[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 49 (Tuesday, April 28, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E685-E686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 VOICE OF DEMOCRACY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAVE WELDON

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 28, 1998

  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, founded more than half a century 
ago, the Voice of Democracy Scholarship Program allows high school 
students a chance to compete in a broadcast script writing contest. The 
competition, sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the U.S. 
Ladies Auxiliary, conducts this annual speech competition and provides 
the winners with a scholarship. I am very pleased that this year Scott 
Wilson, 18, from Palm Bay High School was selected as the winner from 
the state of Florida.
  I commend him for his hard work both in this competition and as 
demonstrated in his academic achievements. In recognition of his 
selection as the winner of this competition, I am hereby submitting his 
speech to the Congressional Record for printing.


[[Page E686]]



 1997-98 VFW Voice of Democracy Scholarship Competition ``My Voice in 
                            our Democracy''


                     (Scott Wilson, Florida Winner)

       Stop and listen. Listen to the past, to the glorious voices 
     of our Democracy. Do you hear them speaking? Their words 
     softly vibrate with each ring of our liberty bell, and echo 
     loudly in the crash of a judge's gavel. They whisper from the 
     forgotten pages of our Constitution, and scream from the 
     dying lips of a fallen soldier. Their words are of freedom, 
     justice, and equality and their voice is the voice of 
     democracy. Stop and look. Look to the future. Behold, the 
     golden sun of the twentieth century casts its final rays over 
     the ever-darkening horizon, and the dawn of a new millennium 
     rises. Yet now, many have forgotten the timber of democracy's 
     magnificent voice. Its whisperings are barely audible now, 
     diminished by the passage of time. The voice of democracy 
     must be amplified by the megaphone of a new generation, so 
     that the America of tomorrow will need not strain to hear its 
     mighty declaration. But it begins with me. I must be the 
     first megaphone. America will hear my voice in our democracy.
       In 1775, American democracy was but a newborn babe, 
     struggling to snap the umbilical cord of a tyrannical British 
     monarchy. Lack of unity heightened the struggle, as colonial 
     Tories, too timid to jump from the safety of the nest, clung 
     tightly to their mother country. Meanwhile, true American 
     patriots, few in number, desperately needed a spokesman. And 
     in the Virginian House of Burgesses, Patrick Henry stepped to 
     the platform. Henry strongly felt that the colonists should 
     arm themselves for a war with Britain, in which they would 
     cast off the bitter yoke of political enslavement. He is 
     forever remembered for seven, soul-stirring words which 
     emulated the very heart of the American revolution: ``Give me 
     liberty, or give me death!'' And later, at the genesis of the 
     American Constitution, Henry was among the creators of the 
     Bill of Rights, which insured the people of their basic 
     freedoms. Yes, in the turbulent age of the Revolution, the 
     voice of freedom was calling, and Patrick Henry answered its 
     call. Today, the voice of freedom is still calling through 
     the corridors of time searching for someone to magnify her 
     majestic voice. I will be that someone, who like Patrick 
     Henry, steps to the platform in defense of freedom's voice. 
     And when I behold the basic freedoms of man covered by a 
     menacing storm of political scheming and deceit, I will help 
     to pull back the clouds to reveal the rainbow of liberties 
     that is the American birthright, and the democratic promise.
       Since the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 
     United States has grappled with the issue of racial equality. 
     But like a boxer that beats the air, we have landed few 
     direct punches to the face of inequality's true opponent--
     discrimination. And even in the 1960's, racism had not yet 
     received its rightful knockout blow. That is, until Dr. 
     Martin Luther King, Jr., stepped into the ring. In August of 
     1963, 200,000 protesters marched to the Lincoln Memorial, and 
     stood as sheep about its reflecting pool, listening to their 
     shepherd speak these moving words: ``I have a dream that one 
     day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of 
     its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all 
     men are created equal.'' Today, nearly thirty-five years 
     later, we still dream his dream, because when the vote of 
     equality was calling, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., answered 
     its call. But like freedom's voice, the voice of equality 
     searches for someone new. Here again, I will be that someone, 
     who climbs into the ring of combat. And when I pass through 
     the peaceful fields of equality, freshly trampled by the 
     deafening machine of unfounded discrimination, I will glean 
     from the lives of the past, and sow the seeds of democracy 
     for future generations, so that in due time, they will reap 
     an abundant harvest of racial tranquility.
       And now I ask you: As the dawn of the new millennium rises, 
     who will rise up with it, to echo the voice of democracy in 
     the approaching age? Who will it be that opens the eyes of 
     Americans to the truth of human equality? And who will it be 
     that ensures future Americans of their right to freedom and 
     justice? The past is speaking, but will you the future 
     listen? The past is challenging, but will you the future 
     respond? I am listening, and I will respond. I will be the 
     new megaphone, that amplifies the democratic voice when 
     freedom's rainbow cannot be seen, when justice's gavel is 
     strangely mute, and when equality's harvest is trampled 
     underfoot. America will hear me shout: ``Freedom!'' 
     ``Justice'' ``Equality!'' Assuredly, my voice will be heard 
     in our democracy.

     

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