From: chriswa@microsoft.com (Chris Waldron)
Subject: RON DANIELS Speech (part 2)
Date: 21 Jul 92 22:55:33 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Distribution: usa

Originally posted by harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai) on
misc.activism.progressive ...

SPEECH by Ron Daniels (Independent for President) -- (part 2)

Four Excerpts:

    "We have to realize that racism has [...] been used in this
    country historically as a strategy to divide and exploit."

    "A bitter harvest however which was born of *not only Reagan* but
    the fact that the Democratic party controlled the House of
    Representatives and it controlled the Senate.  It had the
    opportunity to say to Mr. Reagan, No! So therefore they were not a
    party of loyal opposition, they were a party of loyal accomplices.

    "[...] the looting in L. A., all right, nobody likes looting [..]
    Immediately the FBI they say must crack down and find all of the
    looters in South Central![..] what about the "welfare crisis"
    created by 600 billion dollars looted from the savings and loans
    crisis in this country, the savings and loan industry?

    "Scapegoating.  The problem is the Japanese you know! [scornfully]
   [..] The British own more of America than the Japanese! [..]
   There's always some external enemy that masks the _fundamental
   contradiction_ that we have a society that is ruled by the rich and
   the super-rich.  A dictatorship of the corporations [...] A country
   now which allows now 1/2 of 1% of the people nearly 30% of the
   wealth; the top 10%, 80% of the wealth.


[Speech continued]

[...]

Reaganism and Reaganomics therefore, in the last decade, is only one
of the most *brutal and vicious* chapters of a system which has
always been built on the exploitation of the many by the few, in the
context of this society.  There have been some great chapters in
which we've struggled and got some benefits.  But at every turn, it
was brutal, and it was bloody, as we fought to make this country a
better country.  Reaganism and Reaganomics, a decade of neglect,
death and destruction for foreign working people unprecedented in
the last 75 years.  Attacks on civil rights, turning back the clock,
attacks on labor.

PATCO! because what happened in this country, was, all of a sudden,
Germany and Japan, arose to challenge.  So the question is where is
capitalism in this country going to thrive?  How is it going to
thrive?  The choice is very clear.  It was to take resources from
the poor!  And it was to put the working class up against the wall
and shake it down.  That's what PATCO was all about.  It was the
first signal in an all-out *war* against working people in this
country.  And the question of being able to cut social programs, the
ability to increase the defense budget, and open up huge, gaping tax
loopholes for the wealthy, was accomplished because we live in a
*racist* society.

Ronald Reagan came to power persuading large numbers of white
workers --- Joe Sixpack and the Bubba vote --- persuading them that
somehow the burden of the government was on the backs of the people.
That burden was welfare queens, it was food stamps chiselers, and
the popular imagery, after the civil rights movement and all, that
popular imagery was, There are black people and brown people and
people of color who are dragging down our society.  They're on
welfare; [...] they don't want to work; they've been out here all
this time; they're complaining; they're taking stuff away from white
people.  We have to realize that racism has [...] been used in this
country historically as a strategy to divide and exploit.  It would
not have been possible for Ronald Reagan to come to power except he
diverted and deflected our vision away from the real contradiction
of the rule of the rich and the super-rich, away from that, [...] to
victimize those at the bottom of the ladder.

Ronald Reagan [...] never got an academy award. <laughter>  He was
not ever nominated, even.  But he deserves the academy award of the
century for one of the greatest performances, as President of the
United States, cause he fooled a whole lot of people. [scornful]
<applause> [...]  So as we now look at [...]  what happened last
week or two weeks ago, in South Central, it is the bitter harvest,
the bitter harvest of Reaganism and Reaganomics.

Nobody came along to tell us in the Democratic party or anywhere,
that there are more white people on welfare than black people.  That
there are more white people on food stamps; there are more white
people who are homeless; there are more white people on every
*category of pain* in this society, than black people.  Why?  Because
both parties elected to use race and racism as a political football.
So now what do we have?  We have 25 years in which racism and the
impact of race in American society [...] has not been on the agenda.

And those who live in the inner cities of America, as white people
fled to the suburbs --- and even some black people and people of
color fled to the suburbs --- there was an abandonment of those who
live in the inner cities.  They were the wrong complexion to get the
protection.  Nobody was really anxious and concerned with their
plight.  And now we have therefore, in the last couple of weeks, the
Rodney King ... situation, an insurrection.  An insurrection, a
rebellion.  Which is the direct result of [...] a bitter harvest of
Reaganism and Reaganomics.

A bitter harvest however which was born of *not only Reagan* but the
fact that the Democratic party controlled the House of Representatives
and it controlled the Senate.  It had the opportunity to say to
Mr. Reagan, No! you will not go down this path.  But they were terrorized
and intimidated into ineffectiveness.  They went along to get along.
[scornful]  They were afraid to stand up and have the courage of their
convictions.  So therefore they were not a party of loyal opposition,
they were a party of loyal accomplices.  Therefore [...] they are not
blameless.  They cannot stand today and say, We told you so, because
they didn't say anything!  They didn't have the guts and the courage
to stand by the convictions and principles, therefore they are as
responsible as the Republicans for the conflagration that is consuming
American society today.  They too are responsible. <applause>

So our campaign is about political education.  It is to say to
people that in this state --- because look at the oddities, the
ironies --- you have now in this season, you know, David Duke, the
blaming of the victim.  We have a situation where the liberal
Democratic governor of New Jersey and the conservative governor of
California have some common politics.  They both are talking about
the need for welfare reform.  They both are saying that if we could
just *modify the behavior* of welfare mothers --- that they don't
know how to behave themselves, they have babies, [...] they go out
there and spend their money irresponsibly and so forth [...] --- if
we could just rein in these irresponsible callous ... people who
don't have families, and somehow have lost the American dream, if we
could just correct them, we'd be fine. [scornful]  We don't hear
them --- this is both Democrats and Republicans, right? --- welfare
is but a *small fraction*, a small fraction of the budget crisis in
this country.

They don't talk about the welfare --- [...] the looting in L A, all
right, nobody likes looting, but you know they say all right, let's
crack down.  Immediately the FBI they say must crack down and find
all of the looters in South Central!  Yeah, when we look at the
welfare crisis in this country, what about the welfare crisis
created by 600 billion dollars looted from the savings and loans
crisis in this country, the savings and loan industry.  <applause>
Where? where is the *strident demand* that these looters be
punished?  25 billion dollars <thump> in terms of the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation mismanagement.  10 billion dollars in
terms of the HUD scandal.  Then there's the --- what is this thing?
--- the National Bank of Credit, [...] --- this other scandal, in
terms of the banking industry.  Huge corruption!  A country now
which allows now 1/2 of 1% of the people nearly 30% of the wealth;
the top 10%, 80% of the wealth.  And in this past decade, corporate
raiders like Michael Milken, who made billions of dollars doing
nothing but shuffling paper.  Not creating one job!  What I'm saying
to you is we need to modify somebody's behavior already enough.
<laughter> But the people whose behavior we [...] need to modify,
we need to modify the behavior of those who have been irresponsible
in this country. <applause>

Scapegoating.  The problem is the Japanese you know! [scornfully]
We got a problem because the Japanese are taking everything!  They
own everything; they're buying up everything; they want the Seattle
Mariners; they want to buy the hotels and so forth.  The British own
more of America than the Japanese!  The Germans own more of America
than the Japanese!  But we always have a scapegoat.  It's either the
poor, or it's the Japanese, or it's the Iraqis.  There's always some
external enemy that masks the _fundamental contradiction_ that we
have a society that is ruled by the rich and the super-rich.
A dictatorship of the corporations, that are saying to American workers
--- and Caterpillar reinforced it --- You will either work for us for
the wages and benefits we tell you, or you will not have a job.


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