[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 17574-17575]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING NIKITA RODRIGUES FOR HER INSPIRING SPEECH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HAROLD ROGERS

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 7, 2006

  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, we need not worry about 
America's future if all our up and coming leaders believe in her as 
does a high school student in my District who delivered the following 
``Message for America'' to an audience of young people.
  Nikita Rodrigues lives in my hometown of Somerset, Kentucky and is an 
outstanding person, as you can tell.


                       ``my message for america''

       Ladies and Gentlemen, I speak to you today as a young 
     American. Let that serve as sufficient warning that what I 
     have to say contains equal proportions of young Hope and 
     American Pride. These are the priceless ingredients of my 
     Message for America, which is, ``America: Be, all that you 
     can be.''
       As a young American I am sick and tired of the naysayers 
     that predict the end of the American dream. I am sick of 
     reading about the differences between the red and the blue 
     states and how those insurmountable differences will 
     suffocate our future as Americans. I am sick of hearing about 
     Americans being described as consumers, not producers. And I 
     am sick of people taking pot shots at my country as being 
     past her glory years. To all these naysayers, divisionists, 
     and pessimists I have only one thing to say, ``Your mistake 
     lies in under-estimating the youth of America.''
       It was our past-President Bill Clinton who once said, 
     ``There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by 
     what is right with America''! America's most priceless asset 
     lies not in her immense natural resources, not in her huge 
     factories, not in her stores of gold, not her natural beauty 
     nor her system of incredible highways. America's greatest 
     assets still are the character of her people and the optimism 
     of her youth.
       We the youth of America must believe that we can make a 
     difference. We must participate in the political process and 
     hold our 1eaders accountable when partisan politics stymies 
     our progress. If American high-schoolers are lagging behind 
     the rest of the world, it is time to demand that our schools 
     foster excellence and competitiveness rather than comfortable 
     mediocrity. In the flat world of today, American youth must 
     step up and compete. Yes, we are more diverse than we ever 
     were, but that diversity can and must be our strength.
       In his book, ``What's so Great About America'' Dinesh 
     D'Sousa had this to say about our country. ``America is the 
     greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is 
     an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and

[[Page 17575]]

     barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the 
     world, is now the last best hope for the world.''
       That hope and responsibility rests firmly on our young 
     American shoulders. We can either shrug it off or bear down 
     and accept the daunting challenge to each do our part to make 
     America--All That She Can Be!
       Nikita Rodrigues, Somerset, Kentucky

                          ____________________