I would like to thank everyone once again for giving me the opportunity to be the Chairman of the Plymouth County Democratic League.  It's an opportunity that I am looking forward to fulfill and believe that I have the drive and the wherewith all to continue to run the league with the same success that previous chairs have done before me.  Following previous chairmen such as Dave O'Reilly, Tim White, Bob Joy and John Walsh have set a high bar, but I always believed that hard work brings great success and I can promise that I will give the league my all.

  We are in an off election year but that does not mean we can rest.  As middle class Democrats we see the attacks on people just like us in other states.  We watch day after day republican elected officials call the unemployed lazy, the elderly moochers and those who are union members and those who support unions communist because we believe in safe work environments, workman compensation, and the most evil thought, a livable wage.

  That is why we must support those with every fiber in our being to not capitulate, not shrink under adversity, but to stand tall and vote for the Democratic platform that we hold dear.

  So as I sit here and pontificate, let me go in a different direction and ask you, a member of the PCDL, a question.

  Is it better to be Pragmatic or Idealistic?

  Those who are pragmatic tend to understand it is related to matters of fact.  They believe those who are pragmatic can get along.  The world is what it is and if you want to get ahead you have to go along.

  There are those who say those who are idealistic do not have a clue on the workings of the world.

  But when I think back of what I learned, did the women who fought for Woman's Suffrage listen to the pragmatic ones?
I am not just talking about the leaders of the movement such as Susan B. Anthony, Alice Stone Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe.  But those who were not the "leaders".  They were our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and neighbors.  They organized, they protested and they stood tall for what they believed.  They knew of the realities of what could happen to them standing up against the status quo.  They were arrested, beaten and insulted.  They were told "know your place".  Time and time again they were knocked down and each time they got back up and fought for their dreams and ideals.

  When I think back to those "common people", people who fought for the unions from the 1880's to the late 1930's.  Those everyday people who wanted a livable wage, safe work environments, pensions, over time pay and the 48 then the 40 hour work week and child labor laws so their children could get an education to better themselves.  They were our mothers and fathers, our aunts and uncles and our neighbors who knew the realities each time they stood up against the corporations.  They were arrested, beaten and insulted.  Time and time again they were knocked down and each time they got back up and fought for their dreams and ideals.

  When I think back to the Civil Rights era... Well, you get the idea.

  My point is when these great changes came about, was it the pragmatics or the idealists that changed the world?

  Also, when these great changes came about, was it the Democrats that lead to the changes or the Republicans?

  We need to find our inner idealists and keep reminding our Democratic Elected Officials why they were elected.