[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E434-E435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                IN RECOGNITION OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SAM GEJDENSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 28, 2000

  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize March 25th as 
Greek Independence Day. This past Saturday, as Greeks celebrated the 
179th anniversary of their freedom from Ottoman rule, many of my own 
constituents commemorated this occasion with a special ceremony in 
Middletown, Connecticut. The blue-and-white Greek flag flew high over 
Middletown, as city and state officials gathered with residents for the 
unveiling of a new street sign called Eleftheria Way--the Greek work 
for freedom.
  The pursuit of freedom is just one of the many ideals which have 
historically bound together our peoples. In many ways, Greece was the 
birthplace of American democracy. In 370 B.C., Plato wrote in The 
Republic: ``Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety 
and disorder, and dispensing a kind of equality to equals and unequals 
alike.'' In an address made over 2400 years ago, Pericles explained: 
``Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands 
not of a minority but of the whole people. When it is a question of 
settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is 
a question of putting one person before another in positions of public 
responsibility, what counts is not a membership of a particular class, 
but the actual ability which the mass possesses.''
  As Americans, we are indebted to the contributions of the Ancient 
Greeks in so many areas, including science, medicine and the

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arts. Greek civilization has inspired our passion for truth and 
justice. And for more than a century, Americans of Greek descent have 
continued to lend their wisdom, energy and talent to our nation while 
weaving their own unique history into the social fabric of America.
  Greek Independence Day marks an important milestone for lovers of 
freedom and democracy worldwide. I congratulate Greece for 179 years of 
independent rule and for a legacy that will extend for an eternity.

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