The following is text of Sen. Joseph Lieberman's acceptance speech at the Ct. Democratic State Convention, July 14, 2000
I am honored and deeply grateful to accept the nomination of the Connecticut
Democratic Party to
represent this great state for another six years in the United States
Senate. So this is what a State
Democratic Convention is like.
I want to thank all of the delegates here today and all who have come before for your longstanding friendship and support. I also want to thank Chairman Marcus, my friend and colleague Senator Dodd, our distinguished guest speaker Congressman John Lewis, and Gail and David Leighton Felipe Reinoso for their generous remarks.
In 1964, Lyndon Johnson told the Democratic National Convention, "This nation, this generation, in this hour has man's first chance to build. . . a place where the meaning of man's life matches the marvels of man's labor."
Much has changed in the 36 years since then. But what has not changed, I am convinced, is our desire to achieve the noble goal that LBJ articulated, and it is our closer to our grasp today. This nation and this party are still committed to realizing the abundant promise of America. We are still committed to fulfilling our common ideals of freedom, justice, equal opportunity, and tolerance. We are still committed to giving every family, regardless of color or creed or station in life, a better life for them and their children. And we are still committed to achieving a government that truly is of the people, by the people, and, most importantly, for the people.
My abiding belief in those principles was ingrained in me at a very young age by my mother and father and grandmother, who loved America and all it stands for. They taught me the value of faith, family, and country. They taught me the importance of hard work and personal responsibility and shared sacrifice. And they taught me that we have an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves.
Those are the values that originally inspired me to commit my life to public service, to answer that question that President Kennedy asked my generation about what we could do for our country. And those are the values that have sustained my faith in the nobility and necessity of that calling even in the most cynical and trying of times.
In the years since I first entered public service, there has been plenty that has happened to test that faith - not just mine, but the American people's. Bill Clinton and Al Gore came into office eight years ago with those doubts running rampant. Undeterred, they made a simple pledge - to make government work again for working families.
And did they ever deliver -- helping to unleash and sustain the longest run of economic growth in our history, creating millions of new jobs, balancing the budget, lowering inflation, raising wages and living standards for millions of Americans, reducing crime, moving people from welfare to work, keeping the peace, and laying the groundwork for more prosperity and progress in the years ahead. THANKS TO THEIR LEADERSHIP, AMERICA IS NOT JUST BETTER OFF, IT IS BETTER, PERIOD.
In my two terms in the Senate, I have worked hard to advance this cause -- to uphold the trust that has been placed in me by the people of Connecticut, to give voice to the values that unite us, and to do everything I could to help realize our shared dream of a better Connecticut.
A Connecticut where opportunity is available to all who strive for it and where people are judged not on who they are but on what they do. A Connecticut where every child can learn and grow safe and sound. A Connecticut where every drink of water and breath of air we take is free of danger and disease. A Connecticut where every patient can get access to quality health care, and where no one has to choose between buying medicine and buying food. A Connecticut where every family can live, work, and raise their children with a strong sense of security and a real expectation of a brighter future. A CONNECTICUT AS GOOD AS ITS PEOPLE.
We have made some real progress toward those goals in the last few years, and most of the credit must go to the people of this great state. The moms and dads who work hard to make a decent living and raise good kids. The risk-taking entrepreneurs who break barriers and create jobs. The teachers who dedicate their lives to our children's education. The volunteers who revitalize our communities. The families who struggle through the many strains of life today to nurture one another and their dreams for the future. THESE ARE THE HEROES OF CONNECTICUT'S COMEBACK.
What I have tried to do from my seat in the Senate is to serve as a partner for the people of Connecticut as they pursue their dreams. I have worked hard to help them make the most of their own lives, and I am proud of the things that we have accomplished together. I am proud of to have worked with an outstanding Connecticut Congressional delegation, and I proud to run with them this year, and with an excellent slate of Democratic State Senate and House candidates.
I am proud of all we have done to strengthen the economic security of Connecticut's families. I am proud of all we have done to strengthen the state's environmental health. And I am proud of all we have done to strengthen the moral and educational lives of Connecticut's children.
I am also proud of the major anti-crime bill that I cosponsored, which has continued to deliver millions of dollars to the state to put more cops on the street and more violent criminals behind bars. The legislation that Senator Dodd and I passed to crack down on the abuse of physical restraints in psychiatric facilities, which was inspired by a number of heartbreaking cases here in Connecticut. And just last month, the legislation I wrote and Congress passed to close the latest loophole in our campaign finance laws, which should give us some hope we can reduce the corrosive influence of big money and rebuild public confidence in our politics. That confidence is gradually growing. I can sense it when I talk with my constituents at schools and factories and small businesses and the diners I visit across the state. In one recent conversation, a woman said to me, "Thanks for speaking for people like me." That meant a lot to me, because that is just how I see my job. To speak for the families of Connecticut in Washington. To understand their frustrations and fears and to speak for their aspirations and values. And to help them realize those ideals in their own lives.
I am running for reelection because I want to keep speaking and working for those families. I want to help build on the progress our state has made in the last several years. And I want to help keep that optimism moving throughout our state and to bring opportunity to those who still live on the outskirts of hope.
In the years ahead, I want to find new ways to expand the winners circle and to lift up those Connecticut families that have been left behind by this economic boom. I want to pass comprehensive education reform legislation that will spur more innovation, more options, and more accountability in our public schools, and help prepare every child to compete in the global marketplace. I want to improve the quality of health care and reduce the deadly risk of medical errors. I want to stop the epidemic of gun violence that is killing too many children and undermining our confidence in public safety. And I want to heal the divisions that continue to plague our society, and to stop discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation.
I want to do right by my mother and her generation by passing a Medicare prescription drug benefit. I want to do right by my children and their generation by strengthening the long-term solvency of Medicare and Social Security. I want to do right my generation and Hadassah's by creating new programs that will make it easier to send our kids to college. And I want to do right by future generations by continuing to speak to the growing concerns about the weakening of our families and our common values.
It will not be easy, but I am an optimist and believe we can achieve all of these things. We have never been richer economically. We have never been stronger militarily. We have never been freer, at this time of trillion dollar surpluses, to take on what Franklin Roosevelt called "the test of our progress" - "not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." And together we can make the moral future of our country as strong as the economic present.
I am grateful for the privilege you have given me of representing the families who share my love for Connecticut and to work with them to make it a better place. Today I ask again for their trust, their support, and their vote. I am proud to be their Senator, to be your Senator, and I pledge to continue working as hard as possible to make them proud to have me working for them.
Thank you.
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