alternatehistory.com
Hart of the Matter
December 4th, 1987
"Thank you all for being here. The urgency of this national election is becoming increasingly apparent to the people not only of Iowa and New Hampshire but all across this country. People of this country know that the choice of our national leader in 1988 is critical to this nation's future
The people of this country are beginning to realize that we cannot tolerate four more years of Reaganomics for the rich and Cold War, hostile foreign policy that jeopardizes the future of mankind on this planet
The people of this state are beginning to realize that they have the power to change American history. The Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, indeed the entire nomination race represents an opportunity for the people of this nation, through the Democratic Party and it's new leadership, to change the course of this nation's future and that is what this 1988 election is all about.
George H.W. Bush is unacceptable. George H.W. Bush represents the worst of our past. We cannot have a society that continues to divide itself along economic class lines racial lines and gender lines.
If this nation is to survive and succeed and thrive in the 80s and 90s this must be a nation that unites itself and pulls itself back together behind the national interests and not the interests of greed and privilege.
And so the people of Iowa and the Democratic Party across this country understand that the traditional Democratic leadership will not suffice. It will not suffice to win this election and it will not suffice to govern this country.
Leaders in this party who are bound to old arrangements, special interest, and to deals that have been made with constituency groups are not leaders that can direct this nation's future.
If a president goes into office beholden to a whole array of special interest, whose campaigns have been financed by political action committees and by special interest groups, that leader cannot identify the future and unite the American people behind it.
There are those in this race who have given away so much of their own independence to govern this country in the future, in order to get endorsements, in order to raise money, and in order to appear to be the frontrunner that I am a great deal concerned.
I think others in this party sold themselves to the point that those individuals will not have the independence of judgment or of decision to point this this country in the direction it must go in in the 80s and 90s.
The issue in this race is this country's future versus its past.
That is what the choice before the Democratic Party of Iowa and all across this country is.
I believe there is an alternative.
That alternative is the new leadership of this party. That leadership represents first of all a commitment to solving problems and not just debating old ideologies.
No where is that issue seen more than in the question of national defense and national security.
George Bush represents a blank checkbook to the Pentagon. Not just a check, but an entire checkbook for everything every General and Admiral and Hawk in this country wants.
This nation is spending itself weak in a mad pursuit for security which will not be found in this unlimited and mindless nuclear arms race.
Likewise, the American people who voted against the Democratic Party in 1984 and 1986 will not return to the Democratic fold and to a Democratic candidate if they believe our leadership only represents arbitrary cuts in defense even at the expense of the security of this country.
I believe our party can present leadership to this country in the area of national defense and economics and other areas that avoids the pitfalls of the past.
This country must reform its military institutions. We must have the most effective conventional forces and not the most just the most expensive. We must link military reform with a dramatic reversal of a dangerous and unnecessary nuclear arms race.
I think we must also innovate within our economy to solve the challenges of the 1980s.
That means directing private investment towards rebuilding and modernizing this nation's basic manufacturing base, where billions of private dollars, if necessary, guaranteed by the federal government go into the modernization of our plants and our equipment and the training of our workers so that by the end of this decade our Keystone industries are as efficient and modern and productive as any nation on Earth.
I think this country must put millions of Americans back to work repairing and rebuilding the basic public facilities of this nation.
I think finally we must have open and aggressive trade policies.
If this nation follows Democratic leaders who want to erect trade barriers, the state of Iowa first and then other states to follow will experience a kind of economic downturn we have not seen since the Great Depression.
We do not have the luxury of protectionism.
This country cannot pursue the course of economic surrender. It will mean the loss of family farms and hundreds of thousands of jobs in the farm implement industry and other industries all across this country.
I for one, as a leader of this party and as the next President of the United States, do not intend for this country to surrender economically in the 1980s.
Finally the new leadership of this country has learned a lesson from Vietnam.
We learned a lesson that Ronald Reagan or George Bush has not learned.
That is we cannot militarize our foreign policy.
We cannot expect to condition events in the third world in Latin America in Africa and in Southeast Asia by the deployment of American military forces.
We cannot send our sons off to become the bodyguards of dictators in El Salvador and hostages in Lebanon and we cannot on the Democratic side have leaders afraid to speak out.
We cannot have a nominee in this crucial election race who knows more about Chrysler than Iran.
We cannot have a nominee of this party who continued to support our involvement in Vietnam month after month after month after many people in this country realized it was a disastrous policy.
What this country is looking for is not just political leadership. This country is looking for more leadership and that means a willingness to speak out before it is popular and before public consensus has formed.
There’s been a lot of talk that my candidacy will send a signal to the old guard in Washington that their days are numbered.
I think that the people of Iowa ought to support a candidate in this race who does represent this party and this nation's future, but rather than send the old guard a signal, send this country a president who is prepared to govern the difficult new challenges of the 1980s.
The people of Iowa have a choice. You have a choice and as I said before you have the power to change the course of American history.
Thank you."
-An excerpt of a speech given by Gary Hart in Des Moines, Iowa
"Thank you all for being here. The urgency of this national election is becoming increasingly apparent to the people not only of Iowa and New Hampshire but all across this country. People of this country know that the choice of our national leader in 1988 is critical to this nation's future
The people of this country are beginning to realize that we cannot tolerate four more years of Reaganomics for the rich and Cold War, hostile foreign policy that jeopardizes the future of mankind on this planet
The people of this state are beginning to realize that they have the power to change American history. The Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, indeed the entire nomination race represents an opportunity for the people of this nation, through the Democratic Party and it's new leadership, to change the course of this nation's future and that is what this 1988 election is all about.
George H.W. Bush is unacceptable. George H.W. Bush represents the worst of our past. We cannot have a society that continues to divide itself along economic class lines racial lines and gender lines.
If this nation is to survive and succeed and thrive in the 80s and 90s this must be a nation that unites itself and pulls itself back together behind the national interests and not the interests of greed and privilege.
And so the people of Iowa and the Democratic Party across this country understand that the traditional Democratic leadership will not suffice. It will not suffice to win this election and it will not suffice to govern this country.
Leaders in this party who are bound to old arrangements, special interest, and to deals that have been made with constituency groups are not leaders that can direct this nation's future.
If a president goes into office beholden to a whole array of special interest, whose campaigns have been financed by political action committees and by special interest groups, that leader cannot identify the future and unite the American people behind it.
There are those in this race who have given away so much of their own independence to govern this country in the future, in order to get endorsements, in order to raise money, and in order to appear to be the frontrunner that I am a great deal concerned.
I think others in this party sold themselves to the point that those individuals will not have the independence of judgment or of decision to point this this country in the direction it must go in in the 80s and 90s.
The issue in this race is this country's future versus its past.
That is what the choice before the Democratic Party of Iowa and all across this country is.
I believe there is an alternative.
That alternative is the new leadership of this party. That leadership represents first of all a commitment to solving problems and not just debating old ideologies.
No where is that issue seen more than in the question of national defense and national security.
George Bush represents a blank checkbook to the Pentagon. Not just a check, but an entire checkbook for everything every General and Admiral and Hawk in this country wants.
This nation is spending itself weak in a mad pursuit for security which will not be found in this unlimited and mindless nuclear arms race.
Likewise, the American people who voted against the Democratic Party in 1984 and 1986 will not return to the Democratic fold and to a Democratic candidate if they believe our leadership only represents arbitrary cuts in defense even at the expense of the security of this country.
I believe our party can present leadership to this country in the area of national defense and economics and other areas that avoids the pitfalls of the past.
This country must reform its military institutions. We must have the most effective conventional forces and not the most just the most expensive. We must link military reform with a dramatic reversal of a dangerous and unnecessary nuclear arms race.
I think we must also innovate within our economy to solve the challenges of the 1980s.
That means directing private investment towards rebuilding and modernizing this nation's basic manufacturing base, where billions of private dollars, if necessary, guaranteed by the federal government go into the modernization of our plants and our equipment and the training of our workers so that by the end of this decade our Keystone industries are as efficient and modern and productive as any nation on Earth.
I think this country must put millions of Americans back to work repairing and rebuilding the basic public facilities of this nation.
I think finally we must have open and aggressive trade policies.
If this nation follows Democratic leaders who want to erect trade barriers, the state of Iowa first and then other states to follow will experience a kind of economic downturn we have not seen since the Great Depression.
We do not have the luxury of protectionism.
This country cannot pursue the course of economic surrender. It will mean the loss of family farms and hundreds of thousands of jobs in the farm implement industry and other industries all across this country.
I for one, as a leader of this party and as the next President of the United States, do not intend for this country to surrender economically in the 1980s.
Finally the new leadership of this country has learned a lesson from Vietnam.
We learned a lesson that Ronald Reagan or George Bush has not learned.
That is we cannot militarize our foreign policy.
We cannot expect to condition events in the third world in Latin America in Africa and in Southeast Asia by the deployment of American military forces.
We cannot send our sons off to become the bodyguards of dictators in El Salvador and hostages in Lebanon and we cannot on the Democratic side have leaders afraid to speak out.
We cannot have a nominee in this crucial election race who knows more about Chrysler than Iran.
We cannot have a nominee of this party who continued to support our involvement in Vietnam month after month after month after many people in this country realized it was a disastrous policy.
What this country is looking for is not just political leadership. This country is looking for more leadership and that means a willingness to speak out before it is popular and before public consensus has formed.
There’s been a lot of talk that my candidacy will send a signal to the old guard in Washington that their days are numbered.
I think that the people of Iowa ought to support a candidate in this race who does represent this party and this nation's future, but rather than send the old guard a signal, send this country a president who is prepared to govern the difficult new challenges of the 1980s.
The people of Iowa have a choice. You have a choice and as I said before you have the power to change the course of American history.
Thank you."
-An excerpt of a speech given by Gary Hart in Des Moines, Iowa
- Gentleman Biaggi
- Word Count: 1.2k