On February 15, 1995, Dr. Alan Keyes gave a speech in New Hampshire. The paragraphs below are excerpts from that speech. His words are still applicable today, especially in light of our so-called “economic crisis” and the real crisis of leadership we have on the national scene.
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“And I’ll tell you, we have heard a lot of people tonight. They talk about the money and they talk about the budget. But you and I both know, if we are willing to look ourselves in the eye what the truth is. Why is it that we spend so much money on welfare and illegitimacy? Why is it that we spend so much money on crime and violence in our streets? Why is it even that we spend so much money dealing with the problem of irresponsible behavior that contributes to the decline of the health of this nation? I think you all know in your hearts what the real answer is. We don’t have MONEY problems. We have MORAL problems. And it’s time we stood up and faced that truth!
“And I don’t know how, I don’t know how we’re going to face that truth. If as what’s suggested here today we can look our daughters in the eye and tell them that it is somehow consistent with freedom for them to trample on the human rights of their unborn offspring.
“We’re going to have find the courage one of these days to tell people that freedom is not an easy discipline. Freedom is not a choice for those who are lazy in their heart and in their respect for their own moral capacities. Freedom requires that at the end of the day, you accept the constraint that is required, the respect for the laws of nature and nature’s God that say unequivocally that your daughters do not have the right to do what is wrong, that our sons do not have the right to do what is wrong. They do not have the right to steal bread from the mouths of the innocent, they do not have the right to steal life from the womb of the unborn.
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“Look at what’s happening in the streets of our cities, look at what’s happening to our families today. Do you think that the decline of marriage and the moral disillusion of the family is a money problem? Or do you think it’s a problem that comes from putting the self first from deciding that there are no obligations that have to be respected and that at the end of the day, freedom is just another kind of empty licentiousness? We know better and our Founders knew better and it’s time that we get back to the truth. They did not tell us that freedom would be an easy road. They offered us a true vision of the future of America. It was NOT a vision of licentious freedom and stupid self-indulgence. It was a vision of freedom based upon the fear of God and the respect for law.
“And why is it, that out of the mouths of all our statesmen and we hear all these great emotional words but they won’t speak the simple truths that our Founders from Washington through Jefferson to Lincoln and every President spoke until we got to our own cowardly times? We are not going to remain a free people if we insist on being a corrupt and licentious people. We are not going to remain a free people if we arrogate to ourselves the right to destroy the rights of others. And that’s exactly what we are doing when we embrace the so-called “pro-choice”, the truly pro-abortion agenda.
“My friends, I think it’s empty to praise the courage of the men and women who have died in the service of this country’s freedom and its principles and yet decide that we shall lack the courage to stand up for those principles, many or few, or even alone if we must. Because that is in fact the courage that built America.
“This nation was not as some would have us believe a dream of material progress and prosperity and great cities and mountains of money. I’m glad that we have achieved that prosperity, even though it came at much expense to some of my forebearers. Those who toiled in the depths of slavery, they had an understanding of the real dream of American freedom. It’s the dream of moral dignity that comes from respecting our true moral capacity. It’s the dream of self-government that comes from respecting the fact that in the end, freedom is not just a choice, it is not just an opportunity. It can be a burden and a sacrifice and an obligation. And above all, it is the obligation to respect the truth of our moral identity. That moral identity can unite us across every line of race and color and creed so long as we have the courage to stand for it.
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