Ted Kennedy on Globalization

Ted Kennedy: Well the large issues, I think, are how are we as a people, as individuals, states, country going to deal with the challenges of globalization over the period of the future? Are we going to be driven out by these forces, or are we going to be willing to grasp them, and to shape them, and to turn them to our advantage? I think that’s the central challenge.

That means investing in people, investing in education skills, other kinds of issues or questions. And I think the follow-up answer to that is to understand the strength of the nation, which is our values. That’s when we’re respected as a country, that’s what we’re respected for. Those are the values which are inscribed both in the Declaration of Independence, and also in the Constitution. Those are the values that were expressed in the Mayflower Compact – about our sense of community and our value of being together. It’s described in the Constitution, the general welfare of our nation.

That is when we have been at our best, and I think that’s our greatest strength, the greatest challenge, I think is how we’re going to cope with the central challenges of a rapidly changing world.

And I think the other great challenge is how we’re going to maintain this strength of sense of community, and value which has been such a compelling force in the shaping of our own lives, and also in shaping the lives of the nation.

Recorded on: September 14, 2007