[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Pages 31916-31917]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Grayson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GRAYSON. Madam Speaker, I invite you and everyone within the 
sound of my voice tonight--all Americans--to reach into your pockets. 
Take out a dollar bill. Turn it around. On the back, you will see the 
Great Seal of the United States.
  Our Founding Fathers had very few ways to communicate with us. They 
lived before the time of television. They lived before the time of 
radio. They lived before the time of photography, so they communicate 
to us through the Constitution. They communicate to us through the 
Declaration of Independence, through the Federalist Papers, through 
letters that they wrote, and only one image--and that image is this 
image--the image on our dollar bill, the image of the Great Seal of the 
United States.
  I invite you to take a close look at it. I have one right here. The 
one in my pocket is in black and white--or green and white, if you 
will. The one here is in color. Take a look at it, and you will see the 
American eagle. You will see that the American eagle is holding arrows 
on the right, in its claw, and an olive branch on the left. This had 
deep symbolism to our Founding Fathers. This seal was adopted before 
the Constitution, itself, was ratified.
  The gentleman who had to explain and to support the adoption of this 
symbol as our country's Great Seal said that he had the eagle holding 
arrows and an olive branch to symbolize war and peace. Specifically, 
what he said was, with regard to that olive branch, he wanted to 
illustrate the power of peace. He said, ``the power of peace,'' which 
is not a phrase we hear very often. We hear a great deal of the power 
of war, but we don't hear much about the power of peace.
  You will note that the eagle is not looking toward the arrows. That 
eagle is looking toward the olive branch. The reason the American eagle 
was placed by our Founding Fathers with an eye on that olive branch was 
that they always wanted America to be looking for peace.
  I'm sad to say that we have forgotten that, this message from our 
Founding Fathers from over 200 years ago. We've forgotten that, but 
it's still here in our pockets today and on our dollar bill to remind 
us that the Founding Fathers wanted us to be looking not for war but 
for peace.
  What is that power that peace has? The power that peace has is the 
power to educate your children, the power to maintain your own health 
and the health of other citizens, and the power to build roads, 
hospitals, and bridges. The power of war is the power to destroy all of 
that.

                              {time}  1830

  That is why our Founding Fathers warned us against foreign 
entanglements and why our Founding Fathers reminded us in the Great 
Seal to be looking all the time to peace and not to war. The things 
that we do now for the past 8 years are things that are unprecedented 
anywhere else in the world. The English stopped occupying other 
countries in the fifties, half a century ago. The French stopped doing 
it in the sixties. The Portuguese stopped doing it in the seventies. 
The Soviet Union stopped doing it in the nineties, too late to save the 
Soviet Union. And to a large degree the destruction of the Soviet Union 
came from a disrespect for the power of peace and a worship of the 
power of war. Let's hope that we recognize that mistake and let's hope 
that we don't repeat it in Iraq and in Afghanistan, wherever the next 
war might be.
  In Washington, D.C., you hear much discussion of leadership. Everyone 
wants to claim that mantle. I'm a leader, he's a leader, she's a 
leader. Everybody claims to be a leader. Well, there is a kind of 
leadership that we need right now very badly, and that is the 
leadership that looks just a little bit ahead into the future, 
recognizes what's inevitable and tries to make it come sooner. I have 
no doubt in my mind that one day the war in Afghanistan will be over. I 
have no doubt in my mind that one day the war in Iraq will be over. The 
question is, when?

[[Page 31917]]

  We are the strongest country on earth, the strongest country that the 
earth has ever seen. We end a war when we decide to end a war, and I 
submit to you that that time has come. There is no force on earth that 
will make us end the war. We have to do it now. We have to fight for 
the power of peace.

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