Senate Journal: Page 1410: Tuesday, April 25, 1995

    me?  He said, yes, I always have.  I guess I will again.  And I said,
    well, arent you sick of me after all these years?  He said, no, but
    everybody else I know is.

         But he went on to say -- and thats the point I want to make about
    state government -- he said, people get tired of it because all you do
    is nag us.  You nag us to modemize the economy, you nag us to improve
    the schools, you just nag, nag, nag.  But he said, I think its beginning
    to work.  And what I have seen in state after state after state over the
    last 15 years as we have gone through these wrenching economic and
    social changes in America and as we face challenge after challenge after
    challenge, is people able consistently to come together to overcome
    their differences, to focus on what it will take to build a state and to
    move forward.  And we need more of that in America.

         In Iowa, you do embody our best values.  People are independent,
    but commited to one another.  They work hard and play by the rules, but
    they work together. Those of us who come from small towns understand
    that everybody counts.  We dont have a person to waste.  And the fact
    that Iowa has done such a good job in developing all of your people is
    one of the reasons that you are so strong in every single national
    indicator of success that I know of. And you should be very, very proud
    of what, together, you have done.

         I saw some of that American spirit in a very painful way in
    Oklahoma City this week, and all of you saw it as well.  I know you
    share the grief of the people there.  But you must also share the pride
    of all Americans in seeing the enormity of the effort which is being
    exerted there, by firemen and police officers, and nurses, by rescue
    workers, by people who have come from all over America and given up
    their lives to try to help Oklahoma City and the people there who have
    suffered so much loss rebuild.

         I want to say again what I have tried to say for the last three
    days to the American people.  On this National Day of Service, there is
    a service we can do to ensure that we build on, and learn from, this
    experience.

         We must always fight for the freedom of speech.  The First
    Amendment, with its freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom
    of worship, is the essence of what it means to be an American.  And I
    dare say every elected official in room would give his or her life to
    preserve that right for our children and our grandchildren down to the
    end of time.

         But we have to remember that that freedom has endured in our nation
    for over 200 years because we practiced it with such responsibility;
    because we had disciplin; because we understood from the Founding
    Fathers forward that you could not have very, very wide latitude in
    personal freedom until you also had, or unless you also had, great
    discipline in the exercise of that freedom.

         So while I would defend to the death anyones right to the broadest
    freedom of speech, I think we should all remember that words have
    consequences.  And freedom should be exercised with responsibility.  And
    when we think that others are exercising their freedom in an
    irresponsible way, it is our job to stand up and say that is wrong.  We
    disagree.  This is not a matter of partisan politics.  It is not a
    matter of political philosophy.  If we see the freedom of expression and

Iowa General Assembly

Index: Senate Journal (76th General Assembly: Session 1)

© 1995 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

Comments? sjourn@legis.iowa.gov.

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