Bill Clinton: “Well, let me say, I know about cutting Government spending. We've taken $11,000 in debt off of every family in America…”

“Well, let me say, I know about cutting Government spending. We've taken $11,000 in debt off of every family in America by reducing the deficit. We have reduced the size of the Federal Government to its smallest size since Martin Luther King visited John Kennedy in the White House. I know about that. But the purpose of all this is not to wreck the Government, not to give us a mean-spirited Government. It is to give us a lean Government that will help us to work together to solve our own problems. That's what we should be committed to do in Washington and in Denver and in every community throughout this great land. So let me ask you to think about this. Look at all the young people in this audience. Look at the fine young people in their band uniforms. Look at the young people around the choir and the young kids here. Look at all the children here, all different colors and backgrounds. What is the American dream? It is the right to pursue happiness. It requires a certain equality and a certain respect. It requires us to listen as well as to talk. I know the American people are often angry and frustrated today. But let me tell you something, folks, this is a very great country, and there is nothing that cannot be fixed if we will rely on our hearts and our spirits and what we know to be true. I have traveled this whole world on your behalf. I have seen many different places. I have dealt with many different opportunities and problems. I am more convinced today than I was on the day I took the oath of office that the greatest days of America lie in front of us if we have the courage to live the dream of Martin Luther King. But remember, what he lived and died for was for every one of you to have the right to do good and to be good and to make the most of your own life. It was no living and dying for the freedom to shoot people, no living and dying for the freedom to shoot up, no living and dying for the freedom to hate people, no living and dying for the freedom to ignore the responsibilities of parenthood and the obligations of our children. That is not what this was about. And there was no living and dying to advance the proposition that we are all just isolated individuals out here, we don't need anybody helping anybody else, and everything we do as a Government is intrinsically bad. That idea is wrong, too. So I say to you, as you look to the next century, let's make Denver and the West the frontier of the next century by proving that you can be a rugged individual, you can do everything you want in your individual aspirations, but only if you build a new community where everybody has a chance to rise up and everybody has a chance to be respected and every child has a chance to be loved and to be important. That is what this is all about. And let us look for ways every day, every day, to say the dream of Martin Luther King depends upon what I do inside and how I relate to my fellow men and women and to all the little boys and girls. Twenty-seven years ago, April 4th, Martin Luther King was killed. Only such a young man, but he gave his life willingly so that we might become all God meant for us to be. We can still do it. We will have more opportunities than ever before. But you look at this sea of people, and you think about what the Founding Fathers said over 200 years ago: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, together. Thank you, and God bless you all.”