On the recordJune 29, 2010
Some of the best speeches that I have ever listened to and/or read come from the legendary mayor of Boston, James Michael Curley. And Curley spoke with great empathy about the forgotten man, those individuals who for whatever reason have found themselves outside of the mainstream of economic life. He also would suggest that, in simplicity, that the great ally of civilization was a full stomach. And we need to be reminded of that with the grim economic statistics that America is currently witnessing. Now, also another very pertinent reminder here that I think that we all ought to recall: in October of 2008, in record time this House voted to come to the aid of Wall Street. It didn't take us long, with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to keep standing many of those institutions that helped create the problem that we find ourselves currently in. Now, why is that relevant? There are millions of people across this country who have simply found themselves without work. What does that do to an individual who has spent a career, and after 30 years finds the job is gone? And we treat them as though they are simply a statistic after perhaps they served us in an honorable manner in Vietnam, or currently in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or other theaters around the world? America's about building community, Madam Speaker. America's about a place where nobody's to be abandoned and nobody's to be left behind.
