ABSTRACT Ladies and Gentlemen. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today on a topic that is so relevant to our existence--change in our world, our country and your industry.
I have spent my working life representing people--mostly workers in the construction industry, then as a spokesman for labor and management combined in a joint industry board dealing essentially with government, then representing government as a representative of the President, dealing with labor, and presently I represent the Teamsters Union in dealing with government.
Today, I am not speaking as a Teamster spokesman, but rather as an individual drawing on my past experience, expressing my own opinions, but also feeling certain that they are shared by many, if not most of my colleagues.
I have many things to say in a short period of time.
They may seem disjointed--but hopefully there emerges a picture. Perhaps the broad scope is familiar to most or all of you and nothing is new or startling. Yet maybe there are some portions that were not clear because you saw them in a blurred or distant fashion or out of context.
Hopefully, when I have finished, all of these might come together to convey the picture that I see.
WORLD It is difficult to even keep up with the changing world map.
Many new countries, new political blocs, new economic combines have come into existence.
The old colonial powers have disintegrated and their remains are fallen on hard times.
The emergence of China from behind its wall with its huge population and vast influence on the rest of the world and particularly on Asia, has affected the world balance of trade, economics, allies, politics, and power.
Add to this: The new found muscle of the Arab world of the Middle East with control of world energy; The American experience in Vietnam resulting in a strong tendency on the part of many Americans to retreat to isolationism; and the isolated position the U.S. finds itself in today, in the United Nations, on many questions of both procedure and substance.
The list of changes is long -- too long to keep reciting. It is enough to say that the world of our generation (mid 20th century) has seen such change as to rival that which occurred in the 19 centuries previous. And the pace of change is increasing rapidly.
During this same period, America has changed greatly. If our great change as a nation, was in some way a natural response to world change and it was a compensating reaction to balance our place in the world, I would feel better. Unfortunately, such is not the case. Our changes have not helped our position in the world or indeed helped the world in any way that I can see.
I refer to changes that, in the name of progress, have produced a permissive society -- permissive in that it is tolerant of:
A Big Brother government that daily extends its control over our lives by the creation of new rules, regulations, bureaus, agencies, guidelines, perimeters, grants, approvals, compliances, non-compliances and...
A permissiveness that is tolerant of a breakdown of morality that in turn has given us a constantly rising rate of violent crime, almost casual personal assault, murder, drug abuse, stealing, distrust and cynicism, leading to a breakdown of society and the insane creation of an in-human prison system that feeds the cycle of decay.