Grandparents' Day Keynote delivered to an alliance of Democratic and progressive clubs (2005)

"LESSONS FROM MY GRANDMOTHER"

Robert P. Watson

I am delighted to be here today for this gathering in honor of grandparents. Although I am not a grandparent – yet! – I am the proud father of a 6-year old son and 2-year old daughter. I also had the great good fortune of enjoying very close relationships with all four of my grandparents, and I consider myself blessed that all four of my grandparents lived through my formative years.

I was asked to speak to you today about values, which I will do, and I will do so mindful of the values and lessons taught to me by my grandparents… and I suspect taught to all of us by our grandparents.

I was especially close to my maternal grandmother, Ida Carter Martin, eldest daughter of 16 children, born to a family of uneducated Pennsylvania steel mill workers on the eve of the First World War. Although she never made it past the 4 th grade – and never would, to the day of her death, even drive an automobile – my grandmother not only raised her younger siblings, but she essentially mothered her entire neighborhood. She was also one of the smartest, toughest, and yet fairest people I have met in my life… bar none.

My grandmother taught me that there was a big difference between having values and morals, and claiming to have values and morals! And, if anyone has to tell you – and then proceeds to tell you, and tell you repeatedly – how moral they are, compared to the rest of us, then there most assuredly is a reason for their need to do so.

I believe one of the values of my grandmother and my grandparents' generation – a generation that won two world wars and defeated both global fascism and a great depression – was that their lessons were shown to us through their actions, not just spoken to us through empty words. It was also a generation that valued humility, sacrifice, and service to others... not exactly the traits that come to mind when describing most politicians today!

Contrast those values with President Bush and his neo-con cronies, individuals who thump their chests bloviating that they have family values – because they say so – and the rest of us... well, we do not. And their words, like their claims of morality, have nothing at all to do with their actions, just as their actions have nothing to do with reality. Just because someone says something, my grandmother used to say, does not make it so.

To that end, I wish for you to reflect on the following claims of "family values":

• Is it a family value, I ask you, to claim to love the unborn but to oppose prenatal care and family planning programs?
• Is it a family value, I ask you, to claim to be pro-child, but to let children fend for themselves after birth by attacking early childhood nutrition and the school lunch program, and under-funding Head Start?
• Is it a family value, I ask you, to amass the world's largest budget deficit, world's largest trade deficit, and world's largest debt, yet claim to care for our children and grandchildren?

No grandparent in this room would knowingly pass along to their children and grandchildren an insurmountable debt, but that is exactly what the President and Congress are doing! My grandparents barely made ends meet, yet managed to avoid debt and along the way even passed a little along to their children.

• Is it a family value, I ask you, to allow the price of gasoline, healthcare, insurance, and a college education to skyrocket to unprecedented levels, yet claim to be for working families and the middle class?
• Is it a family value, I ask you, to claim to be a devoted follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ, yet put more people to death as governor of Texas than the governors of the other 49 states put together? Or to legalize the sale of well over a dozen types of assault weapons?
• Is it a family value, I ask you, to brag and boast about being a "war president" or a "patriot," yet fail to provide adequate armor on our humvees in Iraq, sufficient body armor for our troops in Afghanistan, a decent death benefit for the widows and family members of our slain soldiers, or fair quality healthcare for our veterans?

No! Of course none of these claims are truly values of the American family. And all this bravado is shameful, hypocritical, and detrimental to the health of the country and the well being of the American family! Nothing the President and Congress have done lately remotely resembles American values.

Rather, they have chosen to govern by fear, deceit, and division, creating and then fanning the flames of what has become, by their own design, a full-fledged "values war."

And we have no choice but to engage them… or, as the President might say, to "bring `em on!" Ladies and gentlemen, it is that important.

They mean business, the business of changing the moral fabric and direction of this country. It is time to fight for true American values, values like tolerance and respect for difference, honesty and old-fashioned neighborliness, civil discourse and community service, responsible stewardship and opportunity for all, and a commitment to both those less fortunate and the prosperity of the next generation.

You can't tell me that we – Democrats – the party that gave the country Social Security, Medicare, civil rights, voting rights, the GI Bill, Head Start, universal vaccinations for children, and more, can't win a values or morals contest against George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Tom DeLay, Karl Rove, and Donald Rumsfeld!

Let me close with a story, a story that evokes the message with which I opened my remarks… that there is a difference between having values and claiming to have them, that the lessons of my grandparents' generation were through actions and deeds, not words and boasts:

I have had the great good fortune of working with former Democratic presidential nominee, Senator George McGovern the past few years in the development of his library and center for public service, which opens next month in his home state of South Dakota on the campus of his alma mater, Dakota Wesleyan University . While going through archival documents on McGovern, I viewed an interview with the Senator and the late, great historian and biographer, Stephen Ambrose.

Ambrose is telling McGovern that, during the 1972 presidential race, he thought little of McGovern because he perceived the Senator to be unpatriotic. Why? Because that was what Nixon told us. But, something happened to change Ambrose's perspective.

When Ambrose was doing research for his last book – published posthumously – on the American fly-boys of the Second World War, he had the opportunity to interview surviving members of bomber crews, including surviving crew members of a B-24 bomber.

These men told Ambrose stories about a courageous officer and pilot with whom they served, repeatedly telling the historian stories of great heroism:

• Such as, even though the crew thought they were all goners, how this pilot landed a crippled, shot-up B-24 safely on the airstrip;
• Such as, how this pilot refused to return to base over friendly territory with a bomb still stuck and hanging precariously in the bomb-bay door in the belly of the plane, lest it come unhinged over a civilian population and kill innocent lives… this despite the fact that the plane was losing altitude and vulnerable to Nazi anti-aircraft fire.

With emotion, these distinguished vets told Ambrose that they might not have been alive today if it weren't for the skill and courage of their pilot.

When Ambrose asked the name of this hero, to his amazement the men said George McGovern , champion of human rights and leader of the anti-war movement during Vietnam .

While relating these stories gathered while researching his book, tears formed in Ambrose's eyes. Yes, Stephen Ambrose – a man's man if ever there was one, devotee of Ike, chronicler of great feats such as Lewis and Clark's voyage of discovery. Tears of admiration and respect for George McGovern.

Well, the moral of the story is this: Senator McGovern had more military experience and accomplishments – indeed, he was a bona fide hero – than Nixon (who drove a desk during WWII), or his later critics during the 1972 campaign, or today's neo-con "war-hawks." Yet, like so many others of his generation, McGovern did not wear his military service on his sleeve or think to brag about his accomplishments.

So, I ask you, who was the real patriot? And who are the real patriots today?

My friends, there is a difference between having values and claiming to have them.

Do not forget that we are the party of life, there is such a thing as the religious left , and we gave the country the real "values agenda!" The President and his cohorts on the radical right will likely be the first leaders in our country's history to leave office with America more in debt, more despised around the world and more divided at home, and with less opportunity for our children, than when they entered office, or than any administration before them. And this tragic reality exists in stark contrast to their boasts and claims.

That is not something our grandparents would have done, and I wouldn't call that leadership, and I sure wouldn't call that values!

Thank you.