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Greater Detroit Chamber of Commerce

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MRS. CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you very much, Congressman Dingell for your introduction, for your leadership and service and for your friendship.

I'm delighted to be here with all of you, and particularly pleased to have this occasion and to share it with Mayor Archer, and Ed McNamara, and Beth McDermott and all who have already been acknowledged.

And I also want to say a special word thanks to Dan Musser and the Grand Hotel staff. It is such a pleasure to be here again, and I am very grateful for the high standards that you.

I must confess, though, that it is a little awkward that this occasion occurs on this evening. Many of you may know that I grew up in the Chicago area. (Laughter.) I know. I am a rabid Chicago sports fan. (Laughter.) I mean, I just want to lay it all out there. (Laughter.) And I think it a little bit of cruel and unusual punishment for any of us hockey fans to be at a dinner, (Laughter.) listening to anyone give a speech. (Laughter.) I knew there'd be applause somewhere about that. So I hope that for those of you who are suffering through this and wondering what's happening on the ice, that somebody is taping it for you.

I really appreciate what you are doing here with this conference and the tradition that it represents. I think it is an exciting time for our country, and particularly for this region of our country and especially for Detroit and southeastern Michigan.

You have faced a lot of obstacles in the last decade. You have overcome many of them, and it is now time, as you well know, because of the subject matter of this conference, to be engaged in a broad and important discussion about the size and scope and role of government about the social responsibility and commitment of business, but more fundamentally, about what kind of country we are and what it means to be an American on the cusp of the twenty-first century.

We all know that there are unprecedented opportunities unfolding throughout our country and around the world. We are all grateful for the end of the Cold War and the replacement of totalitarianism with democracy after democracy, in places we really didn't expect to see that flower.

We see people all over the globe seeking to emulate our country, our democracy, our economy, and yet it is clear that despite the model and beacon we are to so much of the rest of the world, that we have many questions here at home, about who we are, where we're going, what kind of futures we're building for ourselves and our children.

We also have seen very vividly in the last weeks forces at work here and abroad undermining those values, the values that we hold dear; values of civility and community, of sacrifice and service, of peace. We see antipathy too often replacing empathy. Shouting replacing listening.

And now, as we saw to our collective horror, home-grown terrorism exploding in America's heartland. I don't need to tell leaders of this business community that too many Americans feel their lives are out of sync. American families have always been the anchor of our economy and the backbone of our country.

Yet as families try to cope in today's world, they are confronted by pressures, and burdens, and uncertainties that really didn't even exist in many respects a few years ago. From the fears that come with the necessary downsizing to be competitive, to the reality of stagnant wages, more and more Americans are stressed out.

There is a sense that nothing is really permanent in our society anymore, not families, not neighborhoods, not jobs, not even our values. And so instead of the working class or the middle class, we have now in our country what is being referred to as the anxious class. And I'm talking about hard-working, responsible men and women, who because of shifting employment trends have been forced to change jobs, maybe to take on an additional job. Many people who drive too far to work and get home too late. People who worry about whether they can afford to take care of their aging parents while sending their children to college. People who are struggling to keep their businesses and their dreams alive.

One of the great challenges we face, today, is how to address the stress and anxiety that is weakening the American family, how to undue the forces that erode institutions that strengthen and preserve families.

We have unfortunately engaged in what I would call a false debate for too long about what is afflicting our families and what we need to do to try to help. That false debate has posited on the one hand the idea, that all that is wrong with the American family is the changing economy, the global economic pressures, the kinds of stresses that are too frequently played out in the work-place, and that is we only could get our economic house in order, everything else would work out. On the other hand, we have those who say it is not the economy stupid, it is family values, and what we need to do is reinforce the values that we espouse and that many of us feel we grew up with. And if we can just get back to those values, then everything will work out. I do not believe it is an either/or choice. It is both/and. And if we do not begin to reorganize that, we will continue to breed cynicism. We will continue to see people giving up, and failing to take advantage of the opportunities that are offered. We do not have a person to waste in America.

The best social program is a job. The best social policy is a robust economy. But one does not live by jobs and the economy alone. There is also a spiritual dimension to life. There is a sense of connection to life.

And what we should be about the business of trying to do in all of our individual capacities, is both to make sure people have the opportunity to make a decent wage, to have incomes that will support themselves, and at the same time to try and reinforce values that support and strengthen families. That is what we have tried to in the last couple of years. It is a very big task. It is not a task that can be accomplished by any particular sector of our society acting alone. It is not a partisan task. It is an American challenge.

And it is important that we recognize that particularly when it comes to our children, children are the product of the values of both their families and of their society. We cannot draw a line between the two and expect to nurture our children in the ways that all of us would like to see occur.

If one asks, as I have for a number of years, business leaders across our country, I don't think the answers I heard elsewhere are any different from what you would tell me, about what you need to compete in the new global economy. You need an educated, healthy, productive, work force.

Earlier today I gave a commencement address at Brooklyn College. It is one of our great public colleges. It has been a gateway for Americans of all backgrounds to make a living for themselves, to rise to positions of power and influence. It has really been the door of opportunity through which men and women and minorities and immigrants and refugees walked.

And I said there and I would say again to this audience, part of the way we have secured the American dream for generations of Americans, is to make sure that education was readily available to all who were willing to except the responsibility that comes with the offering of the opportunity.

I do find it worrisome, if one focuses on the both and that if you believe as I do, that now more than ever we need an educated work-force, an educated work force that understands and can cooperate with the new concepts that many of you in this room are implementing in your businesses.

That this very point in time, when so many American workers are finally understanding their responsibility to improve their own education and training skills, that we are threatened with the possibility of reversing a historic commitment American have made to providing educational opportunity at all levels of the life- cycle.

I'm very concerned that any retreat in investing in education, is not just going to affect our educational institutions, but it will have the ripple effect that will begin to further undermine the opportunities available for many people in the new economy, and thereby increasing the anxiety of so many Americans who now already feel left out and forgotten.

This retreat on investing in our people has to be recognized as the challenge that I think it is, to making sure that we provide the grounding that people need in order to provide the best incomes and lives for their own families.

What you have done in Detroit and southeastern Michigan, by taking up the challenge of the empowerment zone, is an example of you recognition, that we need new ways of dealing with training our people, educating our people and employing our people. It's a very exciting opportunity that you've seized. You would not have received that grant if you had not had the vision to recognize what it could mean. But I hope. (Applause.)

But I hope as you begin to implement that vision, you recognize how much more is at stake, not only throughout your state, but throughout our country, as we attempt to provide a different approach to economic opportunity.

At the same time, we do have to recognize, that there is a values issue, that people have struggled with, that I have tried over the years, to try to bring to some marriage with the economy, as my husband has tried repeatedly to talk about.

And I think it's important that we recognize the need for reinforcing the kind of ideals and values that many of us took for granted in growing up. But again, in order to reinvigorate the quality of our life. We have to treat one another as valued human beings, worthy of respect. (Applause.)