[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17848]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        LAST BEST HOPE OF EARTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCOTTER. Madam Speaker, undreamt by all but the mind of God, on 
November 9, 1989, a chance was breach-birthed through a blood spattered 
wall, and heralded by the joyous chorus of freedom unfettered. 
Confusing this chance with entitlement, hubristic humanity christened 
this transient moment ``the end of history.''
  For a spell, her siren song stupefied and sedated all who wished the 
world was different, for it was, wasn't it?
  Universally, right reason retreated before her beguiling tidings of 
permanent peace, as statesmen, scholars and citizens boasted the future 
was at hand, though not in their hands because these elites assumed 
``the end of history'' had relieved humanity of its duty to shelter and 
shape the fragile civilization separating us from savagery.
  But duty was not so easily abdicated, nor was reality so cavalierly 
ignored. Incessantly through the benighted times, incipient sparks of 
tumult flitted before blinded eyes, wafting heavenward, spiraling 
downward and mirroring the death of the chance. Incidents begat 
situations which begat problems which begat crises and--Nothing, as the 
pyre of hope flamed out; and mercilessly, ``the end of history'' was 
found murdered amidst the ruins of evil's wanton feast on September 11, 
2001.
  With the chance turned to ashes in our hands, we've stumbled from our 
slumber to feel our way through a shadowy series of dire events. 
Frustrated and fearful, we are tempted to seek relief by wallowing in a 
mire of suicidal denial or sating ourselves on the saccharine succor of 
sophistry. Such desperate acts will ill avail us in our quest for the 
true resolution of our troubles. No, a generation who embraced ``the 
end of history'' to elude its duty must now reacquaint itself with its 
own history in order to understand, confront, and conquer the quartet 
of crises besetting it.
  Thankfully, for enlightenment and inspiration, our generation of 
Americans can still turn to this Nation's Greatest Generation.
  America's Greatest Generation faced and surmounted four crises: the 
social and economic upheavals of industrialization, including the Great 
Depression; a Second World War against abject evil; the rise of the 
Soviet ``super-state'' as a rival to democratic capitalism; and the 
civil rights movement's struggle to equally ensure the God-given and 
constitutionally recognized rights of all Americans.
  Today, our generation of Americans must also confront and transcend a 
quartet of crises: the social and economic upheavals of globalization; 
a third world war against abject evil; the rise of the communist 
``China, Inc. super-state'' as a rival to democratic capitalism; and 
moral relativism's erosion of our Nation's foundational, self-evident 
truths.
  Yet there is a critical difference between the crises conquered by 
the Greatest Generation and the crises confronting our generation of 
Americans: Generally, they faced their crises consecutively; we face 
our crises simultaneously.
  In response, we must construct prudent policies which, through the 
moral rule of law, wrest order from the chaos. In this purposeful 
pursuit, we must be heartened and guided by the Greatest Generation's 
greatest virtue: their moral clarity.
  The Greatest Generation knew America was the greatest Nation. This 
was no blind belief. This conviction, born of right reason applied to 
the providential unfolding of their personal experience with America's 
fundamental truths, traditions, rights and duties, empowered the 
Greatest Generation to prevail against all odds and attain the zenith 
of acclaim.
  Now our generation of Americans must possess the moral clarity needed 
to meet our quartet of crises. Yes, there will be those who will pale 
amidst our perilous present, and those who deny the inherent decency of 
our democracy and decry its righteous defense. But if our resolve 
erodes absent right reason and such cynics prevail in the public 
square, we are damned. For if in our duty we falter and fail, 
generations unnamed will rue the day we slipped the womb to salt their 
Earth.
  Thus we must embrace what we cannot escape. Once more in the life of 
our free Republic's revolutionary experiment in democracy, we, its 
sovereign citizens, confront a historical crossroads which will 
determine whether our children are bequeathed a legacy of freedom or 
serfdom, of liberty or slavery. Our path is stark; our task is great. 
Yet, with God's guidance through these transformational times, we will 
seize our moment and deliver America from evil.
  Then, one day, later, perhaps sooner, but wherever the future holds 
our transcendent tomorrow, free Americans and an emancipated humanity 
will kindly recall our courageous defense of the ``last best hope of 
Earth.''

                          ____________________