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| AL GORE: Part II | |
 August 17, 2000  | |
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In his acceptance speech before the Democratic convention, Al Gore says he is asking people to vote for him to create a "better, fairer, more prosperous America." Below is the text of his prepared remarks. |
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And then, Tipper and I started our own family. And when our first daughter Karenna was born, I began to see the future through a fresh set of eyes. I know a lot of you have had that feeling, too. And I decided that I could not turn away from service at home - any more than I could have turned away from service in Vietnam. That's why I ran for Congress. In my first term, a family in Hardeman County, Tennessee wrote a letter and told how worried they were about toxic waste that had been dumped near their home. I held some of the first hearings on the issue. And ever since, I've been there in the fight against the big polluters. Our children should not have to draw the breath of life in cities awash in pollution. When they come in from playing on a hot summer afternoon, every child in America, anywhere in America, ought to be able to turn on the faucet and get a glass of safe, clean drinking water. On the issue of the environment, I've never given up, I've never backed down, and I never will. And I say it again tonight: we must reverse the silent, rising tide of global warming. In the Senate and as Vice President, I fought for welfare reform. Over and over again, I talked to folks who told me how they were trapped in the old welfare system. I saw what it did to families. So I fought to end welfare as we then knew it - to help those in trouble, but to insist on work and responsibility. Others talked about welfare reform. We actually reformed welfare and set time limits. Instead of hand-outs, we gave people training to go from welfare to work. And we have cut the welfare rolls in half and moved millions into good jobs. For almost 25 years now, I've been fighting for people. And for all that time, I've been listening to people - holding open meetings, in the places where they live and work. And you know what? I've learned a lot. And if I'm your President, I'm going to keep on having open meetings all over this country. I'm going to go out to you, the people, because I want to stay in touch with your hopes; with the quiet, every-day heroism of hard-working Americans. And because I've learned that the issues before us, the problems and the policies, all have names. And I don't mean the big fancy names that we put on programs and legislation. I'm talking about family names like Nystel, Johnson, Gutierrez, and Malone - people and families I've met in the last year, all across this country. And here's what they've told me: I met Mildred Nystel in Waterloo, Iowa. Because of our welfare reform, she's left welfare and found a good job training electricians - and she's become a proud member of IBEW Local 288. Now she dreams of sending her daughter Irene to college. Mildred Nystel is here with us tonight. And I say to her: I will fight for a targeted, affordable tax cut to help working families save and pay for college. I met Jacqueline Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri. She worked for 35 years as a medical assistant, caring for others. Now she's 72 years old and needs prescription medicines to care for herself. She spends over half of her Social Security check - her only source of income - on her pills. So she either skips meals, or shops for bargains at a wholesale food store and buys macaroni and cheese dinners in bulk - and then has them at every meal. I invited her here tonight. And Mrs. Johnson, I promise you once again: I will fight for a prescription drug benefit for all seniors under Medicare. It's just wrong for seniors to have to choose between food and medicine while the big drug companies run up record profits. I met George and Juanita Gutierrez in San Antonio, Texas. Their daughter Caterina has just started the 4th grade at Davy Crockett Elementary School. The school building is crumbling and overcrowded, with cracked walls and peeling plaster. Trailers cover the playground where the kids used to spend recess. The Gutierrez family is here tonight. And I tell them again: I will fight to rebuild and modernize our crumbling schools, and reduce class size. We need to put safety, discipline, and character first in every classroom. You know, education may be a local responsibility. But I believe it also has to be our number-one national priority. We can't stop until every school in America is a good place to get a good education. And I will never forget a little boy named Ian Malone - who suffered from a medical mistake during childbirth, and needs full-time nursing care for several years. I met him and his parents in Seattle, near their home in Everett, Washington. Their HMO had told the Malones it would no longer pay for the nurse they needed, and then, told them they should consider giving Ian up for adoption. That's when his mom and dad got really mad. They told their story in public, and the HMO was embarrassed. Because they fought for their baby, today Ian has the care he needs to stay alive. But no family in America should have to go on national television to save their child's life. Dylan and Christine Malone are here with us tonight. Ian's here, too. And I say to them, and to all the families of America: I will fight for a real, enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights. It's just wrong to have life and death medical decisions made by bean-counters at HMO's who don't have a license to practice medicine, and don't have a right to play God. It's time to take the medical decisions away from the HMO's and insurance companies - and give them back to the doctors, the nurses, and the health care professionals. So this is not just an election between my opponent and me. It's about our people, our families, and our future - and whether forces standing in your way will keep you from having a better life. To me, this election is about Mildred Nystel, Jacqueline Johnson, Caterina Gutierrez, Ian Malone. It's about millions of Americans whose names we may never know - but whose needs and dreams must always be our calling. And so here tonight, in the name of all the working families who are the strength and soul of America -- I accept your nomination for President of the United States. I'm here to talk seriously about the issues. I believe people deserve to know specifically what a candidate proposes to do. I intend to tell you tonight. You ought to be able to know, and then judge for yourself. If you entrust me with the Presidency, I will put our democracy back in your hands, and get all the special-interest money - all of it - out of our democracy, by enacting campaign finance reform. I feel so strongly about this, I promise you that campaign finance reform will be the very first bill that Joe Lieberman and I send to Congress. Let others try to restore the old guard. We come to this convention as the change we wish to see in America. And what are those changes? At a time when most Americans will live to know even their great-grandchildren, we will save and strengthen Social Security and Medicare - not only for this generation, but for generations to come. At a time of almost unimaginable medical breakthroughs, we will fight for affordable health care for all - so patients and ordinary people are not left powerless and broke. We will move toward universal health coverage, step by step, starting with all children. Let's get all children covered by the year 2004. And let's move to the day when we end the stigma of mental illness, and treat it like every other illness, everywhere in this nation. Within the next few years, scientists will identify the genes that cause every type of cancer. We need a national commitment equal to the promise of this unequalled moment. So we will double the federal investment in medical research. We will find new medicines and new cures - not just for cancer, but for everything from diabetes to HIV/AIDS. At a time when there is more computer power in a Palm Pilot than in the spaceship that took Neil Armstrong to the moon, we will offer all our people lifelong learning and new skills for the higher-paying jobs of the future. At a time when the amount of human knowledge is doubling every five years, we will do bold things to make our schools the best in the world. I will fight for the single greatest commitment to education since the G.I. Bill - For revolutionary improvements in our schools. For higher standards and more accountability. To put a fully-qualified teacher in every classroom, test all new teachers, and give teachers the training and professional development they deserve. It's time to treat and reward teachers like the professionals they are. It's not just about more money. It's about higher standards, accountability -- new ideas. But we can't do it without new resources. And that's why I will invest far more in our schools - in the long-run, a second-class education always costs more than a first-class education. And I will not go along with any plan that would drain taxpayer money away from our public schools and give it to private schools in the form of vouchers. This nation was a pioneer of universal public education. Now let's set a specific new goal for the first decade of the 21st Century: high-quality universal pre-school - available to every child, in every family, all across this country. We also have to give middle-class families help in paying for college with tax-free college savings, and by making most college tuition tax-deductible. Open the doors of learning to all. And all of this - all of this -- is the change we wish to see in America. Not so long ago, a balanced budget seemed impossible. Now our budget surpluses make it possible to give a full range of targeted tax cuts to working families. Not just to help you save for college, but to pay for health insurance or child care. To reform the estate tax, so people can pass on a small business or a family farm. And to end the marriage penalty - the right way, the fair way -- because we shouldn't force couples to pay more in income taxes just because they're married. But let me say it plainly: I will not go along with a huge tax cut for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else and wreck our good economy in the process. Under the tax plan the other side has proposed, for every ten dollars that goes to the wealthiest one percent, middle class families would get one dime. And lower-income families would get one penny. In fact, if you add it up, the average family would get about enough money to buy one extra Diet Coke a day. About 62 cents in change. Let me tell you: that's not the kind of change I'm working for. I'll fight for tax cuts that go to the right people - to the working families who have the toughest time paying taxes and saving for the future. I'll fight for a new, tax-free way to help you save and build a bigger nest egg for your retirement. I'm talking about something extra that you can save and invest for yourself. Something that will supplement Social Security, not be subtracted from it. But I will not go along with any proposal to strip one out of every six dollars from the Social Security trust fund and privatize the Social Security that you're counting on. That's Social Security minus. Our plan is Social Security plus. We will balance the budget every year, and dedicate the budget surplus first to saving Social Security. | |||||||||||||||||||
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