Augusta, June 3 - Eric Mehnert's Address to Democratic State Convention
Good afternoon and thank you very much.
My name is Eric Mehnert, I am a Democrat and I'm running for the US Senate.
Many of you are probably asking why would someone with no name recognition, no political experience and no war chest want to take on Olympia Snowe. I'm running not because, as some of my friends claim, I enjoy being the underdog, but because I will not tolerate injustice in any form. When I look at what is happen in Washington, DC, with the current administration all I see is injustice.
Bobby Kennedy spoke to us of moral courage. He said moral courage is more important to the preservation of our Constitution and beliefs than bravery in battle or intelligence and wit. Moral courage is the willingness to speak out against injustice when others remain silent.
It is time that the Bush administration hears the voices of the people of Maine and the torrents speaking out against injustice. The greatest injustice of this administration is the destruction of the social contract.
We know what the social contract means in the state of Maine. If we know a neighbor is hitting hard times, we make sure they are getting enough food.. The social contract means that if we see a person off the road in a snowstorm, we stop to make sure they're okay. It means that we take care of one another and do the right thing.
This administration has violated the social contract by allowing corporations to ship our jobs overseas for short-term profit to places that do not have the same industrial, environmental and human rights standards that we have. The administration has violated the social contract by continuing to subsidize and give tax breaks to oil companies that had $17 billion in profits last year. We understand it's a global economy, we understand that we have to compete, but what we are asking for is a level playing field, fair trade not free trade.
We cannot allow that to continue. We need the moral courage to preserve jobs and stand up against corporate influence.
This administration has violated the social contract by sending the men and women of our military overseas into harms way based on false pretenses. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and it didn't have weapons of mass destruction.
This administration has failed to hear one of its own. In his farewell address, President Eisenhower spoke out against the military-industrial complex. He said when war becomes a profit-making enterprise, we will constantly be at war. My daughter brought that home to me the other day. She said, "Dad, we've been at war for 12 out of the 14 years that I've been alive."
Moral courage means it's time for us to demand UN involvement in the political and economic stabilization of Iraq, we need to bring our troops back to the bases and we need to bring them home.
This administration has violated the social contract by implementing No Child Left Behind. Education is about teaching a child to think critically and creatively, not to pass some standardized test. In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville came to the US to find out why the American Revolution succeeded where the French Revolution failed. He found that education was the difference. In order for our democracy to continue to thrive, we need the moral courage to let our teachers teach and support our schools with adequate funding.
This administration has broken the social contract by failing to provide health care to every citizen. The Maine governor has been true to his motto. He leads the way in ensuring that every Maine citizen is covered. It's our duty to ensure that America provides adequate health care to all its citizens. This is what we believe, this is what we will do.
Fundamentally, this administration has violated the social contract by attacking the foundation of the social contract, the Constitution and Bill of Rights. He's done it by violating civil rights, by saying that 750 laws passed by Congress do not apply to him. Our judges have failed to serve as a check on this administration. Our senators have failed to serve as a check on this administration. We can't allow that to happen.
We have a president that says the search and seizure provisions of the Fourth Amendment don't apply to him. We have a president that says it's okay to suspend Habeas Corpus. It is not right.
We have the president and an administration that has advocated the use of torture. That is wrong.
It is our Senators' responsibility to serve as a check and a balance on presidential power. Our senators have failed to meet that responsibility. They stand up and tell us that they are independent and moderate, but the fact of the matter is that from 2000 to 2004 Olympia Snowe voted for the president's policy. We know that in her votes on the Patriot Act, the War, for tax cuts for the wealthy, the Bankruptcy bill, and her votes for Alito and Roberts, she has supported this administration. It's time for a change.
Many people say to me, that's all well and good, how are you going to beat Snowe? She has name recognition, $2.4 million dollars. We can't combat that.
There is a book out there called the Populist Movement. Peoples movements are not born of hard times, they are born out of a culture of hope. I promise the people of Maine to give hope for a better tomorrow, not only for ourselves, but for our children, for our parents, for all of us.
I am reminded of the words of Winston Churchill. He spoke to the English people and said, "I can promise you blood, sweat and tears." I have fought against injustice in the federal courts; I have taken a case to the US Supreme Court. I promise you this: elect me to the Senate, I will give you blood sweat and tears. I promise you this: elect me and I will not back down.