
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Amount
Christian Coalition is a
oon·ptolit organi1alkln
vndar IRS Coda 501
(c)(4). Contributions,
including membar5hip
lees, &re oot lax·
deductibla becausa
the 11 11re
uwd to
Influence legi3latlon.
l.:urporala and
business contributions
1 aro welcome.
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HILLARY ALERT
A specilll project of the ~eric:an Conservative Union.
Dear Fellow American,
'
Hera is your\ opportunity to do what yo:u couldn't do in 1992 ••.•
••• vote FOR or AGAINST First
Person Hillarv Rodham Clinton. ·
Please, take out a pen right now and sign the enclosed HILLARY
- BALLOT. Then rush it bac~ to me today.
·
Hillary "Rodham" Clinton. is now th~ second,. if not the first,
moat powerful person· in .the world.
She sits in ori Cabinet meetings ••.
her lackeys are in charge of, among other things,
the Justice Department and the. Department of Health
and Human Services;
she has.a huge taxpayer-paid staff and flies on U.S.
military aircraft at yourand my expense.:
••• her lavish offices take up nearly an entire floor
.west wing of the Whi~e House:
~f
the
.•• and even though Hillary is in the process of.dictating
what health care \lill be available to you ...
•.•. ~he was elected bv no one and is accountable ·to no one.
You and; I didn't have a chance to vote for ·or against .''Rirst
Person" Hillary Clinton before~
.
But you can now.
· voice will be heard.
And this time, I'll personally make sure your
, So please, do not delay you:r;.response. Complete-your HII!LABY'.
BALLOT and rush it back to me today. · .Your HILLARY BALLOT will be
tabulated in our national processin~ center here in Washington. D.C.
Your vote will be kept strictly confidential.
But the overall results ~ill be sent to the White House,
Congress; and to the national· medi;t •
. · our goal: to counter the biased media's ridiculous claim that
; Americans approve of Hillary and her enormous illegitimate (orillegal) power. What's more, we want to use the·results. of our
HILI.ARY·BALLOTS to force Bill Clinton to·rein in his wife before she
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can do any serious.and long .te~ damage to our nation.
Billary" (Bill and Hillary} fooled America last November. They
deliberately Jnisled voters into belfeving that Hillary would not have
enormous. power.
11
')
We all know now that this was no~ true. We know that Hillary's
"down home" act and cooki• baking were all.a charade.
And we know that Hillary intends t 0 rule the White House and our
nation with an iron fist.
In
fact~
that is exactly what she is already doing:
• Hill'ary demanded that Bill Clinton pick a woman for
Attorney General -- no matter how many times it took
to get it right;
·• Hillary ~layed a major role in nearly aLl cabinet
appointments making sure her friends, s~ch a~ the
liberal Donna Shalala, were chosen over.others;
*
ultra~
Hillary sit~ in on. all Cabinet meetings, was a major
player in the White House/Governors conference, and
has aiready begun lobbying ~- and bullying -- Senators
and congressmen from.both political Parties.
Do you ever wonder ~by Bill Clinton caters so much to the
· radical hon1osexual crowd?
Why he insists on homosexuals
in
the military?
or why he wants
AIDS 'infected immigrants to come to America?:
I
Part of the answer is "Oueen Hillary."
Her radical agenda includes special privileges for.homosexuals,
.feminist$, abortionists and other left-wing kooks.
It also includes ..• sky-high taxes .•• opprcosive government
regulations ..• a massive redistribution of wealth ... an expansion of
the welfare state ••• racial quotas .•. federally funded porno9raphy ...
the complete dismantling of the military and the CIA •..
..• ana total control oyer your life and your income.
That's why she told Bill Clinton to qive her the one job in the
one area in which she. ca,n ·cause the ~ost damage --- health -care ..
Nothing frightens.me mort!! than Hillary deciding for me and tdr
what kind of health care we should have. Because d,espite what
she says, Hillary's health care plan will almost certainly lead to:
~
* rationed health care;
• new taxes on social Security, income
and health care benefits;
'
* loriq waiti~~ periods arid delay~
�..
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-in treatment1
fewer doctors, less drug research,
and poorer health care quality.
This is the future if Hilla~y is alloweg to
· health.care-systexn·--.guaranteed.
gecid~
our nation's
Guaranteed because Hillary is a· pro-socialist, pro-Marxist
leftist who will lead our nation down the same path as the Soviet
Union, Eastern Europe and other nations who have bankrupted.
·themselves by trying to provided 11 free•• government run health care. ·
The bottom line my friend· is that nothing is "free. 11 .
another, you and I will ~lways pay for health care.
One way or '·
But with Hillary .in charqe; the health care we get will be far
worse then what we get now.
That's why you and
I
haye to stop her.
And why, I hope I can count on you to join 11 HILLARY ALERT,~· a
special project of the American Conservative Union CACU).
My name is David A.. Keene. I am Chairman of both HILLARY ALERT
and the.ACU. The ACU w~s founded in 1964 by aides to Barry
Goldwater's .Presidential campaign.
/
considered by.~any to be the most respected and effective
grassroots organb:ation in America, the ACU is the one group that
. truly frightens the liberals.
r
Ang.for good reason.
Fro~
stariding up fo~ the "Silent Majority"· in the 1960s ... to
limiting the darnage·caused by Jimmy Carter in the 1970s.'. to helping
Ronald Reagan build his conservative 11 revolution"
the 1980s ..• ·
in
.' •• the ACU has helped make history;.
And with your support today, we intend to continue to make
history in opposing the socialist agenda of Bill and Hillary Cll~ton.
We believe in lower taxes .•• less g6vernment •.• a strong
·defense ..• the traditional family values that made America great.
In short, the ACU stands for everything_Bill and Hillary
detest .•. God, family. and patriotism.
That's why one of our top priorities is using HI,LLARY ALERT to
limit the power of Hillary 11 Rodham 11 Clinton. rri many ways, she is
far more dangerous than her husband because she .fanatically believes
her leftist philosophy. And about all that stands iri her way right
now are you, me,- and the taxpayers of America. That'swhy, in
-addition to your Hllo~LARY BALLOT •• ,
I also hope I can count on you to rush the ACU a most
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generous donation of $15, $20, $25, $50, $100
or more today.
Please, your' gift is just as important as your HILLARY BALLOT.
You see, in taking on Hillary Clinton we are taking on the
darling of the me~la, Hollywo'od, and the entire establishment Left.
To counter
*
~h~s
force, we need to:
distribute a minimum of 3 million HILLARY ·BALLOTS
nationwide as soon as possible;
* recruit an army of
lOO,QOO Americans willing to flood the
.White House, the Congress and the radio .talk shows in a
sea of petitions, phone calls and fetters·demandinq Bill
Clinton rein in his radical wife;
·
*create and publish a HILLARY ALERT newsletter which ·will·
track anci expose every move tnade by our new "First Person";
• form an alliance of Congressional leaders who will help us
fight Hillary's socialist health care proposals in the
House and Senate.
a
My- friend, this is indeed
massive endeavor. And it will. take
your support, Roth political and financial to make.it work.
, But with your help, it can and will YOrk.
today,, before it's too late. ·
As long as we begin
The ACU needs your completed HILLARY BALLOT today so we can
launch a counter strike against her biased allies in the media.
And we need Your gift of. $15, $20, $25,
this counter strike. -
$50 1
or $1o'o to fund
So please, complete your HILLARY BALLOT and then rush it back:to
me today alonq with your most urqent,·most generous donation.
Thank you.
-~ .s~ncerel~/
·. ~David
(l. 1\.11~--:Keene
chainnan
P.S .. In an arrogant and sYlflbolic slap in..:.the fac9 to all Americans,
Hillary Clinton changed h~r name to Hillary "Rodham" Clinton .
after the election. This use of, her maiden name is Hillary's
. way of saying,, UI fooled you in November. Too bad. I'm in
power now and there is nothing you can to do stop mel".
Please, help me and.the ACU.prove Hillary "Rodhalli"
~linton wrong -- today.
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Bill and Hillary Clinton have.-_a dirty little
secret they have tried: to hide from A~erica
PAGE 13
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.. . but I have obtained a SPECIAL. REPORT that
EXPOSES th.e·SHOCKING TRUTH!
.
Dear Friend,
Here .is a little known fact that will horrjfy you:
Now the secret is out. Clinton-appointed burGaucrats are
using your tax funds .to promote de\l'iant homosexuality·.-•
/
I
•
·
-- IN EVERY MAJOR BRANCH OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!
** Homosexuals training as FBI agents!
.-
**'Federal agencies adding nsexual orientation" to
their employment policies.
** TheGay, Lesbian and Bisexual Employees (GLOBE)
association formally recognized by the federal
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) !
** Taxpayer..;-fundad qay resea_reh!
-. '
** 22 known homosexuals appointed by- the President
to hiqh level positions!
I kr1ow you are as stunned as I was fo learn nt this.
Tt.
- makt-~s me s.i.ck ----- and. it should make both of us FTGHTING·. M.AD! ·
---·~·····-··-
,·
~-.........,.;;,;.;;,~~~~--~""':'-~~.-.........,~~.-:;.;~~~~~j...;;c;.;;e~b~. ··
1t
omosexuality.
I do not mean lo panic you ~- but we musl take drastic sleps
now_ to root Cl_'-:lt this sp:r·eading moral canceL' in ovr. government. ·
l
.
•
~
1'hankfully; a man of courage -- Sen. Jesse Helms of North
Carol Jna ·-- ha~ come forlh ·to lead_ tlw fight fOL' decency,
.
.
For this cause, I will b~ asking you to put
your STAMP OF APPROVAL on the enclosed copy
of Sen. Helms b~ll (S.25) to halt taxpayer
fundinq of perversion in ourqovernment.
Then r-eturn your slyut:<.l and approved bill to. me. I want topresent. thousar1ds of the:.;~ signed _bills to S~n. Helms so- he can
convince his colleagues to vote in favor-of this crucial bill.
you
\
�JUL;~3-95
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J
IIere is what Sen. Helms's bill simply says:
"To stop· the. use of taxpayer funds on activities. by
Government aqencies to encourage its employe·es. or·. ·
officials to accept homosexuality as ~ legitimate or
normal li·fes.tyle. "
·
.
f
. . . As Sen. Helms told Congre-ss: "No. other group in America is
given speci.al rights based on their sexual preference.-"
My friend, ·taking up this fight wi 11- infur-iate homosexual
organizalions and. their· liberal allies everywhere.
RacHca J homose~ual s hate Jesse, Helms and· Jerry Falwell!
1\nd they will slqp at nothing to thwart our effor.ts.to·
your tax monies. from fundi nq their perverted schemes.
prev(~Ilt.
1\i.ready, Uwy ·have labeled ·Sen. Helms,- Jerr·y Falwell and any
other c.i.L.i.zen who dares to oppose their s.i.ck agenda:
' "homophobi~-:·• ... "bigoted rr • • • "right-wj ng.
extremists'' ... "fund~ment~lisl ayatoll~h~"
1\.nd tli(·~Y mean Y.~.~ also -- if you dare disagree with
.
them. ·
.
, TAXPAYER-FUNDED "RE-EDUCATION•• CAMPS?
Ni-~arly e~ery member ·of'Bill Clinton's cabinet
offi(:i~ls
~1valanche
and other top.··
--many of them. openly homosexual -- h~~¢ launched an
of p.r·o-hornosexual policies and r\~guJ at ions.
Their intention is to coerce federal employees to attend
'' re-educa t.ion" pro-homosexi.Ja] seminars and training sessions.
--
;
'
, , (You may rcmeznbe:t we spoke out against the.Navy's "Ojversit:y
Day" that was merely'a~front for homosexual pr6paganda.) · .
All o·f which is costing ta•payer• millions of dol lara.
to
this
SECRET MEETINGS' AND STRATEGY SESSIONS
·Do not be fooled .. President Clinton '·s new "moderate" image
is a ~ham. He is a liberal wolf in sheep'~ clothing who has not
· f~rgott<m his weal thy homosexual .friends.
In fact, .President Clinton has been working closely
wi.th thQ rad~cal homosexual · c:orrrnuni ty sine& he took
office -- and continties it to this day.
�JUL~03-95
13·00 FROM·
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·-3-
THE WHITE HOUSE "STEALTH" AGENDA
This .i.s truly a "stealth" agendn. Cahinet Secretaries and
t.op Administration officials have quietly put pro-homose1tuaJ.
reforms in place throughout government agencies .for months.
, In the· military ... in the President's Cabinet ... in
fede.ral hurcaucracies ... in agency after agency,
from The White.
House on down . ..
·
..•. Clinton appointees -- many of them proudly prgfessl pg
public acceptance of their.
degenerate pr.actices using tax funds, government resources and
federal employees.
homose:$Ui"3 Ls -- are pushing through
Many federal agencies have now added ."sexual
orientation" to employment policies -- giving official
recognition to homosexuality for the first time.
All of ·this was done without 'legislative action or
public -input:
Sen.
YOU AND I WERE NEVER ASKED!
But now l am asking you. to give your ·STAMP (W 1\PPROVAL to
lie l m' s b i .ll.
We mus l convince the Cnnc;r·ess lo' pruhibi t a 1 1
qove.rnment. sanclionlng for· this dP.p.rn.ved ,;md inunor·aJ. J.ifestyJ e.
And I desperatelx; DS:~d your financial help. Mgny friends
have not qi ven anything j_n a long time -- e:md we a.re hurting.
DIVERSITY TRAINING MANDATORY
~;o--called "dl vcr·sl Ly" training sess i.ons Lo promote
homose;~~~alily in govcr·nment agencies· and have bccnme m'andatocy
for
n~atly
all federal workers --
beliefs
·
ious or
ersonal
In ~his caie, ridiversity" means a redefinition of family ...·
prmrioting "gay pride", and encouraging the use of federal
resources to promote'homosexual cause~ and activiti~~.
OFFENSIVE AIDS EDUCATION·
Presiderit Clinton is requiring each Cabi~et Secretary to
implemcnL HIV/AIDS "education and prf.!vention"·progrrims and
, develop workplace policies for· employees wi. Lh AIDS.
Thes.e . 11 training''· programs include:
./1~istory
of AIDS, . S:YJtlptoms and risk reduction
needle sharing
·
; sexual contact: vaginal, anal, and. oral
-"practicing so-cal.ll=.!d "safe sex". ·
~the use of condoms, plastic wrap, la,tex. gloves ·
~
PAGE 15
�JUL-03-95
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202 293 2672
-4A!; you can imagine.-- federal employees have. complained t:hat
they found this type of ieptilsive material offGnsivc.
J
But the .Clinton Administration has D~p~AB~D Cjpf!BBIJ.I,8
WA~FMF: ·against family and' traditional va~ues ~Y embracing this
rat ical homosexual power grab.
.
I
J
., That is why.it is ~ital for you to return your copy o~,
Sen. Helms' bill with your signed STAMP OF APPROVAL.
With your help we can put a stop to this garbage,
A~d please send alonq a gift of $100, $,50 or even $25
. to Liberty Alliance. We must ale~t the nation now to
' this SECRET AGENDA before is too late.
.
J
,
.
I rniJSt bd. l you financial givlng to our important wor·k
fallen drasL.icrtlly since the el,ection last Novembpr:.
ha~
I fear that mauy friends like you think we ~:~i.mpJy do nol
need youc help s.irH:e "conservatives" ·now ndgn in Washington.
My fr i.end,
NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER
~'1\0M
lfHE 'lii{UT[!
Yo11 mJ.y not roali ze how much damage has beQn done to
t..r.adit ion a! family values in, just two short yean:;. This secr·et.
Whit:~ Hou~e homose~:ual agenda is j u::>t one tr;:1qi c (!~~ample.
At
ag~1inst.
tim~s it seems the entite forces of Hcl.l
u~,~·
Your' pray(~rs and .financial support
ar~ arrayed
give us the
strength to stand against lhern.
I3ut right
now -- our .... financial
situation
is ve.r.y bleak' ..
··-·--'''ooO
\.
.......
-····--•-••''''
:--nOON-:-•
---·•
- - -.. -
Despite facing one of our biggest baltles .ever, our giving
has I"J.P.VP.r' lJ~~n lower. T must count. on hearing frorn trlends like
you if we are to kP-ep out doors open much longer·.
'
I
It l::> more imporlant than ever. that' I keep Libe.rty Allian<;e
operating as a powerful force fot traditional va~ues.
That is why l need to hear from you today_.
a:;~.·
~Jerry
Falwell .
.
P.S. Time after time, Sen. Helms has been ri~iculed as hP stood
alone on thr. f., nor of Congress in th<: f'ight for ttH.n;::~ J
decency. .:L~t 's not allow him to st?nd alone this)time ..
Without your help, his bill may nol even .come up for 'a vote.
And please send a gift of $100, $50. o:r even· s:~s 'to Libei:'ty
Alliance inut\edialcl'y. 'Hel:e me fi.gh'!: t_his horno~'?xua1,thrcat .
-~;H Dltut~J llJJt&~+ -t, help LIBe.£1'( ALLIANC~ , I wlff sw. yo11 1:Jt~ t.At:Hre ,
SP6CIAL f.6P0f.1' ~ -f:Jtts HC?MO.S6X.ILAL IJJ'I ASIO~ Df ~IJ.T' 'govb"AA-~e..t.+!
.fot toW'
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Terry Edmonds
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Office of Speechwriting
James (Terry) Edmonds
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1995-2001
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36090" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7763294" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2006-0462-F
Description
An account of the resource
Terry Edmonds worked as a speechwriter from 1995-2001. He became the Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting in 1999. His speechwriting focused on domestic topics such as race relations, veterans issues, education, paralympics, gun control, youth, and senior citizens. He also contributed to the President’s State of the Union speeches, radio addresses, commencement speeches, and special dinners and events. The records include speeches, letters, memorandum, schedules, reports, articles, and clippings.
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
635 folders in 52 boxes
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
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Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Civility [1]
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Office of Speechwriting
James (Terry) Edmonds
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2006-0462-F
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 13
<a href="http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/2006/2006-0462-F.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7763294" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
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Adobe Acrobat Document
Medium
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Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
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12/9/2014
Source
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42-t-7763294-20060462F-013-006-2014
7763294