Speech: Ann Richards (1988)

They talked about war and Washington and what this country needed.

They talked straight talk.

And it came from people living their lives as best they could.

We’re going to tell how the cow ate the cabbage.

A Letter From Forgotten People

I got a letter last week from a young mother in Lorena, Texas, and I want to read a part of it to you.

She writes, “Our worries go from pay day to pay day . . . just like millions of others, and we have two fairly decent incomes. But I worry about how I’m going to pay the rising car insurance and food.”

“I pray my kids don’t have a growth spurt from August to December so I don’t have to buy new jeans. We buy clothes at the budget stores and we have them fray, and fade, and stretch in the first wash.”

“We ponder and try to figure out how we’re going to pay for college, and braces, and tennis shoes. We don’t take vacations and we don’t go out to eat.”

“Please don’t think me ungrateful. We have jobs, and a nice place to live, and we’re healthy.”

“We’re the people you see every day in the grocery store. We obey the laws, we pay our taxes, we fly our flags on holidays.”

“And we plod along, trying to make it better for ourselves and our children and our parents. We aren’t vocal anymore. I think maybe we’re too tired.”

“I believe that people like us are forgotten in America.”

Well, of course you believe you’re forgotten. Because you have been.

‘Divide and Conquer’ Republicans

This Republican administration treats us as if we were pieces of a puzzle that can’t fit together.

They’ve tried to put us into compartments and separate us from each other.

Their political theory is, “divide and conquer.”

They’ve suggested time and time again that what is of interest to one group of Americans is not of interest to anyone else. We’ve been isolated. We’ve been lumped into that sad phraseology called "special interests."