Senate Journal: Page 56: Tuesday, January 9, 2001

  Iowa always has been a land of great opportunity.  The earliest Iowans, the
  Sac and
  Fox tribes among them, lived well and prosperously from our soil's great
  bounty.
  Pioneering Americans were drawn to our great rolling prairies, as they moved
  westward in the 19th century and settled here to make new lives for
  themselves.
  Later, newcomers came from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Holland, and
  Czechoslovakia to this land of promise.  They made Iowa their home, as did
  their
  children and their children's children.

  Opportunity has always been here for the taking, here for anyone with a
  sense of
  adventure and a spirit of exploration.

  Today, more than at any time in the past, Iowa is a place of great
  potential.  But in
  order to seize the limitless opportunities that lie ahead, we, too, must be
  willing to dare
  and to challenge the status quo.

  For our future of promise does not depend on a continuation of the old ways
  and of
  the old economy built on low commodity prices and low-tech jobs.  This path
  has led to
  below-average family incomes and stagnant population growth.  Rather, our
  future of
  promise must be based on a new economy.  A new economy that uses genetic
  codes,
  computer chips, and other science and technology marvels to create new
  frontiers.

  A new economy that relies on well-educated and productive workers, is
  energized by
  dynamic, global markets, rewards innovation and creativity, and is driven by
  rapidly
  growing, technologically connected small businesses.  Such a new economy
  will lead to
  higher incomes for working Iowans and their families and a better quality of
  life for all
  Iowans.

  Iowans can, and Iowans should, lead this new economy.

  But leadership will require courage-the courage to change.  Working
  together,
  we've achieved much in the past.  We've reduced class sizes in the early
  grades,
  improving opportunities for basic skills learning.  We've begun to make our
  communities safer by reducing the supply of dangerous drugs like meth.
  We've
  enhanced our natural resources through aggressive private land conservation,
  helping
  to clean up our rivers and streams.  We've expanded health care to thousands
  of
  children through an expansion and better outreach of the Hawk-I health
  insurance
  plan.  Despite all that and more, there is still much work ahead of us.

  As I reflect on our mission to lead the new economy, I am drawn to lessons
  learned
  in our history.  Nearly 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson understood that
  America's
  promise was contained in a new, expanding economy.  He was drawn to the
  possibilities and promise of the West.  And in 1803, he won approval from
  Congress for
  his visionary project-what was to become one of America's greatest adventure
  stories.
  He commissioned two men eager for knowledge, Meriwether Lewis and William
  Clark,
  to explore new territory and to chart a course to new opportunity.  Lewis
  and Clark
  planned and prepared.  They put together a team of talented, innovative
  people.  They
  relied on the expertise of their team members-a native American woman,
  Sacagawea,
  who welcomed these strangers to a new land and helped them communicate by
  translating the Native American languages and an African-American slave
  named
  York who helped to make critical decisions about routes to take which
  guaranteed their
  safe return.  They took risks, and they used the latest technologies.  And
  they were
  absolutely determined to, committed to, succeeding.

© 2001 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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