It's an idea that's often forgotten or dismissed in cynical times. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms. Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have responsibilities. That is the world we seek.
Each of us in our own lives needs to do what we can to help the poor. That is one option. And I am hopeful that all countries in the region can share in this goal.
Religious leaders like my friends Rev. Jim Wallis and Rabbi David Saperstein and Nathan Diament are working for justice and fighting for change. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement? Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. That commitment is at the core of the Treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it.
