英语演讲5. Barbara Charline Jordan - 1976 DNC Key...

英语演讲5. Barbara Charline Jordan - 1976 DNC Keynote Addr
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5. Barbara Charline Jordan - 1976 DNC Keynote Address
Thank you
ladies and gentlemen for a very warm reception.
It was one hundred and fortyfour
years ago that members of the Democratic Party first met in convention
to select a Presidential candidate. Since that time, Democrats have continued to
convene once every four years and draft a party platform and nominate a Presidential
candidate. And our meeting this week is a continuation of that tradition. But there is
something different about
tonight. There is something special about tonight. What is different?
What is special?
I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.
When
A lot of years passed since 1832, and during that time it would have been
most unusual for any national political party to ask a Barbara Jordan
to deliver a keynote address.
But tonight, here I am. And I
feel I feel that notwithstanding the past that my presence
here is one additional bit of evidence that the American Dream need not forever be deferred.
Now
Now that I have this grand distinction, what in the world am I supposed to say? I could easily spend this time praising the accomplishments of this party and attacking the
Republicans but I don't choose to do that.
I could list the many problems which Americans have.
I could list the problems which cause
people to feel cynical, angry, frustrated: problems which include lack of integrity in
government. the feeling that the individual no longer counts. the reality of material and
spiritual poverty. the feeling that the grand American experiment is failing or has failed. I
could recite these problems, and then
I could sit down and offer no solutions. But
I don't choose to do that either. The citizens of America expect
more. They deserve and they want more than a recital of problems.
We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We
are a people in search of a national community. We are a people trying not only to solve the
problems of the present, unemployment, inflation, but we are attempting on a larger scale to
fulfill the promise of America.
We are attempting to fulfill our national purpose, to create and sustain a society in which all of us are equal.
Throughout
Throughout
our history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their
problems and to uphold the principles of this nation, many times they have turned to political parties. They have often
turned to the Democratic Party. What is it?