New Haven, ConnecticutRepresentative Douglas SpeechMarch 9th, 1959
"Hello New Haven, and what what a wonderful city you are. I toured around the city earlier today, and you're nice people, I thank you for the hospitality. It's a shame that this city has fallen upon tough times, like so many other cities you have left behind by large industrial corporations. This rapid industrial decline has left many of you unemployed, good people, hard working people left unemployed through no fault of their own. The fact is you've outlived your usefulness to them, the large industrial corporations don't need you anymore, they've moved elsewhere to find cheap labor in third world countries or they've used all the resources they could find. Some politicians want to reward these big businesses, or say that we should in the footsteps of these third world countries without strong governments or regulations making labor cheap and practically enslaving the less well off. They want to punish the poor and reward the rich, this is the mindset of many republicans such as Jonathan Jackson, he wants to give tax breaks to large corporations for "employing" more people, but he also wants to get rid of the minimum wage. It's almost as if he's asking these large corporations take advantage of the poor, of the unemployed, of the less well off and enslave having corporations pay them little to nothing, and he will reward them for doing so.
That is a America of Jonathan Jackson, a military general who doesn't know much else. He knows how to crush enemies, not how make allies. He suppressed political dissidents in Japan who dared to object to his policies. Freedom of speech and freedom of press will be restricted under his watch, and the cold war may very well go nuclear. Jackson wants to essentially brain wash our children, we've seen it with his so called youth program. He advocates for instilling moral values into our children, but we all know what that means, we've seen in dictatorships across the world. He has no regard for the division of church and state engrained in the constitution. He wants to get rid of what he sees as pesky regulations, regulations that protect the American people and stand in the way of his political goals, and punish his allies.
At least others such as Senator Josh Sharp of Mississippi are more forward and honest about their goals. He actively reminisces about the Antebellum Era, slavery, child labor, he admits he hates the poor. He lives on a plantation, where as we know slaves were kept and worked. He threatens to reverse all the progress we have achieved, the progress that has gotten us to what we have today, and the technological advances we have today. Senator Sharp wants to dial back the clock to the antebellum era, how will we compete with the Soviet Union as they continue the development of weapons while we are trying to dial back the clock to an era of slavery and division. We must invest more in our military, in science and development, we must be united in the face of this threat. But we also must provide good progressive ideas, we must tend to our people, this a war unlike anything we have seen before, a war of ideas, in order to the people and world on our side we must provide and we must show we have the best ideas. Senator Sharp wants to put children, CHILDREN, in conditions adults can't even manage. We need to protect our children not put them in danger, we need to protect them from people like Senator Josh Sharp. We saw the images of children in those coal mines, they were dying in there, we shouldn't send them back in there. Think of your children, think of your grandchildren, do you want them to die in coal mines to benefit the few, the rich, the powerful like Senator Josh Sharp. Reject these ideas, vote against Senator Sharp in the Democratic Primary, tell your state representatives to ratify the Child Labor Amendment.
Now Senator Sharp says that I seek to ruin the constitution, he says he is the one defending the constitution, in the same speech he says to blatantly disregard the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. The amendments that abolish slavery, ensure equal protection, and grants everyone the right to vote. Senator Sharps seems to think that not following the constitution is defending it. I'm sorry to break to him, but it's the oppose, you first need to follow the constitution before you are able to defend it. We must ensure that the constitution and all of it's amendments are put into force in all states of this great union.
Now forgive me as I talk about the governance of your neighbor. The Governor of New York, Tom Fraser, who is he? Well he's running for President, but has he done as Governor of New York? Well I don't think he was governor for even a month before he declared his run for President. He didn't do much as Governor and now he's abandoned them, you should at least get some work done before moving on to another job. The truth is though Fraser never cared for the job as it seems, he just saw it as a stepping stone to his next office. He doesn't care to govern, to unite, he only cares to campaign, to divide. What does it mean to run for office, if you don't want to do anything in the office? He has shown he does not govern, he does not want work for the people, maybe he thinks he can give more to his allies in he's higher office. I know this though, we cannot trust and elect Tom Fraser to the presidency.
Governor Fraser grew up in the upper class, he got jobs because of his family's connections. He doesn't know your struggle, the struggle of the average American trying to make end's meet. He was an executive at U.S. Steel an industrial corporation, which has its similarities with the industrial corporations that have abandoned this city. Like General Jackson and many others in the Republican Party he wants to reward big business we see this in his wife's FREE Act. And while I support the minimum income aspect of the bill that will support the unemployed such as many people in your city. I cannot support the other aspects of this bill such as getting rid of the minimum wage that has provided people with a steady income. As I said earlier this will allow corporation enslave workers paying them little to nothing, as well as removing the cap on weekly hours, that will really allow corporation to enslave people. These protections and regulations are in place for a reason, that is to protect people. The PROGRESS Act tabled by Senator Fraser by contrast will help the American people, beginning infrastructure programs creating jobs like it did in the New Deal, raising the minimum giving workers more money. This PROGRESS Act is a bill that will bring progress to America and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass this bill. Republicans like Governor Fraser and General Jackson, as well as one particular democrat, they don't work for you, they work for large corporations. It is Democrats like Senator Lahde, Senator Boone, and Senator Oswald of the state up north, these are the politicians working for you.
So I remind you to Vote Democrat in the next election, vote for the party of the Common Man. Thank You and God Bless You, New Haven."