Political Quotes

“I am a little ashamed to confess my mother is around the age of the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Watt). My mother used to tell me stories when she was a young woman in the segregated South that she would drive through parts of rural and western Alabama and that she would see crosses burned. My grandmother used to tell me stories that after Brown v. Board of Education, she remembers riding through parts of rural Alabama and seeing crosses burned. The interesting thing about that is the burning of those crosses did not keep a single black child out of a public school. The burning of those crosses, frankly, did nothing to slow down the march of justice in this country over the 40-or-so years I have been around. I think that is relevant to this debate today. Mr. Speaker, 15 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court would not let Congress ban flag-burning. And here we stand 15 years later in a country that is still deeply patriotic, a country that is still full of love of Americans toward each other. Frankly, I would submit in this last 4 or 5 years we have seen a rising tide of patriotism. We feel a greater faith in each other and a greater faith in our fighting forces now than we ever have. I wish advocates of this amendment understood we have won this battle. Those of us who believe in this country, those of us who believe in its decency, and those of us who believe in its power, we have won. Within our borders, we have won.…”