Speeches and Remarks
National Day Remarks
Ambassador Deborah K. Jones National Day Remarks
Your Excellency, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaykh Dr. Mohammad Al-Sabah; Honored guests; [Greetings in Arabic]
Welcome to our National Day Celebration, normally observed on July 4 in the United States. Here we customarily observe this occasion in cooler months, generally in February. I’m afraid I must take some of the blame for this year’s delay, with apologies as well to my colleague and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the Senegalese Ambassador, who is also celebrating this evening.
As our embassy staff contemplated themes for this year’s celebration of American independence, it occurred to us that both Kuwait and the United States are in the midst of exciting elections. So tonight we chose to celebrate the electoral process as an important element of political freedom.
In so doing, we celebrate the vision, tenacity and courage of America’s founding fathers, who through an often painful process of compromise and debate established a framework for democratic governance based on Rule of Law, competing institutions, and the participation of the citizenry. Their construct was an act of faith in humanity, its radical premise that if government protected broad individual freedoms under an institutional framework based on Rule of Law, citizens would in turn instinctively defend and support those institutions and, by extension, the rights and freedoms of others.
President Bush once remarked, "We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens." Elections remind us of these ideals. The campaign slogans and posters of yore that we see here tonight remind us of America’s often quirky, occasionally tragic, but ultimately progressive democratic dialogue. Underlying the occasionally exuberant political rhetoric of our current U.S. presidential campaign, this narrative of participatory governance continues to resonate through the bustling streets and skyscrapers of our cities, along the waters of the Mississippi River, around the wheat and corn fields of our fertile heartland, and beyond the wide open - skies and majestic mountains of the American West, all the way to the tiny island of Guam. Elections empower us to continue to contribute to this ongoing narrative, and to choose its primary actors.
Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson, one of the principal drafters of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, admired the model of what was largely patriarchal, tribal governance amongst the American Indians; it was efficient and effective, Jefferson posited, because in their relatively small, homogenous and insulated societies the chief was fully aware of and, indeed, shared the needs of his people. He guided their outlook and was often their primary link to the outside world. Today’s societies are much more diverse, of course, reflecting our globally interactive world. Elected leaders bring to the machinery of governance the calibration that reflects our diversity and our changing needs, thus enabling governments to evolve and self-correct within a safety net of institutional and constitutional frameworks.
Speaking of diversity, it may strike you as you look around that our past presidential candidates have something in common with past National Assemblies here.
Once we get beyond the political slogans, we are reminded that elections are merely the means of laying a foundation for a dialogue. This year, more than ever before, both Kuwait and the United States are welcoming female voices to that dialogue.
Elections are also a time to remember those politicians in America’s history who pushed for change, even as it made them unpopular or put their own safety in peril. President Lincoln struggled with a divided nation and the problem of slavery; it took another 100 years following his signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which abolished slavery in America, for another President, Lyndon Johnson, to sign into law the Civil Rights Act. It took nearly 144 years following our nation’s independence for women to attain universal voting rights; Woodrow Wilson finally called a special session of Congress, and essentially bullied its members into doing the right thing. I’m pleased to note by comparison that Kuwaiti women achieved the right to vote and run for office within only 24 years of their nation’s independence.
I could cite similar anecdotes concerning the struggle for labor rights in America; fortunately we tend to have historical amnesia, and we prefer to take pride in where we are rather than look back to from whence we’ve come, but the struggle to get to the "here and now" has been long and hard. Democracy is not easy, and its work is never done. It is as organic as the societies it represents.
The word "politician" often carries a negative connotation, but the individuals I’ve mentioned contributed to a richer, more diverse, more accommodating and vibrant American society. Indeed, I consider them heroes, not only because of their legacies, but because of their courage in promoting agendas that were not always popular. In each case, while many claimed America was not ready for change, these political leaders had the courage to disagree. They had the courage to debate, to ask tough questions and to motivate their fellow citizens. And ultimately, they had the courage to compromise, to seek new alliances and to put new ideas into action.
As we approach these important elections for both the United States and Kuwait, I want to underscore the strength and importance of our bilateral relationship. The State of Kuwait has been an indispensable ally and friend in a volatile region of utmost strategic importance to the United States; its generosity in logistical and material support to our efforts to stabilize Iraq is without equal. Uniquely and admirably in this region, Kuwait continues a proud, indigenous tradition of boisterous political discourse. I look forward to building upon our existing broad base of cooperation and friendship in many fields.
Finally, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our sponsors; tonight’s celebration would not have been possible without the generous contributions of the many firms listed in your program. And I want to especially thank Naif al-Mutawa for providing for our gift bag editions of his wonderful superhero comic book series "The 99," a reminder that virtuous commitment to a greater ideal is in and of itself an heroic act.
Once again, please join us in celebrating the excitement of our elections, and with it the spirit of the great debate. Enjoy old friends and make new friends. This is not only a celebration of our nation’s birth, but a tribute to all of you here -- and especially our Kuwaiti partners -- who work with us everyday as we face together the complex challenges of attending to what President Bush has called "the non-negotiable demands of universal human dignity" while creating and sustaining a supporting framework of security and stability.
Thank you all again for coming, and thank you for your warm welcome to Kuwait.