Talk of Generations Popular in Political Speeches

January 22, 2013

MLK Day Parade | Oklahoma City | January 21, 2013

Have you noticed that no politician can get through a political speech without using the word generation? It’s used over and over and over again by all politicians far and wide. Here are a few references to the word in President Obama’s second inaugural speech, which aired earlier today.

We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.

MLK Day Parade | Oklahoma City | 2013

They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

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This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience.

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We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.

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It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began.

MLK Day Parade | Oklahoma City | January 21, 2013

In his 2009 inaugural address, he used the word generation eight times.

So it has been; so it must be with this generation of Americans.

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These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.

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The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

MLK Day Parade | Miss Pre-Teen Oklahoma | 2013

Our Founding Fathers our Founding Fathers, faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man — a charter expanded by the blood of generations.

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Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

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And yet at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

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Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.