After a district meeting on Monday this week, I traveled back to Boston in the evening. As I was leaving town, I noticed at an area gas station that the price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas was $1.91. On my way to Boston, I stopped at a Shell Station in Templeton, just outside of Gardner. There, I filled my tank for $1.79/gal. Not only was it cheaper there, but I saw several stations in Cambridge with lower gas prices!
North Adams Mayor John Barrett has been complaining for the past year that gas prices are higher in the Berkshires than elsewhere in the state. I have made numerous phone calls to complain about the higher prices (and prices are even higher in South County). I have been told that transportation is the difference in price, but that makes no sense. The station at Templeton is at least as far away from gas distributors as is my district. And it doesn’t explain why prices invariably go up every week end.
That means that Berkshire County residents are expected to pay more per gallon than those areas that will actually see a benefit from this gas tax. Let me see; more per gallon, in an area where the rural nature means we use more gallons to travel and the weather and hilly terrain mean we actually need our SUVs and we don’t have the option of mass transit.
Just another reason to find a better way to pay for our transportation system.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
More on the Gas Tax
In 1986, I first ran for state representative and one of the things I talked about was our need to repair or replace the Hadley Overpass in North Adams. This is the longest span in Berkshire County and was in bad shape. Here we are in 2009 and the Overpass is finally being rebuilt twenty-three years later. We are not replacing it, but rebuilding the existing structure after years of being told we have to replace it and much dithering back and forth on replace/repair.
The machinations over this bridge are, in a nutshell, why it is difficult for me to vote for a proposed 19 cent gas tax in Massachusetts. We have poured money into the greater Boston area and have neglected the rest of the state as we did so. Now, my constituents are asked once again to send money to Boston for its road and mass transit systems.
This is unfair. When I entered office, over 80% of the bridges in Berkshire County were substandard. These were not unsafe, but needed work. Today the number is still around the same. For years the western part of the state has seen money diminish for roads and bridges. We have witnessed time and again the postponement of bids for work, and we have lived with lousy roads in an area that doesn’t have the luxury of a sprawling mass transit system. In all that time, I have never complained because Boston and the surrounding areas have been a powerful economic engine for the state. However, enough is enough and I am very reluctant to vote for more money to once again bail out bad projects, decisions, or management. If we had had the same percentage spent here as in the eastern part of the state, we could have been part of the economic engine for the state.
Today, the people of my district subsidize the MBTA with one penny on the sales tax even though they are not within scores of miles of that system. We passed this as we were told that a penny from the sales tax and forward funding for the “t” would take care of them and we wouldn’t have to spend any more money on this system. Live and learn. Hiring practices, inefficiencies in new construction and ridiculous pension benefits are piling up new costs on this system.
For years we have waited for the “Big Dig” project to be done so that we could expand road construction in other parts of the state. The cost overruns on this project were legion and here we are after the system is in place and we are being asked to pay once again.
While I know that we need to come up with a plan to fund our transportation needs, I am unclear as to why people actually using the roadways that need to be paid for can’t pay a greater share for that benefit. The people going north/south on the Big Dig should pay for this. Many of the people in my district live in rural towns where a car is a necessity. They should pay a modest increase in the gas tax in order to repair their roads and bridges. And they shouldn’t be penalized for having SUV’s in the more hilly and snowy terrain of the Berkshires. In some areas, these are necessities.
Finally, I can’t fathom the Governor’s desire to eliminate any tolls when the entire system in fiscally insolvent. People of the Metro West area should not be asked to shoulder the burden of paying a disproportionate share of the Big Dig debt obligations. However, the solution seems to be to shift that disproportionate share to others rather than those who actually use the roads. Keep the tolls as they are and supplement these with a gas tax increase that is an acceptable size. And put the tolls back on exits one through four. I have been saying this since Gov. Weld eliminated these tolls and no one on Berkshire County has ever complained that I want to tax them more. Most of the travelers through these exits are not from Massachusetts!
Fixing our transportation system is a difficult problem and I know that it will cost us more money in order to right our system. However, the Governor’s statement that this will cost about as much per week as a large cup of coffee is wrong on two counts. First, in the Berkshires we tend to drive more because of the lack of mass transit and the rural nature of our population. It would not be unreasonable to put 20,000 miles on our vehicles per year. That would work out to a cost of $16.00/mo. That’s a lot of coffee. And new more energy efficient vehicles are nice, but unaffordable to people in lower income levels that have a hard time keeping the old car going on their income. A new car doesn't just mean more car payments, but higher insurance costs, excise tax, etc.
Second, this is on top of other tax and fee proposals. I drove approximately 29,000 miles back and forth to Boston last year. Some of that is paid for by per diems, but much is not. For me, in my income bracket, this proposed tax would be an inconvenience. However, we have many people living from paycheck to paycheck in the Berkshires and throughout the state. We had an increase in our unemployment rolls of 16,800 last month. Those people are living on an unemployment check. If all of the plans being floated around were to occur, the average family may be paying more for their alcohol, candy, meals, hotel stays (yes, people from the Berkshires pay this on the Cape or elsewhere in the state. It is not just a tax on out of state visitors.), telephone service, broadband, as well as the recently raised tax on cigarettes. Add to this higher local fees to make up for lost state revenues and that family living week to week could experience a $30-40 increase in their monthly bills or more. Where does this money come from?
Again, I know we have to pay for our transportation system. But we must keep in mind that we are in the worst fiscal climate in 70+ years. People can’t rely on state services given the constraints of our budgets. Every dollar is precious. We need to be intelligent and innovative in our thinking. And we need to be fair to all of the citizens in the Commonwealth, regardless of where they live.
The machinations over this bridge are, in a nutshell, why it is difficult for me to vote for a proposed 19 cent gas tax in Massachusetts. We have poured money into the greater Boston area and have neglected the rest of the state as we did so. Now, my constituents are asked once again to send money to Boston for its road and mass transit systems.
This is unfair. When I entered office, over 80% of the bridges in Berkshire County were substandard. These were not unsafe, but needed work. Today the number is still around the same. For years the western part of the state has seen money diminish for roads and bridges. We have witnessed time and again the postponement of bids for work, and we have lived with lousy roads in an area that doesn’t have the luxury of a sprawling mass transit system. In all that time, I have never complained because Boston and the surrounding areas have been a powerful economic engine for the state. However, enough is enough and I am very reluctant to vote for more money to once again bail out bad projects, decisions, or management. If we had had the same percentage spent here as in the eastern part of the state, we could have been part of the economic engine for the state.
Today, the people of my district subsidize the MBTA with one penny on the sales tax even though they are not within scores of miles of that system. We passed this as we were told that a penny from the sales tax and forward funding for the “t” would take care of them and we wouldn’t have to spend any more money on this system. Live and learn. Hiring practices, inefficiencies in new construction and ridiculous pension benefits are piling up new costs on this system.
For years we have waited for the “Big Dig” project to be done so that we could expand road construction in other parts of the state. The cost overruns on this project were legion and here we are after the system is in place and we are being asked to pay once again.
While I know that we need to come up with a plan to fund our transportation needs, I am unclear as to why people actually using the roadways that need to be paid for can’t pay a greater share for that benefit. The people going north/south on the Big Dig should pay for this. Many of the people in my district live in rural towns where a car is a necessity. They should pay a modest increase in the gas tax in order to repair their roads and bridges. And they shouldn’t be penalized for having SUV’s in the more hilly and snowy terrain of the Berkshires. In some areas, these are necessities.
Finally, I can’t fathom the Governor’s desire to eliminate any tolls when the entire system in fiscally insolvent. People of the Metro West area should not be asked to shoulder the burden of paying a disproportionate share of the Big Dig debt obligations. However, the solution seems to be to shift that disproportionate share to others rather than those who actually use the roads. Keep the tolls as they are and supplement these with a gas tax increase that is an acceptable size. And put the tolls back on exits one through four. I have been saying this since Gov. Weld eliminated these tolls and no one on Berkshire County has ever complained that I want to tax them more. Most of the travelers through these exits are not from Massachusetts!
Fixing our transportation system is a difficult problem and I know that it will cost us more money in order to right our system. However, the Governor’s statement that this will cost about as much per week as a large cup of coffee is wrong on two counts. First, in the Berkshires we tend to drive more because of the lack of mass transit and the rural nature of our population. It would not be unreasonable to put 20,000 miles on our vehicles per year. That would work out to a cost of $16.00/mo. That’s a lot of coffee. And new more energy efficient vehicles are nice, but unaffordable to people in lower income levels that have a hard time keeping the old car going on their income. A new car doesn't just mean more car payments, but higher insurance costs, excise tax, etc.
Second, this is on top of other tax and fee proposals. I drove approximately 29,000 miles back and forth to Boston last year. Some of that is paid for by per diems, but much is not. For me, in my income bracket, this proposed tax would be an inconvenience. However, we have many people living from paycheck to paycheck in the Berkshires and throughout the state. We had an increase in our unemployment rolls of 16,800 last month. Those people are living on an unemployment check. If all of the plans being floated around were to occur, the average family may be paying more for their alcohol, candy, meals, hotel stays (yes, people from the Berkshires pay this on the Cape or elsewhere in the state. It is not just a tax on out of state visitors.), telephone service, broadband, as well as the recently raised tax on cigarettes. Add to this higher local fees to make up for lost state revenues and that family living week to week could experience a $30-40 increase in their monthly bills or more. Where does this money come from?
Again, I know we have to pay for our transportation system. But we must keep in mind that we are in the worst fiscal climate in 70+ years. People can’t rely on state services given the constraints of our budgets. Every dollar is precious. We need to be intelligent and innovative in our thinking. And we need to be fair to all of the citizens in the Commonwealth, regardless of where they live.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Gas Tax Proposal
The recent pronouncement from Governor Patrick over a 29 cent gas tax increase has resulted in many phone calls, emails, text messages, and people stopping me on the street asking me what the hell we are thinking in state government.
First, let me say I am not in favor of a 29 cent gas tax. That said, we have a serious problem with our transportation systems in Massachusetts and we need to do something about it. A commission formed to look at this has indicated that we need to spend $19 billion on our roads and bridges just to stay where we are in terms of the shape of our roads. That is not a good place. In 1986, when I was first elected to the legislature, approximately 85% of our bridges in Berkshire County were substandard. That doesn’t mean they were unsafe, but indicated that we needed a lot of maintenance. Today, the number is pretty close to this in spite of the work that we’ve done over the last 23 years. It is clear that we need to do more for our transportation system.
Of course, we need to do more than “run in place”. Here in Berkshire County, we need to increase the amount of money spent on our regional transportation system, the BRTA. We need to do so throughout the state. Sen. Stan Rosenberg and I have established and chair a caucus on regional transportation and the needs in our areas are many and urgent. We need to look at rail for both passengers and freight in Massachusetts. There are better and greener ways to move people around.
The dilemma is how we pay for this. We need a long term strategy that will take care of our back commitments and let us plan for the future. There is no one good solution to this. Any solution has to incorporate a lot of differing strategies in order to stabilize our transportation system.
I started by saying that I was not in favor of a $.29 gas tax. That said, we have not had an increase in the tax since 1992. It has remained at 23.5 cents since then. It has to go up modestly. Here are the gas taxes for the surrounding states:
Vermont $.20
New Hampshire $.20.6
Maine $.27.4
Rhode Island $.31
Connecticut $35.5
New York $44.5
At 23.5 cents we are at the low end regionally. However, if we are to ask people to pay more for gas tax, there are a series of other things that need to happen prior to a vote on the gas tax. Here is my list of suggestions
First, we need to enact the “Olver amendment”. This was an amendment that Congressman Olver used to add to every transportation bill when he was the State Senator from Amherst. It would ensure that each region of the state received a benefit from the gas tax or any transportation plan. If people in my district pay more for a tax, they should reasonably expect that that money will go towards improvements in Berkshire County. One of the problems many of us have with the new proposals is that the administration proposes, and that every news report covers, mentions the dire need to fund the “Big Dig” debt and the MBTA in Boston. After years of road and bridge neglect in order to pay for the big dig, the people of Western Mass can’t be expected to continue to pay for these.
Neither should we expect metro west to continue to pay more than their share from turnpike tolls. However, the Governor has indicated a desire to remove the tolls all the way across the state to Route 128. This is unfair. They shouldn’t pay more, but should continue to pay to use the turnpike. And given our financial situation, a suggestion to remove tolls at this time is silly. In fact, as a Western Mass legislator, I have advocated for a reinstatement of the tolls on exits one through four. We need the revenue, and studies indicate that a vast majority of the users on these exits are from out of state.
I realize that the Governor wants to charge tolls on the borders of the state, but there are far too many ways to circumvent the western borders on back roads throughout the Berkshires. You would create less congestion and make more money by simply reinstating the exit 1-4 tolls.
Lastly, but foremost, we need to reform our current system. We pay far more per road mile than surrounding states and we need to know why that is. We need to examine the policies and practices of surrounding states and take their best practices to streamline our system and its costs. This needs to happen before we increase any fees, tolls or taxes.
First, let me say I am not in favor of a 29 cent gas tax. That said, we have a serious problem with our transportation systems in Massachusetts and we need to do something about it. A commission formed to look at this has indicated that we need to spend $19 billion on our roads and bridges just to stay where we are in terms of the shape of our roads. That is not a good place. In 1986, when I was first elected to the legislature, approximately 85% of our bridges in Berkshire County were substandard. That doesn’t mean they were unsafe, but indicated that we needed a lot of maintenance. Today, the number is pretty close to this in spite of the work that we’ve done over the last 23 years. It is clear that we need to do more for our transportation system.
Of course, we need to do more than “run in place”. Here in Berkshire County, we need to increase the amount of money spent on our regional transportation system, the BRTA. We need to do so throughout the state. Sen. Stan Rosenberg and I have established and chair a caucus on regional transportation and the needs in our areas are many and urgent. We need to look at rail for both passengers and freight in Massachusetts. There are better and greener ways to move people around.
The dilemma is how we pay for this. We need a long term strategy that will take care of our back commitments and let us plan for the future. There is no one good solution to this. Any solution has to incorporate a lot of differing strategies in order to stabilize our transportation system.
I started by saying that I was not in favor of a $.29 gas tax. That said, we have not had an increase in the tax since 1992. It has remained at 23.5 cents since then. It has to go up modestly. Here are the gas taxes for the surrounding states:
Vermont $.20
New Hampshire $.20.6
Maine $.27.4
Rhode Island $.31
Connecticut $35.5
New York $44.5
At 23.5 cents we are at the low end regionally. However, if we are to ask people to pay more for gas tax, there are a series of other things that need to happen prior to a vote on the gas tax. Here is my list of suggestions
First, we need to enact the “Olver amendment”. This was an amendment that Congressman Olver used to add to every transportation bill when he was the State Senator from Amherst. It would ensure that each region of the state received a benefit from the gas tax or any transportation plan. If people in my district pay more for a tax, they should reasonably expect that that money will go towards improvements in Berkshire County. One of the problems many of us have with the new proposals is that the administration proposes, and that every news report covers, mentions the dire need to fund the “Big Dig” debt and the MBTA in Boston. After years of road and bridge neglect in order to pay for the big dig, the people of Western Mass can’t be expected to continue to pay for these.
Neither should we expect metro west to continue to pay more than their share from turnpike tolls. However, the Governor has indicated a desire to remove the tolls all the way across the state to Route 128. This is unfair. They shouldn’t pay more, but should continue to pay to use the turnpike. And given our financial situation, a suggestion to remove tolls at this time is silly. In fact, as a Western Mass legislator, I have advocated for a reinstatement of the tolls on exits one through four. We need the revenue, and studies indicate that a vast majority of the users on these exits are from out of state.
I realize that the Governor wants to charge tolls on the borders of the state, but there are far too many ways to circumvent the western borders on back roads throughout the Berkshires. You would create less congestion and make more money by simply reinstating the exit 1-4 tolls.
Lastly, but foremost, we need to reform our current system. We pay far more per road mile than surrounding states and we need to know why that is. We need to examine the policies and practices of surrounding states and take their best practices to streamline our system and its costs. This needs to happen before we increase any fees, tolls or taxes.
Changes in Latitudes; Changes in Attitudes
Well, the House members have finally received committee assignments for the new biennium. For the first time since 1992, I am not a chair of a major committee. I have been reassigned as the vice chair of the Standing Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets. It is disappointing, but this is still a paid position and the committee will be active in the capital projects from around the state as well as the federal stimulus bill.
One of the problems with government on all levels is that it is reactive rather than proactive in nature. It reacts rather than plans for the future. Since we live yearly budget to yearly budget, and are elected in two year traunches, I guess that this is normal. However, we neglect our long term planning and need to think through the long term effects of short term policy decisions. Take, for example, the issue of gambling. Recent statements by pro-gambling interests have said that we should consider this as it would bring money in very quickly. However, we need to take a look at the long term effects of such a huge policy decision. We can’t look at a short term money grab when the long term effects may include dramatic increases in addiction, bankruptcies, and crime. All of these cost money. We can’t look at short term additions to our budget if there are long term ramifications that lead to state dependency on a few large tax payers at the expense of many smaller diverse businesses making up a more recession resistant stable tax base. Our well being has to include long term as well as short term thoughtfulness over the issues we face.
For many years, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has neglected our physical infrastructure preferring to spend money on our social service systems. We can’t neglect this any longer. Our ability to compete economically relies on our work force and creative, critical, innovative thinking. That means investing in our public higher education system. It means investing in infrastructure such as site preparation. It means new science buildings to educate people in new sciences. We need to address this need.
Recent reports indicate that we will need to spend upwards of $19 billion over the next twenty years just to run in place with our transportation needs. We need to fix our roads and bridges state wide. We need to get a decent passenger rail system in place state wide. We need to address this need.
Our position as a preeminent life science state means that we need to find ways to dispose of waste and more importantly, have a plentiful source of water. I have raised this issue over the past several years as we have had indications that we are running low on supplies south of Boston and in Boston itself. That doesn’t mean we are running out of water, but it does mean that we need to plan carefully for the future. As the national chair of the Council of State Governments in 2003, I saw the difficulties that western and southwestern states have had as they are running low on water supply. States are suing each other over water rights and rivers such as the mighty Rio Grande are merely trickles as upstream states dam the rivers and take all of the water. We need to address this need.
The federal stimulus bill is a big boost for states. We need to spend it wisely. The reaction of some is to substitute this wherever possible for state funding in our budget while revenues are down. This merely expands the base of the budget in an unsustainable way. We need to look at short term spending priorities that lead to economic projects that continue to give us a return on our investment. (Although taking $60 million off the top for a right handed power hitter for our beloved Red Sox is a pretty good investment too.) We have needs around the state and this gives us a chance to address capital needs in order to advance an economy that will mirror the evolving technology economy of America. With investment, we can maintain our edge in the creative economy. We need to address this need.
All of these should involve a lot of hard work for the bonding committee. I look forward to working on these issues and many others.
I will miss my economic development and emerging technolgies committee. It was designed by our former Speaker for me. And for the first time in 17 years, I will not chair an economic development position. But I have found that any position is what you make of it and starting Tuesday, I will be back in the State House working on the issues I care deeply about.
One of the problems with government on all levels is that it is reactive rather than proactive in nature. It reacts rather than plans for the future. Since we live yearly budget to yearly budget, and are elected in two year traunches, I guess that this is normal. However, we neglect our long term planning and need to think through the long term effects of short term policy decisions. Take, for example, the issue of gambling. Recent statements by pro-gambling interests have said that we should consider this as it would bring money in very quickly. However, we need to take a look at the long term effects of such a huge policy decision. We can’t look at a short term money grab when the long term effects may include dramatic increases in addiction, bankruptcies, and crime. All of these cost money. We can’t look at short term additions to our budget if there are long term ramifications that lead to state dependency on a few large tax payers at the expense of many smaller diverse businesses making up a more recession resistant stable tax base. Our well being has to include long term as well as short term thoughtfulness over the issues we face.
For many years, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has neglected our physical infrastructure preferring to spend money on our social service systems. We can’t neglect this any longer. Our ability to compete economically relies on our work force and creative, critical, innovative thinking. That means investing in our public higher education system. It means investing in infrastructure such as site preparation. It means new science buildings to educate people in new sciences. We need to address this need.
Recent reports indicate that we will need to spend upwards of $19 billion over the next twenty years just to run in place with our transportation needs. We need to fix our roads and bridges state wide. We need to get a decent passenger rail system in place state wide. We need to address this need.
Our position as a preeminent life science state means that we need to find ways to dispose of waste and more importantly, have a plentiful source of water. I have raised this issue over the past several years as we have had indications that we are running low on supplies south of Boston and in Boston itself. That doesn’t mean we are running out of water, but it does mean that we need to plan carefully for the future. As the national chair of the Council of State Governments in 2003, I saw the difficulties that western and southwestern states have had as they are running low on water supply. States are suing each other over water rights and rivers such as the mighty Rio Grande are merely trickles as upstream states dam the rivers and take all of the water. We need to address this need.
The federal stimulus bill is a big boost for states. We need to spend it wisely. The reaction of some is to substitute this wherever possible for state funding in our budget while revenues are down. This merely expands the base of the budget in an unsustainable way. We need to look at short term spending priorities that lead to economic projects that continue to give us a return on our investment. (Although taking $60 million off the top for a right handed power hitter for our beloved Red Sox is a pretty good investment too.) We have needs around the state and this gives us a chance to address capital needs in order to advance an economy that will mirror the evolving technology economy of America. With investment, we can maintain our edge in the creative economy. We need to address this need.
All of these should involve a lot of hard work for the bonding committee. I look forward to working on these issues and many others.
I will miss my economic development and emerging technolgies committee. It was designed by our former Speaker for me. And for the first time in 17 years, I will not chair an economic development position. But I have found that any position is what you make of it and starting Tuesday, I will be back in the State House working on the issues I care deeply about.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Thoughts on the Economy
It has been a while since my last post. This is a busy time of year and I have had little time to post. My daughter is in the Washington D.C. area on an internship for college and I have been there twice in the past few weeks.
At the State House, our former Speaker had me working on a few issues in my committee. I had a reasonable assurance that I was staying there and he had me working on a few issues to help sustain our economy while not spending much money. We had been meeting with businesses, especially small businesses in order to find ways to help. This committee was designed with me in mind by our former Speaker. I love working to solve the complex problems of business to keep people employed. This is a problem that I have worked on since coming to the State House 23 years ago. It is a reflection of the tough times in my district. We now have a new Speaker and I have no idea what he will do, but it has been a great ride.
Some of the things we are working on are finding ways to fund new technologies. New businesses don’t have the same life cycle as traditional manufacturing and banks cannot react to this new cycle because of banking rules and regulations. I have had a few conversations with Congressman Frank and his office about looking to state and federal regulatory changes that would react to the new business paradigm. I have also been actively trying to get state government through their quasi-public agencies to look at loan guarantees for small businesses as well as a way to vette new technologies in order to give the financial industries a level of comfort with new technology businesses.
As example, the old industrial model could be a business buying equipment to build widgets. They would find a site, train workers, buy materials and equipment, and would start building and selling widgets. They would bill customers for widgets and banks lent money based on those receivables and business model. Today, a life science business may not sell product for a decade! Or a defense company may get an SBIR grant to develop new products but has no money to commercialize that product. In these two examples, banks can’t lend money without regulators penalizing the banks based on risk. We need to find ways to finance these businesses. And since new banks aren’t necessarily familiar with new technologies, it is hard to lend to these businesses based on their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders.
We are also taking a look at streamlining our tax policy in order to treat all forms of telecommunication the same. Right now, we treat wireless companies different from land wired line companies. These are both treated differently than cable companies which are treated differently than satellite companies….I think you get the picture. We need to find ways to treat all of these companies the same way, tax them equitable, and still leave incentives for expansion of broadband services.
Much has been made of the federal stimulus package that, as of my posting, still has not been finalized. I have mixed feelings over the stim bill. We are running up deficits with each package that need to be paid back. We are expecting these packages to do far more than they are able to do. We cannot solve the world wide fiscal crisis with these packages. Still, it is important that we find ways to pump money into our economy and these bills need to maximize their impact and not just be expected to replace state revenues.
I will write a longer post based on an op-ed piece I am working on, but let me briefly point to some rules I believe we need if we are to pass such bills to stimulate our economy.
First, we can’t expect government to replace the role of private enterprise. There is not enough money to do so no matter how much we run up our deficits. Government has to be smart as to how this is spent and we shouldn’t become partners in banks or businesses as we have to let the marketplace recover with market incentives.
Second, we have to stop government policy that contracts the number of banks we have in this country. We need many smaller local institutions rather than a lesser number of larger institutions. If we contract the number of banks until there are a handful of large banks, we only make the problems bigger if there is a downturn. We were far better off with local banks making local decisions.
Third, that being said, we cannot let the market run wild, but need rules in place to stop what has been happening in the market for the last decade or so. The stock market has been irresponsible. They have made the investments made in the market more important than the underlying businesses that they are supposed to be financing. Investments are split up and sold again and again with little regard for the fact that money in and of itself only has the worth of the underlying assets. Of course the market has collapsed. A dollar is only worth a dollar no matter how much you try to squeeze out of it by selling on the margins. We need a strong watchdog to make sure that this doesn’t happen again or we are just resetting the market to make the same mistakes again.
Four, that means we need to recreate our economy in order to regain its market value. When I was young, a sheet of steel, for example, was sent to Detroit and a car was built from it. The creation of something from that sheet of steel added value and that was where the jobs were created. We need to recreate our economy in order to reflect those things we can do here. That means that we need to invest in the types of things we need now such as new technologies. Perhaps we no longer manufacture to the extent we used to, but in green technologies, life sciences, nanotech as well as others, we are leading the world in technologies and we need to capitalize on these opportunities. We also need to look at production here and realize that it may be more expensive, but we are far more productive than most of our competitors. In other words, it costs more to make a widget, but you can make more per hour and they are of better quality.
Fifth, we need to reclaim our place in the world economy. That is something that has been lost with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need a much more thoughtful policy regarding how we trade and we need to establish ties with different countries in order to maximize our position. In other words, let’s start trading with others rather than competing with them. That helps our bottom line and takes away a disincentive to stay in the US to manufacture and grow.
Six, we need to create a new infrastructure in order to rebuild our economy. We need a recommitment to our transportation infrastructure. We need to learn from the rest of the world and make a real effort to build a rational working rail system for goods and people. We need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure in the US. And that leads to the real challenge.
Seven, we need a real commitment from the American people for hard work to make thing work.
I just visited my daughter in Washington by rail. The train on the way back was late and I missed my connection. Two escalators were not working in various train stations and a sign on the DC metro warned that the elevator at the medical center was broke. Here in Massachusetts, we need to spend $19 billion just stay where we are regarding roads and bridges. That is not a good place to be. We are a country in need of a national commitment in order to fix our crumbling infrastructure. Too many people think that the American dream means cheap gas, lots of credit, and free utilities. We need a national commitment in order to rebuild our country into the economic power that we think it is. That means no more blue states and red states. It means we must be honest with the American people about what we need to do. It means no more misdirection as to the real problems. It means we all roll up our sleeves and realize that the only way to get back to a thriving economy is with hard work.
At the State House, our former Speaker had me working on a few issues in my committee. I had a reasonable assurance that I was staying there and he had me working on a few issues to help sustain our economy while not spending much money. We had been meeting with businesses, especially small businesses in order to find ways to help. This committee was designed with me in mind by our former Speaker. I love working to solve the complex problems of business to keep people employed. This is a problem that I have worked on since coming to the State House 23 years ago. It is a reflection of the tough times in my district. We now have a new Speaker and I have no idea what he will do, but it has been a great ride.
Some of the things we are working on are finding ways to fund new technologies. New businesses don’t have the same life cycle as traditional manufacturing and banks cannot react to this new cycle because of banking rules and regulations. I have had a few conversations with Congressman Frank and his office about looking to state and federal regulatory changes that would react to the new business paradigm. I have also been actively trying to get state government through their quasi-public agencies to look at loan guarantees for small businesses as well as a way to vette new technologies in order to give the financial industries a level of comfort with new technology businesses.
As example, the old industrial model could be a business buying equipment to build widgets. They would find a site, train workers, buy materials and equipment, and would start building and selling widgets. They would bill customers for widgets and banks lent money based on those receivables and business model. Today, a life science business may not sell product for a decade! Or a defense company may get an SBIR grant to develop new products but has no money to commercialize that product. In these two examples, banks can’t lend money without regulators penalizing the banks based on risk. We need to find ways to finance these businesses. And since new banks aren’t necessarily familiar with new technologies, it is hard to lend to these businesses based on their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders.
We are also taking a look at streamlining our tax policy in order to treat all forms of telecommunication the same. Right now, we treat wireless companies different from land wired line companies. These are both treated differently than cable companies which are treated differently than satellite companies….I think you get the picture. We need to find ways to treat all of these companies the same way, tax them equitable, and still leave incentives for expansion of broadband services.
Much has been made of the federal stimulus package that, as of my posting, still has not been finalized. I have mixed feelings over the stim bill. We are running up deficits with each package that need to be paid back. We are expecting these packages to do far more than they are able to do. We cannot solve the world wide fiscal crisis with these packages. Still, it is important that we find ways to pump money into our economy and these bills need to maximize their impact and not just be expected to replace state revenues.
I will write a longer post based on an op-ed piece I am working on, but let me briefly point to some rules I believe we need if we are to pass such bills to stimulate our economy.
First, we can’t expect government to replace the role of private enterprise. There is not enough money to do so no matter how much we run up our deficits. Government has to be smart as to how this is spent and we shouldn’t become partners in banks or businesses as we have to let the marketplace recover with market incentives.
Second, we have to stop government policy that contracts the number of banks we have in this country. We need many smaller local institutions rather than a lesser number of larger institutions. If we contract the number of banks until there are a handful of large banks, we only make the problems bigger if there is a downturn. We were far better off with local banks making local decisions.
Third, that being said, we cannot let the market run wild, but need rules in place to stop what has been happening in the market for the last decade or so. The stock market has been irresponsible. They have made the investments made in the market more important than the underlying businesses that they are supposed to be financing. Investments are split up and sold again and again with little regard for the fact that money in and of itself only has the worth of the underlying assets. Of course the market has collapsed. A dollar is only worth a dollar no matter how much you try to squeeze out of it by selling on the margins. We need a strong watchdog to make sure that this doesn’t happen again or we are just resetting the market to make the same mistakes again.
Four, that means we need to recreate our economy in order to regain its market value. When I was young, a sheet of steel, for example, was sent to Detroit and a car was built from it. The creation of something from that sheet of steel added value and that was where the jobs were created. We need to recreate our economy in order to reflect those things we can do here. That means that we need to invest in the types of things we need now such as new technologies. Perhaps we no longer manufacture to the extent we used to, but in green technologies, life sciences, nanotech as well as others, we are leading the world in technologies and we need to capitalize on these opportunities. We also need to look at production here and realize that it may be more expensive, but we are far more productive than most of our competitors. In other words, it costs more to make a widget, but you can make more per hour and they are of better quality.
Fifth, we need to reclaim our place in the world economy. That is something that has been lost with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need a much more thoughtful policy regarding how we trade and we need to establish ties with different countries in order to maximize our position. In other words, let’s start trading with others rather than competing with them. That helps our bottom line and takes away a disincentive to stay in the US to manufacture and grow.
Six, we need to create a new infrastructure in order to rebuild our economy. We need a recommitment to our transportation infrastructure. We need to learn from the rest of the world and make a real effort to build a rational working rail system for goods and people. We need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure in the US. And that leads to the real challenge.
Seven, we need a real commitment from the American people for hard work to make thing work.
I just visited my daughter in Washington by rail. The train on the way back was late and I missed my connection. Two escalators were not working in various train stations and a sign on the DC metro warned that the elevator at the medical center was broke. Here in Massachusetts, we need to spend $19 billion just stay where we are regarding roads and bridges. That is not a good place to be. We are a country in need of a national commitment in order to fix our crumbling infrastructure. Too many people think that the American dream means cheap gas, lots of credit, and free utilities. We need a national commitment in order to rebuild our country into the economic power that we think it is. That means no more blue states and red states. It means we must be honest with the American people about what we need to do. It means no more misdirection as to the real problems. It means we all roll up our sleeves and realize that the only way to get back to a thriving economy is with hard work.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Martin Luther King day 2009
The Following are my remarks for the Martin Luther King day celebration in North Adams:
Once again we find ourselves here celebrating the life of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. I am happy that we take the time and effort each year to celebrate his life. It is not just a fitting tribute, but is also a reminder that we need to continue his noble work.
I was reminded of this as I read this quote recently,
“The unfinished legacy that calls us still – is a fundamental belief in the continued perfection of American ideals.
It’s a belief that says if this nation was truly founded on the principles of freedom and equality; it could not sit idly by while millions were shackled because of the color of their skin. That if we are to shine as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world, we must be respected not just for the might of our military, but for the reach of our ideals. That if this is a land where destiny is not determined by birth or circumstance, we have a duty to ensure that the child of a millionaire and the child of a welfare mom have the same chance in life. That if out of many, we are truly one, then we must not limit ourselves to the pursuit of selfish gain, but that which will help all Americans rise together.”
This could have been said by Dr King, but was spoken recently by President–elect Barak Obama. He reminds us that we must be ever mindful that it is up to each of us to continue the work of Rev King and that that is our duty as Americans. But we should also find great joy in this day and in tomorrow historic inauguration.
Anyone who knows me knows that music plays a large part in my life. Lately I have been thinking a lot about some of the civil rights songs of the sixties. Songs like, “I woke up this morning with my mind on freedom”; or “I’m on my way to Freedomland”; and of course, “The Times They are achangin’”!!!
What an historic event tomorrow. And it would not have happened if James Farmer hadn’t lead protesters with CORE or Julian Bond hadn’t organized students. The voting rights act happened because people like John Lewis and Willie Ricks organized thousands to fight the old Jim Crow laws. So many individuals knew it was up to them to stride down that road to freedom. And all of those individuals were inspired by the leadership, courage and faith of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. He was an inspiration to each and every one of these leaders as he still is to all of us.
What faith and courage that took. Reverend King lived in a different time. I am old enough to remember public officials standing in front of school steps to deny entrance to black students. I am old enough to remember the protest marches in front of angry crowds with little help from government, and people being killed just for asking to vote or to use a water fountain. Yet, in those tumultuous times, in those most dangerous times, Dr. King had faith that, together, using nonviolent means, he, and those oppressed would overcome oppression. He had a profound faith in his God, in his fellow man and in his cause, that one day we would reach a place where all would be treated equally. He foretold that in his “I have a dream” speech.
He said, “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
Well, we took a big step forward this year. For the first time in the history of this country, tomorrow, a Black man who grew up in less than rich means, married to a woman whose ancestors were both slaves and slave owners, will take the oath of office as President of these United States, the most powerful position in the world. How great is that?
It wasn’t easy, but it is world changing. In my lifetime I have seen a country that has gone from a time when a black man could not vote in large parts of this country to the inauguration tomorrow. How times have changed in the last few decades.
Barak Obama got more votes cast for him than any man in history. And as I said, he won in places where when I was growing up, blacks weren’t allowed to vote. Think of that! In Georgia, where Martin Luther King was brought up, and people were arrested in the 60’s for simply wanting to go to college, Obama got 47% of the vote. In Virginia, capitol of the Confederacy, He won with 53%. He won the Southern state of North Carolina. That is truly uplifting. Even in Mississippi, where Martin Luther King said in his I have a dream speech, I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. In Mississippi, Obama got 43% of the vote. That is amazing. And so it went. In South Carolina where they still fly the Confederate flag, 45%!
Alabama, well, Alabama shows us that we still have some work to do. But in the privacy of the voting booth, where no one would see their vote, people overwhelmingly voted for Barak Obama. What a great country we live in.
The ability to elect a black man has the potential of being transformative in this country. And again, Rev. King foretold that.
In his “Give us the Ballot” Speech in 1957, he said,
“But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters. The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition. And so our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress are to give us the right to vote.
Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.
Give us the ballot, and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write the law on the statute books of the South and bring an end to the dastardly acts of the hooded perpetrators of violence.
Give us the ballot, and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.
In this juncture of our nation's history, there is an urgent need for dedicated and courageous leadership.”
Well, my friends, those words ring true today. We have elected a man who will lead us that has the same sense of justice and equality as did Rev. King. He wasn’t elected because he was black, but because he inspired those with his words, wisdom, and message. And that is the truly inspiring thing about this election. It is not just that the first Black man was elected by a majority white population, but that it was done regardless of his color. Don’t get me wrong, I am proud that we have broken this barrier, but it is important to celebrate the fact that race didn’t matter to many voters. That is a true sign of equality and a sign of how far we have come.
Now comes the tough part. We all have to work hard to make sure he succeeds, because if he does, we all succeed. We have many challenges in front of us. Our economy has faltered and that hurts our poorest citizens and makes it that much harder to overcome poverty and despair. The world is watching to see if we regain our position as a leader in human rights. And we still stand guard over the gains we have made as there are those who would take them away. We are challenged in this nation, but we have a leader that understands that and was elected to lead us to regain our glory as a nation. But he needs all of our help, our ideas, our understanding, and our sweat equity in order to be successful.
Wendell Berry is a farmer philosopher from Kentucky. I heard him speak a number of years ago, and his words are very relevant today. He said that the public world is obsessed with leadership. But it is leadership without members. Society is hooked on heroics without wanting to participate by doing the small things that help our leaders. People want you to fix problems without any impact on them. That has to change. We need to regain that understanding that it takes all of us to succeed. Dr. King knew that it takes all of us to make a difference. That is his legacy and his challenge to us all.
In a speech in Birmingham, he said, “the thing we are all challenged to do is to keep this movement moving. There is power in unity and numbers.”
Today we celebrate the life of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. And tomorrow, let’s all celebrate the election of President –Elect Barak Obama. And Wednesday, we need to rededicate ourselves to keep this movement moving. We are the unity and the numbers that Reverend King to which Rev. King referred.
The need is still there. As far as we have come, we have a ways to go. A Springfield church burning or the Jena 6 incidents in Louisiana are reminders of our need to remain vigilant and continue to work hard. And the challenge is to do so in a nonviolent way with love towards all of our fellow man as Dr. King exhorted us to do. His message was one of injustice in racism and poverty, but it is also one of hope and love. It is a message of faith and it is uplifting. And it is not one of faceless people in need of help. It is a message about you and me. It is as simple as that.
Tomorrow will be a wonderful day full of pomp and circumstance and we can rightfully rejoice in our new President. But on Wednesday, we have to ask ourselves what we can do to advance the cause that Dr. King so nobly advanced and gave his life for. That is his requirement of us and our duty as citizens of this great nation and as members of humanity. Our humanity and the greatness of this nation are, and were founded on, our ability to help those in need of our help. We need to reach out for, (with a little help from Bob Dylan,)
“the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones and worse
And for every needy person in the whole wide universe” Only then can we truly
“ gaze upon the chimes of freedom flashing”
Perhaps that was Dr. King’s greatest lasting gift to us, to let us see that if it is to be it is up to me. And you, and you, and each and every one of us. We are the unity. We are the numbers. We are the strength of the movement that has lead us to Barak Obama. That is our mission and our faith. Let me leave you with Rev. King’s own words about this:
“Go out with that faith today. Go back to your homes in the Southland to that faith, with that faith today. Go back to Philadelphia, to New York, to Detroit and Chicago with that faith today: that the universe is on our side in the struggle. Stand up for justice. Sometimes it gets hard, but it is always difficult to get out of Egypt, for the Red Sea always stands before you with discouraging dimensions. And even after you've crossed the Red Sea, you have to move through a wilderness with prodigious hilltops of evil and gigantic mountains of opposition. But I say to you this afternoon: Keep moving. Let nothing slow you up. Move on with dignity and honor and respectability.
I realize that it will cause restless nights sometime. It might cause losing a job; it will cause suffering and sacrifice. It might even cause physical death for some. But if physical death is the price that some must pay to free their children from a permanent life of psychological death, then nothing can be more Christian. Keep going today. Keep moving amid every obstacle. Keep moving amid every mountain of opposition. If you will do that with dignity, when the history books are written in the future, the historians will have to look back and say, "There lived a great people. A people with 'fleecy locks and black complexion,' but a people who injected new meaning into the veins of civilization : a people which stood up with dignity and honor and saved Western civilization in her darkest hour a people that gave new integrity and a new dimension of love to our civilization." When that happens, "the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy."
Thank you and God Bless America and our new President.
Once again we find ourselves here celebrating the life of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. I am happy that we take the time and effort each year to celebrate his life. It is not just a fitting tribute, but is also a reminder that we need to continue his noble work.
I was reminded of this as I read this quote recently,
“The unfinished legacy that calls us still – is a fundamental belief in the continued perfection of American ideals.
It’s a belief that says if this nation was truly founded on the principles of freedom and equality; it could not sit idly by while millions were shackled because of the color of their skin. That if we are to shine as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world, we must be respected not just for the might of our military, but for the reach of our ideals. That if this is a land where destiny is not determined by birth or circumstance, we have a duty to ensure that the child of a millionaire and the child of a welfare mom have the same chance in life. That if out of many, we are truly one, then we must not limit ourselves to the pursuit of selfish gain, but that which will help all Americans rise together.”
This could have been said by Dr King, but was spoken recently by President–elect Barak Obama. He reminds us that we must be ever mindful that it is up to each of us to continue the work of Rev King and that that is our duty as Americans. But we should also find great joy in this day and in tomorrow historic inauguration.
Anyone who knows me knows that music plays a large part in my life. Lately I have been thinking a lot about some of the civil rights songs of the sixties. Songs like, “I woke up this morning with my mind on freedom”; or “I’m on my way to Freedomland”; and of course, “The Times They are achangin’”!!!
What an historic event tomorrow. And it would not have happened if James Farmer hadn’t lead protesters with CORE or Julian Bond hadn’t organized students. The voting rights act happened because people like John Lewis and Willie Ricks organized thousands to fight the old Jim Crow laws. So many individuals knew it was up to them to stride down that road to freedom. And all of those individuals were inspired by the leadership, courage and faith of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. He was an inspiration to each and every one of these leaders as he still is to all of us.
What faith and courage that took. Reverend King lived in a different time. I am old enough to remember public officials standing in front of school steps to deny entrance to black students. I am old enough to remember the protest marches in front of angry crowds with little help from government, and people being killed just for asking to vote or to use a water fountain. Yet, in those tumultuous times, in those most dangerous times, Dr. King had faith that, together, using nonviolent means, he, and those oppressed would overcome oppression. He had a profound faith in his God, in his fellow man and in his cause, that one day we would reach a place where all would be treated equally. He foretold that in his “I have a dream” speech.
He said, “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
Well, we took a big step forward this year. For the first time in the history of this country, tomorrow, a Black man who grew up in less than rich means, married to a woman whose ancestors were both slaves and slave owners, will take the oath of office as President of these United States, the most powerful position in the world. How great is that?
It wasn’t easy, but it is world changing. In my lifetime I have seen a country that has gone from a time when a black man could not vote in large parts of this country to the inauguration tomorrow. How times have changed in the last few decades.
Barak Obama got more votes cast for him than any man in history. And as I said, he won in places where when I was growing up, blacks weren’t allowed to vote. Think of that! In Georgia, where Martin Luther King was brought up, and people were arrested in the 60’s for simply wanting to go to college, Obama got 47% of the vote. In Virginia, capitol of the Confederacy, He won with 53%. He won the Southern state of North Carolina. That is truly uplifting. Even in Mississippi, where Martin Luther King said in his I have a dream speech, I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. In Mississippi, Obama got 43% of the vote. That is amazing. And so it went. In South Carolina where they still fly the Confederate flag, 45%!
Alabama, well, Alabama shows us that we still have some work to do. But in the privacy of the voting booth, where no one would see their vote, people overwhelmingly voted for Barak Obama. What a great country we live in.
The ability to elect a black man has the potential of being transformative in this country. And again, Rev. King foretold that.
In his “Give us the Ballot” Speech in 1957, he said,
“But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters. The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition. And so our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress are to give us the right to vote.
Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.
Give us the ballot, and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write the law on the statute books of the South and bring an end to the dastardly acts of the hooded perpetrators of violence.
Give us the ballot, and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.
In this juncture of our nation's history, there is an urgent need for dedicated and courageous leadership.”
Well, my friends, those words ring true today. We have elected a man who will lead us that has the same sense of justice and equality as did Rev. King. He wasn’t elected because he was black, but because he inspired those with his words, wisdom, and message. And that is the truly inspiring thing about this election. It is not just that the first Black man was elected by a majority white population, but that it was done regardless of his color. Don’t get me wrong, I am proud that we have broken this barrier, but it is important to celebrate the fact that race didn’t matter to many voters. That is a true sign of equality and a sign of how far we have come.
Now comes the tough part. We all have to work hard to make sure he succeeds, because if he does, we all succeed. We have many challenges in front of us. Our economy has faltered and that hurts our poorest citizens and makes it that much harder to overcome poverty and despair. The world is watching to see if we regain our position as a leader in human rights. And we still stand guard over the gains we have made as there are those who would take them away. We are challenged in this nation, but we have a leader that understands that and was elected to lead us to regain our glory as a nation. But he needs all of our help, our ideas, our understanding, and our sweat equity in order to be successful.
Wendell Berry is a farmer philosopher from Kentucky. I heard him speak a number of years ago, and his words are very relevant today. He said that the public world is obsessed with leadership. But it is leadership without members. Society is hooked on heroics without wanting to participate by doing the small things that help our leaders. People want you to fix problems without any impact on them. That has to change. We need to regain that understanding that it takes all of us to succeed. Dr. King knew that it takes all of us to make a difference. That is his legacy and his challenge to us all.
In a speech in Birmingham, he said, “the thing we are all challenged to do is to keep this movement moving. There is power in unity and numbers.”
Today we celebrate the life of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. And tomorrow, let’s all celebrate the election of President –Elect Barak Obama. And Wednesday, we need to rededicate ourselves to keep this movement moving. We are the unity and the numbers that Reverend King to which Rev. King referred.
The need is still there. As far as we have come, we have a ways to go. A Springfield church burning or the Jena 6 incidents in Louisiana are reminders of our need to remain vigilant and continue to work hard. And the challenge is to do so in a nonviolent way with love towards all of our fellow man as Dr. King exhorted us to do. His message was one of injustice in racism and poverty, but it is also one of hope and love. It is a message of faith and it is uplifting. And it is not one of faceless people in need of help. It is a message about you and me. It is as simple as that.
Tomorrow will be a wonderful day full of pomp and circumstance and we can rightfully rejoice in our new President. But on Wednesday, we have to ask ourselves what we can do to advance the cause that Dr. King so nobly advanced and gave his life for. That is his requirement of us and our duty as citizens of this great nation and as members of humanity. Our humanity and the greatness of this nation are, and were founded on, our ability to help those in need of our help. We need to reach out for, (with a little help from Bob Dylan,)
“the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones and worse
And for every needy person in the whole wide universe” Only then can we truly
“ gaze upon the chimes of freedom flashing”
Perhaps that was Dr. King’s greatest lasting gift to us, to let us see that if it is to be it is up to me. And you, and you, and each and every one of us. We are the unity. We are the numbers. We are the strength of the movement that has lead us to Barak Obama. That is our mission and our faith. Let me leave you with Rev. King’s own words about this:
“Go out with that faith today. Go back to your homes in the Southland to that faith, with that faith today. Go back to Philadelphia, to New York, to Detroit and Chicago with that faith today: that the universe is on our side in the struggle. Stand up for justice. Sometimes it gets hard, but it is always difficult to get out of Egypt, for the Red Sea always stands before you with discouraging dimensions. And even after you've crossed the Red Sea, you have to move through a wilderness with prodigious hilltops of evil and gigantic mountains of opposition. But I say to you this afternoon: Keep moving. Let nothing slow you up. Move on with dignity and honor and respectability.
I realize that it will cause restless nights sometime. It might cause losing a job; it will cause suffering and sacrifice. It might even cause physical death for some. But if physical death is the price that some must pay to free their children from a permanent life of psychological death, then nothing can be more Christian. Keep going today. Keep moving amid every obstacle. Keep moving amid every mountain of opposition. If you will do that with dignity, when the history books are written in the future, the historians will have to look back and say, "There lived a great people. A people with 'fleecy locks and black complexion,' but a people who injected new meaning into the veins of civilization : a people which stood up with dignity and honor and saved Western civilization in her darkest hour a people that gave new integrity and a new dimension of love to our civilization." When that happens, "the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy."
Thank you and God Bless America and our new President.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year
To all those who have read and/or commented on this blog; to all those who have helped make the First Berkshire District and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a better place to live; for all those who have reached out to each other with a helping hand or a word of encouragement; and for all those who have exhibited a kindness to the world around them, thank you for your help in 2008. You are the true heroes in our society and I wish each and very one of you a wonderful 2009. As the old saying goes: May the best day of last year be the worst day of this year.
2008 was a tough year. The economy tanked in a way I have not seen in 22 years in office. Budgets were slashed and a lot of people found themselves far worse off than they started the year. It is going to take a long time to turn this economy around, but with this Presidential election this year, we have an opportunity to work together in this nation to make it a much better place. We shouldn't be divided into red states and blue states. We shouldn't get angry if we disagree on issues. We should realize that disagreement is part of the decision making process and the true test of a nation and its people is the ability to work together despite differences of opinion. Let us all pledge, or make a new year's resolution that we will work together with less acrimony in order to advance those things that we all care about. Again, a heartfelt happy new year to all and best wishes for 2009.
2008 was a tough year. The economy tanked in a way I have not seen in 22 years in office. Budgets were slashed and a lot of people found themselves far worse off than they started the year. It is going to take a long time to turn this economy around, but with this Presidential election this year, we have an opportunity to work together in this nation to make it a much better place. We shouldn't be divided into red states and blue states. We shouldn't get angry if we disagree on issues. We should realize that disagreement is part of the decision making process and the true test of a nation and its people is the ability to work together despite differences of opinion. Let us all pledge, or make a new year's resolution that we will work together with less acrimony in order to advance those things that we all care about. Again, a heartfelt happy new year to all and best wishes for 2009.
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