[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HOW MEAN HAS THIS COUNTRY GOTTEN?

  (Mr. FARR of California asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise this Sunday afternoon 
here in Washington with, like the rest of us, probably really missing 
our families and wishing we could be with them. But I happened to think 
about my daughter who was about the age that I was when this town and 
this country was calling out for the best in people, asking them to 
bring out what is the best in America by joining the Peace Corps. I did 
that.
  In the Peace Corps I lived as minority in another land, and I learned 
the greatness of the United States. Incredible to see how much we can 
do around the world. And I knew then that I was going to enter a 
political career to try to right wrongs and make life better.
  Here we are, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the 105th session, and I look 
back, and I think, oh my God, how mean has this country gotten? How 
mean is their right-wing leadership in their party? They want to take 
away public education and privatize it, remove the safety net. They 
want to make Social Security neither social, nor secure. They want to 
have people in their medical careers have to deal with insurance 
companies rather than doctors.
  I plead with my colleagues to get away from the meanness. Go back to 
the dreams of America. We can cure a lot.

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