Philip L. Hinson
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics — will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I Have a Dream” speech
In front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
August 28, 1963
I, too, have a dream.
I have a dream that one day the national interest will transcend self-interest in our political system.
I have a dream that one day we can come together not as Democrats and Republicans, but as Americans.
I have a dream that one day our tax system will be comprehensible to average Americans and will facilitate rather than impair the successful marketing of U. S. produced products into the global market.
I have a dream that the principle of equal protection under the law can be restored to our tax system for the first time in 103 years and that the illicit practice of exchanging tax preferences for campaign cash will be abolished.
I have a dream that the public’s faltering trust and confidence in our political system can be restored.
I have a dream that the word “politician” will no longer be a dirty word and that transparency and openness can become standards of public conduct.
I have a dream that one day middle-aged workers will be able to find jobs comparable to their skill and experience levels and young college graduates won’t have to take service sector jobs and move back in with Mom & Dad.
Just as Dr. King linked the struggle for racial equality to the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for ALL men over 50 years ago, so, too, do we find the current tax system wholly incompatible with those ideals. We cannot lay claim to being a society in which all men are created equal with a tax system that picks winners and losers in the economy. We can do much better – and we must. The challenges of the 21st century require 21st century solutions.
And when the day comes when that that dream is realized, then all Americans can say that they are free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last!