The keynote speaker was Wyc Orr, a Gainesville attorney, who represented Dawson County in the state House from 1989 to 1993.
In his remarks, Orr encouraged his audience to be emboldened by the great tradition of their party and Democratic values. He urged them to find inspiration in past leaders who held those values up as a guiding light.
Orr cited Thomas Jefferson, who fought for the "common good"; Andrew Jackson, who valued the "common people"; FDR., who gave us the "New Deal" and helped pull the struggling south back on its feet; and John F. Kennedy and his "New Frontier."
Orr said that these principles can be noted in our Pledge of Allegiance ("...Liberty and Justice for all") and in the Declaration of Independence ("created equal"). These principles, which address the needs of all citizens, are, he said, what America needs to hold high today.
"Americans want to be challenged to face today's problems," Orr said. "People are waiting to be called upon to work for the common good. Give them real goals to shoot at and a concrete plan and they will accept responsibility."
He concluded by quoting a past Democratic leader, Hubert H. Humphrey, who declared: "The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/4/91786