[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5232-S5236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S5232]]
   SENATE RESOLUTION 103--TO PROCLAIM NATIONAL CHARACTER COUNTS WEEK

  Mr. DOMENICI (for himself, Mr. Nunn, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Cochran, Ms. 
Mikulski, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Kempthorne, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. 
Frist, and Mr. Rockefeller) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 103

       Whereas young people will be the stewards of our 
     communities, nation, and world in critical times, and the 
     present and future well-being of society requires an 
     involved, caring citizenry with good character;
       Whereas concerns about the character training of children 
     have taken on a new sense of urgency as violence by and 
     against youth threatens the physical and psychological well-
     being of the United States;
       Whereas, more than ever, children need strong and 
     constructive guidance from their families, their communities, 
     and institutions such as schools, youth organizations, 
     religious institutions, and civic groups;
       Whereas the character of a nation is only as strong as the 
     character of the individual citizens comprising the nation;
       Whereas the public good is advanced when young people are 
     taught the importance of good character, and that character 
     counts in personal relationships, in school, and in the 
     workplace;
       Whereas scholars and educators agree that people do not 
     automatically develop good character and, therefore, 
     conscientious efforts must be made by youth-influencing 
     institutions and individuals to help young people develop the 
     essential traits and characteristics that comprise good 
     character;
       Whereas character development is, first and foremost, an 
     obligation of families, efforts by religious institutions, 
     schools, and youth, civic, and human service organizations 
     also play a very important role in supporting family efforts 
     by fostering and promoting good character;
       Whereas the Senate encourages students, teachers, parents, 
     youth, and community leaders to recognize the valuable role 
     youth in the United States play in the present and future of 
     the United States, and to recognize that character plays an 
     important role in the future of the United States;
       Whereas, in July 1992, the Aspen Declaration was written by 
     an eminent group of educators, youth leaders, and ethics 
     scholars for the purpose of articulating a coherent framework 
     for character education appropriate to a diverse and 
     pluralistic society;
       Whereas the Aspen Declaration states that ``Effective 
     character education is based on core ethical values which 
     form the foundation of democratic society'';
       Whereas the core ethical values identified by the Aspen 
     Declaration constitute the 6 core elements of character;
       Whereas the 6 core elements of character are 
     trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, justice and 
     fairness, caring, and civic virtue and citizenship.
       Whereas the 6 core elements of character transcend 
     cultural, religious, and socioeconomic differences;
       Whereas the Aspen declaration states that ``The character 
     and conduct of our youth reflect the character and conduct of 
     society; therefore, every adult has the responsibility to 
     teach and model the core ethical values and every social 
     institution has the responsibility to promote the development 
     of good character.'';
       Whereas the Senate encourages individuals and 
     organizations, especially the individuals and organizations 
     that have an interest in the education and training of our 
     youth, to adopt the 6 core elements of character as intrinsic 
     to the well-being of individuals, communities, and society as 
     a whole; and
       Whereas the Senate encourages communities, especially 
     school and youth organizations, to integrate the 6 core 
     elements of character into programs serving students and 
     children: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate proclaims the week of October 15 
     through October 21, 1995, as National Character Counts Weeks, 
     and requests the President to issue a proclamation calling 
     upon the people of the United States and interested groups to 
     embrace the 6 core elements of character and to observe the 
     week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, today in the City of Roswell, NM, the 
water bills that are sent out by the utility companies has this on 
them, and everyone will receive this as part of their water bill in 
this city: ``Character counts. Trustworthiness. Tell the truth. Be 
sincere.''
  One of the six pillars of character established by a broad-based 
coalition some 2\1/2\ years ago, a broad-based group of Americans, was 
trustworthiness. That means do not lie, be sincere, tell the truth--all 
the basic things that we thought were part of the character of America.
  In addition, five other pillars of character were determined to be 
the essence--the essence--of the character of the United States in the 
past that we have lost and that we must get back. The remaining ones 
are respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
  Today, on the floor of the Senate, a number of Senators have joined 
me in a Character Counts Coalition, which has in the U.S. Senate one 
principal objective; that is, the introduction and passage of a 
resolution which will set aside the week of October 15 through the 21 
as ``National Character Counts Week.''
  That resolution will be adopted by the Senate and the House, and it 
will go out into the land--hopefully, the President will speak to it--
and the budding, blooming, blossoming enthusiasm among the people to 
reinject into society these six pillars of character will, once again, 
get a spurt of support from us.
  But far more important than the 10 Senators--five from each party: 
Senator Nunn joining me as vice chair, Senator Dodd, Senator Cochran, 
Senator Mikulski, Senator Bennett, Senator Lieberman, Senator 
Kempthorne and Senator Dorgan and Senator Frist, who is on the floor, 
join me in this resolution.
  What is going on out there in the country? First of all, Mr. 
President, I am very, very proud that the State of New Mexico is moving 
into the forefront of States that are trying to build a broad-based 
community support for these six pillars of character. I am very pleased 
to suggest that in New Mexico, there are now four cities that, with 
their school boards, are moving in harmony to make these six pillars of 
character part of daily life, believe it or not, on a volunteer basis.
  Public schools in the State of New Mexico are saying to their 
teachers, ``Let's make these six pillars of character part of our daily 
curriculum.'' In fact, in the city of Albuquerque, 36 teachers have 
been trained so that they can begin to put into the curriculum of our 
grade schools instruction, activities, examples of these six pillars of 
character. As a matter of fact, there is sort of a model evolving out 
of New Mexico, wherein a public school will take one of these pillars 
of character by the month. And so in a month, it will be 
trustworthiness month and the children will work on it with their 
teachers and the teachers will work among themselves to let 
trustworthiness permeate the school and what it means truly counts. 
Maybe the next month they will do responsibility, and for a month 
responsibility will permeate the classroom.
  Now we are trying to go one step further, Mr. President, and let 
these permeate the community, so that in each of our cities, there is a 
broad-based council--all volunteers, from all walks of life and all 
institutions--who are building a format to get each of these pillars of 
character to permeate the community in one way or another.
  I just gave an example of this very interesting city, Roswell, which 
has already decided to put the first of the pillars on their electric 
or water bills. I do not remember which. If I said water bill, let us 
stay with it. But essentially, everybody will receive in the mail at 
least a little notice: ``Character counts. Trustworthiness. Tell the 
truth. Be sincere.''
  Think if this happens, if we are able to join the people of this 
country, the grassroots of this country in our cities and in our States 
to mobilize their enthusiasm to get this message across to our 
children, to our businessmen, to their employees, to those who take 
care of our families or the families themselves, we may indeed--not 
this Senator, and not the 10 who are joining on this resolution--but 
those who had the idea to begin with and those who are working hard at 
it in the communities, this may turn into a huge chorus to be followed 
by actions to be followed by change, wherein maybe--maybe--society, 
which is yearning for something, will end up saying maybe it is we want 
people to be responsible, maybe it is that we want our people to learn 
what fairness is, what respect is, what responsibility is, what caring 
is and, yes, in a broader concept of what citizenship is.
  Now, frankly, in the State of New Mexico, the city of Albuquerque, we 
have now put a major manual together which other cities are asking for 
as to how we did this.
  Who got together and formed the counsel? How did the school board get 
involved? How are the schools reacting to it? Most of all, how are the 
parents 
[[Page S5233]] reacting to it? Is there any antagonism towards it? We 
would like to say we have found none.
  Who will stand up and say that it is not right that we put back into 
our schools the concept of trustworthiness or responsibility or caring 
or respect. Nobody yet has done that. We think that these words are 
acceptable to everyone.
  Everyone knows they would like to see this back into the fabric of 
this country. In my own State, the Governor has decided that Character 
Counts Will be a major effort of him and his wife in their term.
  In the city of Albuquerque, I was joined by the mayor, and 
Albuquerque has declared itself the character community. Soon they will 
put forth a public relations campaign, joined by the media, we hope, 
which will try to make this pervasive within the community of 
Albuquerque.
  Every city can do this, not because of the 10 Senators, and maybe 70, 
who will join this resolution and help pass it, but because we are 
merely supporting the effort which is budding among our people for 
something different in the classroom, something different on the street 
corner, something different in our businesses. There is much enthusiasm 
for this as one of those rare possibilities.
  I do not claim to be either the inventor of this or the one that 
dreamt it up. What I am very proud of is that I saw it, and joined with 
other Senators to at least lend our support in the U.S. Congress to 
designating a week in our country when we thoroughly respect and help 
promote those in our country who are talking about the six pillars of 
character, and that character counts.
  I have a statement which quotes a number of columnists and 
journalists in my State, editorials of the major papers, placing 
greater emphasis on common values that have served America so well. It 
is worth the extra effort that this will involve. There is no other 
practical way to make children safe and at the same time fight the 
violence, drugs, disrespect for property rights and others, speaking of 
this program of Character Counts, Albuquerque Journal.
  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the 
resolution submitted by my distinguished colleague Senator Domenici, 
Senate Resolution 103. This resolution, which would designate the week 
of October 15-21, 1995, as the second annual National Character Counts 
Week.
  Last year I joined with Senator Domenici and several of our other 
colleagues in introducing similar legislation, and was very pleased 
that the proposal was extremely well-received by my colleagues, as well 
as people in New Mexico, Georgia, and throughout our Nation. This 
resolution represents a renewal of that effort.
  This group of our Senate colleagues has come together again this year 
to continue its recognition of the fact that our Nation is experiencing 
a crisis of values. This crisis is reflected in the rising tide of 
violence that kills little children in the cross-fire on school yards 
and in front of their houses, in the increasing number of children who 
kill each other and others. This crisis goes beyond crime. It is 
reflected, also, in the recent survey of youngsters conducted by the 
Josephson Institute of Ethics. These ordinary youngsters may never by 
involved in crime, drug abuse, or teenage pregnancy, but they still 
acknowledge disturbing ethical lapses: 2 out of 5 high school age boys 
and one in four girls have stolen something from a store; nearly two-
thirds of all high school students and one-third of all college 
students had cheated on an exam, and more than one-third of males and 
one-fifth of females aged 19-24 said they would lie to get a job and 
nearly one-fifth of college students had already done so in the last 
year; 21 percent said they would falsify a report to keep a job.
  As a character in John Steinbeck's novel ``Of Mice and Men'' 
complained, ``Nothing is wrong anymore.'' Unfortunately, a lot is 
wrong, and our society seems reluctant to admit the problem.
  This is the core message of character counts, that there are core 
values that our society agrees on and that should guide our 
decisionmaking. These values, as set out in the resolution, are 
trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and 
citizenship. These values are supported by an extremely broad and 
diverse coalition of people, including former Secretary of Education 
William Bennett, former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, actor-producer 
Tom Selleck, and Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman. 
Among our colleagues, Senators with such diverse political viewpoints 
as Senator Helms and Senator Boxer consponsored last year's resolution. 
I come before the Senate today on behalf of this group to urge 
continued attention to this important problem.
  We must remember that all those children who are never taught the 
values of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, 
and citizenship are future citizens.
  This is a resolution considered by Members of the Senate and House in 
Washington, DC. But it is the parents, teachers, coaches, ministers, 
big brothers and sisters in local communities who will lead the fight 
for values in our Nation. As a result of the efforts by the character 
counts coalition, people in all areas of the country are more aware of 
the problems we face, and have begun to incorporate these values into 
their everyday lives and those of their children. Senator Domenici has 
outlined some of these efforts. This year, we introduce this resolution 
to remind the Senate that the work on this issue is far from over, and 
again to enlist their support in reinstating these values to their 
proper places as fundamental to our society. I am proud to join my 
colleagues, especially Senator Domenici, in this effort once again, and 
I urge the Senate to support this resolution.
  Mr. BENNETT. I thank the Chair and I thank the distinguished Senator 
from New Mexico.
  He has taken this time this morning to talk about a project that he 
and the senior Senator from Georgia [Mr. Nunn] initiated in the 103rd 
Congress, of which I was delighted to be a member. This is the program 
called character counts, whereby we are talking on the floor of the 
Senate and in our home States about the six pillars of character which 
the Senator from New Mexico and the Senator from Georgia have outlined, 
along with others in the character counts coalition, others outside of 
Government. I will not review all of those details because they have 
been spread on the record, but I think it is appropriate for us to 
pause for a moment and talk about the impact that we have had with this 
effort.
  As I have talked about this in my own home State, the reaction has 
been: ``Why are you doing this? Why take the time to talk about 
something so much a cliche as character-- character counts for our 
kids. Well, everybody is for that. It is like the old cliche, truth, 
justice and the American way coming out of the comic book character. We 
don't need to talk about that. Everybody agrees about that.''
  And then, as I talk about it, some more people begin to realize that 
maybe we do need to talk about it. Because bit by bit over the years, 
the American commitment to individual character, the American 
commitment to teaching individual character attributes to our children 
has diminished, not by design but more by inertia.
  If you watch the television today, that being our principal source of 
entertainment and information, you find that references to character 
are constantly being eroded. For the sake of today's television drama, 
we glorify selfishness. For the sake of today's television action, we 
glorify someone who triumphs in a physical way out of a sense of 
selfishness, and cleverness and character and commitment and 
cooperation all seem to be disappearing.
  What we have done with the character counts coalition is reintroduce 
into the national dialog those aspects of character that we ought to be 
talking about. Have we made a dramatic impact? No. Have we caused great 
national consciousness to rise on these issues? No. But have we begun 
to turn over one little pebble at a time in the great national mosaic 
references to selfishness and self-glory and turn them over to become 
references to cooperation and character? Yes. Over time, that is the 
slow, steady process that will change the mosaic, that will change the 
overall look of the national scene.
  So we are in this, I say to the Senator and to the Senate as a whole, 
for the long term. We are in this to keep 
[[Page S5234]] this dialog going one stone at a time in the mosaic. 
When we view it in that fashion, I am very gratified by the progress we 
have made since the last Congress. As we keep the dialog going, as we 
keep the steady drumbeat going, we have hopes and, indeed, indication 
that we are succeeding in quietly and slowly turning around this 
debate.
  So I hope that we can keep this up. I commend the Senator from New 
Mexico for his diligence and his persistence, and that in some future 
Congress, people will look back and say, ``You know, it was slow and 
steady, but ultimately those people determined to inject character 
education into our national fabric have produced the long-term effects 
that they were hoping for.''
  Thus, Mr. President, I am delighted to be associated with this. I 
pledge myself to stay in for the long term, the way the Senator from 
New Mexico is in for the long term, and I have hope that in the long 
term we will see the deterioration of character that has been going on 
in this country for so long begin to turn around and change and go in 
the right direction.
  I thank the Senator for his leadership and pledge my myself to this 
effort.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I yield 4 minutes to the Senator from 
Tennessee.


                         character is universal

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to speak just for a few moments on character.
  Last year, this body passed a resolution that formally endorsed the 
six character traits set forth in Aspen, CO, in 1992 by a group of 
scholars, educators, and youth advocates.
  People with different backgrounds came together in Aspen in search of 
consensus on character. Despite their differences, they found that all 
could agree on those values of trustworthiness, respect, 
responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
  Mr. President, consensus on character is possible because character 
is universal, because character counts. The stamp of character has 
always been unmistakable. We have seen it in our leaders, in people 
like Abraham Lincoln and Rosa Parks. We have seen it in our 
communities, in volunteers who give of their time, their energy, and 
their resources on behalf of those less fortunate.
  We have all glimpsed the glory of character in our lifetimes. And in 
our heart of hearts, we know that the worth of character outweighs 
those fleeting benefits of cheap substitutes such as wealth and power.
  Yet, throughout history, Mr. President, character has been under 
unrelenting assault. Today in this country, many of our children simply 
do not even know the meaning of the word. There are very few role 
models, very few heroes. Even here in Washington, where character 
should be synonymous with leadership, many pursue less worthy goals.
  The time has come, Mr. President, for those in Washington to stand up 
and up the ante. Battles have been lost but the war is far from over.
  Having just spent every day of last year interacting with 
Tennesseans, traveling to every county throughout Tennessee, I can say 
that there is a hunger across America for community built on character.
  We must teach our children, first by example, and then through 
lessons of the past, that character counts.
  Today, I urge my colleague to renew their commitment to high personal 
standards, whatever the cost, and endorse this resolution. We were 
elected to do no less.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President. Do I not have 
time?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Campbell). The Senator is correct. The 
Senator has 4 minutes and 15 seconds.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I was going to yield the remainder of the time to 
Senator Dorgan, a new member of the coalition.


                            Character Counts

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I am delighted to join my colleague from 
New Mexico on this resolution, proclaiming that character counts. A 
group of people in this body and in our country have put together an 
effort here that I think is important to our young people.
  As I was thinking about coming over and talking about character 
today, I remembered something I read about an 11-year-old boy named 
Robert Sandifer. Robert is dead. He lies today in a coffin somewhere in 
the city of Chicago, killed by a bullet to the back of his head at age 
11.
  At that young age, Robert, who by then had 23 felony charges, was 4 
feet 6 inches tall and weighed no more than about 85 pounds. He was 
buried with a stuffed animal in his casket, as family and friends said 
their goodbyes.
  In Robert's 11 years, he lived the life of a hardened criminal. Yet, 
if we look at the rest of his life, when he was taken from his mother 
in 1986, State social workers found scars on his face, cord-like marks 
on his abdomen, and cigarette burns on his neck and his buttocks. He 
was a victim of substantial abuse, who turned to a life of crime and 
then was executed at the age of 11.
  As we look at Robert's life, we can feel sorry for him for the abuse 
he suffered, but we shouldn't make excuses for his behavior. During the 
course of his young life, Robert had already committed substantial, 
violent criminal acts. And it seems to me, there comes a time when we 
need to stand up and say what he did was wrong, despite the reasons he 
might have had for turning to a life of crime.
  Is Robert's story unusual? No, not really. Day after day, in city 
after city, we hear stories like this. And it breaks your heart. 
Something is wrong in this country. Something is dramatically wrong, 
and we need to fix it.
  How do we fix it? Well, we have to again begin teaching values and 
character in this country--in our homes, in our communities, in our 
schools, in our churches. We need to reinforce the importance of good 
moral character every day, in every way.
  Edmund Burke once stated, ``All that is necessary for evil to triumph 
is for good people to do nothing.'' Good people all across this country 
must look around and understand that, in many respects, our moral 
compass is off.
   Two of our major growth industries in America are security and 
gambling. Those are the growth industries. If you want to get in on the 
ground floor and get a good job, work as a prison or security guard or 
for the gambling industry.
  Or, for another indication of what's wrong in our country, turn on 
the television this morning; what do we see? We entertain ourselves by 
other people's dysfunctional behavior and portray it as normal. Oprah, 
Phil, Ricki, Geraldo--we amuse ourselves by watching all of this 
dysfunctional behavior.
  What are our children to think, watching violence hour after hour, 
night after night, on television? The average child will see 8,000 
murders on TV before leaving elementary school. What are our people, 
especially our young people, to think?
  The effort called for in the character counts resolution is very 
simple. It is to say that all people, good people in this country, 
people in their homes and in their communities, in school after school 
across our country, need to, every day and in every way, teach our kids 
about certain basic values--about trustworthiness, about respect, about 
justice, about caring, about responsibility, about citizenship. It is 
our job to reinforce in every conceivable way those kinds of values in 
America's youth.
  I understand that bad news travels halfway around the world before 
good news gets its shoes on. I understand all that. There is plenty of 
bad news and there are plenty of storm clouds in this country when we 
talk about American youth.
  But I also recognize that there are many wonderful stories as well, 
about young people across our country doing well and caring and helping 
others, and we should reaffirm their efforts.
  On the other hand, when we see and hear the gripping, wrenching 
stories of Robert Sandifer and others, we need to understand that these 
are things we can do something about.
  Character counts is an effort, an educational effort and a 
citizenship effort all across this country, to say kids matter, values 
matter, character matters, and we can do something about it if we only 
work together and try. That is why I am pleased to join my colleague 
from New Mexico and others in 
[[Page S5235]] this Chamber as a sponsor of this resolution, and I hope 
we will pass this measure and give voice to this kind of initiative.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I am pleased this morning to join with the 
distinguished Senator from New Mexico and a bipartisan group of my 
colleagues to submit this Senate Resolution designating October 15 
through October 21, 1995, as National Character Counts Week.
  One does not need a doctorate in sociology to know that something has 
gone terribly wrong for many young Americans. Teen pregnancy is 
exploding; violence by and against children is out of control; basic 
norms of civility have broken down in too many troubled communities.
  Births to unwed women increased 70 percent between 1983 and 1993, 
according to the Census Bureau. Last year, one in four American 
children under 18 lived with a single parent who had never been 
married. Deaths of children due to homicide have tripled since 1960, 
becoming the fourth leading cause of death among children ages 1 to 9, 
the third leading cause for children 10 to 14, and the second leading 
cause of death for adolescents ages 15 to 19. The perpetrators of these 
crimes are very often other children.
  A series of complex trends have caused these problems, and there are 
no easy solutions to them. Better education, prevention, and 
punishment, and help for families in trouble must all play a role. But 
we must also acknowledge that there is only so much government can do. 
An effective cure for the plagues devastating young America must 
include a large dose of individual responsibility and character 
building.
  That is why I am so pleased to continue to be a part of the informal 
Senate Character Counts Coalition, led by Senator Domenici. My 
colleagues and I began last year to promote the idea of character 
education in our public schools as a part of the solution to the 
problems that plague young America. And we continue that effort today.
  I believe that it is entirely appropriate for schools to teach 
students the importance of qualities like honesty, courage, respect, 
responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship, and loyalty. These 
ideals are not controversial, revolutionary concepts. They transcend 
individual religions and philosophies.
  Education should be more than the transmission of facts. It should be 
more than the molding of an intellect. Education should help teach 
young people all they need to know to be full participants in our 
society. Strengthening the mind is not enough: We should also nurture 
the character.
  While I believe this approach is common sense to most Americans, it 
has nonetheless raised eyebrows and concerns about the appropriate role 
of the schools. I believe these concerns are unfounded. Clearly, 
schools will never replace the family. Parents and grandparents, 
churches, and synagogues should and will always be the primary 
influences on children's values and systems of belief. To promote 
character education is not to challenge those influences, but to 
complement them.
  Character education is an idea whose time has come, and Congress has 
begun to recognize that fact. Last year's Improving America's Schools 
Act included several provisions that offer new support for character 
education. An amendment I offered to the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and 
Communities Act provides local schools with more flexibility to use 
these Federal funds for character education.
  During consideration by the full Senate of the same bill, Senator 
Domenici and I expanded on this effort by adopting an additional and 
distinct programs to provide grants for States and local partnerships 
that want to implement character education programs. In addition, 
Congress also established the first National Character Counts Week, 
which was celebrated in schools and communities across the country.
  Character education alone will obviously not solve this country's 
moral crisis or save young America. But it should certainly be part of 
any plan to help young America save itself.
  For these reasons, I am very pleased to join once again with Senator 
Domenici, Senator Nunn, and others to submit this resolution to 
establish a 1995 National Character Counts Week. I hope my other 
colleagues will join us in supporting this and other character 
education efforts.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from New 
Mexico for being the organizer of the Character Counts Coalition here 
in the U.S. Senate.
  We are men and women, Democrats and Republicans, from all geographic 
parts of the United States of America, and we are united with one voice 
today to talk about why character counts and why we need to instill 
these pillars of character in our public schools, our nonprofit 
organizations, and throughout the United States of America through 
every cultural method of communication.
  Mr. President, we are 6 years from the year 2000. A new century is 
coming. A new millennium is about to be born. We in America need to ask 
ourselves, what will the United States of America be in the 21st 
century? Will we be a superpower? Yes. We will be a superpower because 
of our economic structure. We will be a superpower because of our 
military might. But we will also be a superpower because the people of 
the United States have been empowered by a set of values.
  I believe the continuity that will sustain us between the centuries 
is our values. It is the core values that are expressed in the pillars 
of character, trustworthiness, fairness, justice and caring, civic 
virtue, and citizenship. These are the aspects of continuity that will 
help us not only cope with change but to embrace change and lead us 
into the 21st century.
  For some time, I have been concerned that in the United States of 
America we have gone from being a progressive society to being a 
permissive society. Instead of having character, you are rewarded if 
you are a character.
  To that end, I have been concerned that we call celebrities heroes. I 
will tell you what a hero really is. It is a man or woman who makes 
significant personal sacrifice, maybe even risking their lives for a 
greater good with no personal gain.
  Right now, there are foster mothers throughout the United States of 
America caring for children who are abused, caring for children who 
have AIDS. Those people are heroes.
  They are willing to make personal sacrifices with no personal gain 
for the greater good. They are people with strong values.
  They know they have a call to duty, a call to responsibility and 
understanding that for every right there is a responsibility, for every 
opportunity there is an obligation.
  Mr. President, we need to keep advocating a society based on virtue 
and value and not a society where every aspect of our cultural 
communication regards and exploits violence and vulgarity. This is not 
what the United States is about, and this is not what built the United 
States of America.
  What built America was virtue and value. Those are the ties that 
bind, the habits of the heart, neighbor helping neighbor, personal 
respect for yourself and respect for others.
  This coalition wants to reinforce those values that have sustained 
America through good times and bad, through war and through peace. That 
is why I am advocating the Character Coalition and the inculcation of 
these values once again through our public schools and nonprofits.
  My State of Maryland has been dedicated to character education. Over 
a decade ago, Blair Lee, a former Governor, had a values commission. 
Our Maryland attorney general encouraged values to be taught in the 
schools. We are now again moving on innovative character education 
programs.
  In my own hometown of Baltimore, the public schools are making sure 
that character counts. In many of our schools and higher education 
facilities, they are looking at how to have institutes to be able to 
advocate character.
  Mr. President, this initiative is important because we need to 
concentrate on community building and individual capacity among our 
young people so they can be part of a larger community. We need to be 
sure that we strengthen the American family and extend that to a larger 
community.
  I am happy to lend my voice and my efforts for a cause that I believe 
transcends party and geographic lines because it is not only the laws 
on the books that help govern us as a society, 
[[Page S5236]] it is the laws you carry in your heart that govern your 
day to day behavior, and the way you react with one another, your 
neighbors, and the larger community. I believe the pillars of character 
count, and I am happy to be part of this coalition.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Domenici 
and other cosponsors of this resolution designating the week of October 
15, 1995, as Character Counts Week. This is the second year I have 
worked with a bipartisan group of Senators to promote character 
education. Our goal is to support the many Americans who are working to 
strengthen the moral fiber of our children through character education. 
The resolution specifically embraces six ethical values common to this 
diverse group of Senators and, we believe, to all Americans--
trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and 
citizenship.
  We are dedicated to instilling these six pillars of character in our 
youth. Too many forces in our society teach children to reject these 
values and too few individuals and institutions reinforce them. The 
media often glorifies deceitful, violent characters. The breakdown of 
the family has left many children without consistent caretakers and 
role models that can nourish their moral development. Even some 
government policies send the wrong message. Our current welfare system, 
for example, fosters dependency rather than responsibility and self-
sufficiency.
  This resolution reflects our support for the education, community, 
and religious organizations that are working at the grassroots level to 
promote character education. As politicians we should reinforce their 
efforts wherever we can. Too often politicians are wary of using their 
position and the law to reinforce specific moral objectives for fear of 
weakening the separation of church and state. But the laws society 
enacts and observes are ultimately expressions of values. They serve as 
a moral structure for our civilization. We cannot and should not 
downplay this connection.
  This resolution will help reinforce the importance of developing our 
children's character and will add momentum to the many character 
education programs underway today. I am committed to working with my 
colleagues to find other ways to build character education into public 
and private programs through our political leadership and legislative 
work.


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