Transformational Change For America And The WorldJOHN EDWARDS 08Mar 15, 2007
Remarks as prepared for delivery
Manchester, New Hampshire ~ excerpt ~
And you all know that we are not leading the world in a way that lives up to the idea of America or is good for us here at home.
What we used to call foreign policy has such a profound effect on our everyday lives that there really is no such thing as purely foreign policy anymore. Trade policies affect jobs and wages here and throughout the world. Energy policy affects climate change here and all over the world, and it impacts domestic and foreign security. Poverty is an issue for us here I could talk about that all day long but poverty is also an issue directly related to the rise of terrorism and our place in the world economy. A well-known politician from a neighboring state used to say that all politics is local. Today, all policy is local.
We are not going to solve these problems with the usual approaches. These challenges are too big, too connected, and too complicated to be answered with the same old politics of incrementalism. Meeting them requires more than just a new presidentit requires an entirely new approach.
(snip)
Our domestic problems are intertwined with our global challenges, and nowhere is this truer than at the nexus of global warming and energy independence.
Global warming is a problem that is here, now, and not going away. The United States must lead lead smart, lead courageously, and lead by example.
It is time to ask the American people to be patriotic about something other than war. We need investments in renewable energy more efficient cars and trucks and a national cap on carbon emissions.
(snip)
When we're serious about moral leadership at home, we have the standing to assert moral leadership in the world.
And I believe we can begin by leading in areas that at first glance might not seem directly related to our self-interest. I'm talking about global poverty, primary education. But I believe if you look closely, it's clear that these areas are in fact directly related to our present and future national security.
We know that terrorists thrive in failed states, and in states torn apart by internal conflict and poverty.
And we know that in many African and Muslim countries today, extreme poverty and civil wars have gutted government educational systems.
So what's taking their place? The answer is troubling but filled with opportunity if we have the courage to seize it.
A great portion of a generation is being educated in madrassas run by militant extremists rather than in public schools. And as a result, thousands and thousands of young people who might once have aspired to be educated in America are being taught to hate America.
When you understand that, it suddenly becomes clear: global poverty is not just a moral issue for the United States it is a national security issue for the United States. If we tackle it, we will be doing a good and moral thing by helping to improve the lives of billions of people around the world who live on less than $2 per day but we will also begin to create a world in which the ideologies of radical terrorism are overwhelmed by the ideologies of education, democracy, and opportunity. If we tackle it, we have the chance to change a generation of potential enemies into a generation of friends. Now that would be transformational.
But the challenge is great generational struggles require generational solutions so we must meet the challenge with an audacious plan.
As President I would implement a four-point plan to tackle global poverty and improve the national security of the United States:
First, we would launch a sweeping effort to support primary education in the developing world.
More than 100 million young children have no school at all, denied even a primary education to learn how to read and write. Education is particularly important for young girls; as just one example of the ripple effects, educated mothers have lower rates of infant mortality and are 50 percent more likely to have their children immunized.
As president, I will lead a worldwide effort to extend primary education to millions of children in the developing world by fully funding the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015. The U.S. will do its part by bringing education to 23 million children in poor countries, and we will ask our allies to step up and do the rest. It's not just good for our security; it's good for theirs.
Second, we will support preventive health care in the developing world.
Women and children bear the burden of poverty and disease in the developing world. Women in our poorest countries have a 10% chance of dying during childbirth. More than 10 million children die each year from preventable diseases. Many of these diseases are preventable with clean water and basic sanitation or affordable immunizations.
As president, I will convene a worldwide summit on low-cost investments in clean drinking water and sanitation. Under my plan, the U.S. will increase its investment in clean water six-fold.
Third, we can get to the root of global poverty by increasing opportunity, political opportunity and economic opportunity. Democratic rights allow poor citizens to force their countries to create more progressive laws, fight oppression and demand economic stability. Economic initiatives like microfinance and micro-insurance can spark entrepreneurship, allowing people to transform their own lives.
And fourth, I would appoint an individual in the White House, reporting directly to me, with the rank of a Cabinet member, to oversee all of our efforts to fight global poverty. Despite its importance to our national security, the United States still lacks a comprehensive strategy to fight global poverty. We need to embrace the vision of John F. Kennedy, who recognized that "the Nation's interest and the cause of political freedom require" American efforts to lift up the world's poor.
(snip)
Nearly 70 years ago, another generation of Americans faced a world darkened by insecurity.
The storm clouds of fascism and totalitarianism were gathering over Europe and Asia. We were struggling to emerge from the depths of the Great Depression. And it was easy to think then that our problems at home were too big for us to try to tackle the problems mounting abroad.
Yet that generation of Americans saw in the challenges of their day not a cause for despair, but a call to greatness.
And they answered it. Not meekly, not uncertainly. But proudly, confidently, and with conviction. Because they had what we have the idea of America. It's right here.
And in answering that call, not only secured freedom for the people of Europe and Asia they laid the foundation for a new American economy that produced the greatest expansion of the middle class and the sharpest reduction of poverty in the history of the world.
They turned the 20th century into the American century.
Now it is our turn to see the challenges we face with an unblinking eye and once again to answer the call.
Proudly, confidently, and with conviction
It is our responsibility. As Abraham Lincoln once called us, we are still the "last best hope of earth." If America does not lead, who will?
I believe we are up to the task. I am certain of it.
After all, I am an optimist.
http://johnedwards.com/news/speeches/nhip20070315 /
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