Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Photo by Michelle Grittmann
Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and Democrat Tom Daschle gave the annual Dole Lecture to a full Lied Center at 8 p.m. Monday.
Tom Daschle thinks that the United States needs to make use of its people and resources to leave a better country for the next generations, a tradition past generations have kept throughout U.S. history.
“The question is, how do we build an American as good and strong as its people?” Daschle said.
The former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and Democrat gave the annual Dole Lecture to a full Lied Center at 8 p.m. Monday. He discussed issues ranging from a need for better education and health care to the need for energy independence.
He said today the U.S. government needed to provide good education and health care for its people. With that, the American people can accomplish anything, he said.
The United States finished 37th in the World Health Organization. Daschle said the ranking was unacceptable. “What would they say if we came in 37th in the Olympics?” he said.
Almost 30 years ago, both the wealthiest and poorest fifths of the nation’s income doubled, he said. More recently, the poor have stayed the same and only the wealthiest have grown, making the economic growth “terribly lop-sided,” he said.
He said the U.S. gains 65,000 new engineers a year, while China has 6 million, and the U.S. became, for the first time, a net importer of technology in 2005. All of this could change if the government provided education for its people. That won’t happen when the budget deficit will possibly be lessened with the $12.7 billion cut in Federal Student Loans.
He advocated further research and expansion of alternative energy sources so that they could be readily available for the American people. He stressed the importance of ethanol fuel as well as solar energy, wind power and gasified coal as the country’s future energy providers.
With nearly half of the United State’s oil coming from the Middle East, “energy independence becomes a national security issue,” he said.
Daschle himself bought a vehicle that ran on 85 percent ethanol fuel, but soon realized that there were no pumps to fill up his gas tank. Even in California, he said four ethanol pumps exist and three were for government use only. He stressed that progress could not be made by individuals until the government stepped up and provided the means.
Daschle called to the youth to work towards a better future where America could lead the world by aiding it and setting a good example rather than the example set by military power. He pointed out that at the age of 26, Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott, at the age of 32, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, an at 21, Bill Gates started Microsoft.
Daschle also praised the patriotism and leadership of Bob Dole and shared his own experiences with him. After Daschle lost his South Dakota U.S. Senate seat to a challenger, Dole invited him to work with him at a law firm in Washington, D.C.
The two friends travelled to Europe, where Dole was welcomed by Europeans as one of the soldiers who risked his own life to liberate those he didn’t know. He said this was an invaluable part of the American ideal.
Amanda Davis, Aberdeen, S.D., freshman, said she was glad that Daschle was still a strong proponent of education as well.
“I’ve always really enjoyed Tom Daschle. I did vote for him,” Amanda Davis, Aberdeen, South Dakota, freshman, said, “I liked that he was still very optimistic.”
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