McGovern made good points in presentation

McGovern made good points in presentation

By FAYE ARMITAGE
Fruit Cove
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/032909/opinions_032909_060.shtml

It was standing room only, when I arrived at St Augustine's UU, to hear former U.S. Sen. George McGovern speak at his first public appearance since moving to St. Augustine earlier in the year.

He is well-known for many accomplishments, and in particular for starting up President John F. Kennedy's Food for Peace program, which he said gave him the opportunity "to visit just about every country in the developing world."

One of his most famous quotes that I like is: "I'm tired of old men dreaming up wars for young men to fight," which of course is still very applicable today.

McGovern started us off with his views on leadership. He believes that the best leaders are those who are "strong-minded and tender-hearted." He also feels that being idealistic and realistic is not contradictory, saying "the most realistic are those that hold on to their ideals." We need to "make our own country live up to the ideals that we claim,....calling America home. Look to the Gettysburg address for the best way out." Because the sound quality was poor I didn't catch the context, but did hear him talk about overcoming what (President Franklin) Roosevelt coined "a groundless fear." That we all need to contribute to building a "just and humane" society. That we should have "a vision of the world, free from hunger." The poor are often ashamed, but "it is our leaders who should be ashamed."

He then continued on poverty saying "one out of seven people, or one billion people, never know what it is to have a decent meal."

He is particularly proud of his work with former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole in the Commission on Nutrition and Human Needs. McGovern considers the legislation that came out of this work, the most productive for our nation as "it tripled the size of the school lunch program." The three best programs to come out of Congress are: WIC, food stamps, and school lunches. He feels we can be "reasonably sure Congress will be expanding these programs."

Next he shared with us what U.S. Sen. Paul Douglas told him about his philosophy on being a good senator. In his first term, world peace was his objective. He found this to be elusive, so in his second term Douglas said that as an economist, he decided to make a strong and healthy economy his goal. In his third term he worked primarily for his state, and in his fourth term his goals were even more limited and closer to home: the Indiana sand dunes.

McGovern continued with his take on today's problems: If we can afford to put $700 billion in banks, we can afford to put in an equal amount of money for the rest of us,.....aid to the unemployed and schools, where 500,000 face the prospect of being fired. It's not so much about helping big industry, but instead the middle class and the poor. He also advocates an international school lunch program, and says three things immediately happen:

1. Enrollment jumps. It is the best magnet to get children to come to school.

2. Academic performance improves.

3. A delay in young marriages is seen when about six years of education is achieved. Also where a birth rate for young marriages is typically six, we see a 2.9 cut in the birthrate.

McGovern closed by saying that he hopes to live long enough to see us feed every school-aged child. "It's a better way to fight terrorism," he said. It would be more effective than trying to eliminate every terrorist.

Faye Armitage is an economist and advocate for stem cell research.