Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) speaking at the American Legion Boys State of Missouri on Thursday, June 19th.

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) addressed the assembled participants at Boys State. Her remarks:

Robin Carnahan is escorted by a delegation into Hendricks Hall and the Boys State General Assembly.

Thank you very much for that kind introduction. You know, I was thinking as I walked in here in the torrential rain tonight from the parking lot, if I can run a marathon in the rain, I can get to this speech. So, I am happy to be inside and dry.

Congratulations to all of you for your election. Congratulations to all of you who ran for office, but didn’t win. I will tell you that you might take a bit of solace in the fact that thirty years ago when I attended Girls State I ran for state treasurer and did not win. So, take solace in that – maybe you’ll be standing here one day after all….

…I know that everybody is anxious to get on with the program and get the swearing in over with, but as future leaders of our state, I thought this was an opportunity for me to pass on whatever couple of bits of wisdom I could come up with, since I’ve got a captive audience. So, I appreciate your bearing with me for a couple of minutes. You know, this is my third time to speak at Boys State. My father, as governor, came here each of his eight years as as governor and many years prior to that in other offices he served. My brothers, I have three of those, all came to Boys State. And so it is something that I know just a little bit about. And I know that it takes a lot of hard work and that you all have been at it. Among the folks in the American Legion, you deserve great thanks for continuing to put this together. You make a great impact on people’s lives. Let’s just give you one more round of applause. [applause]

You know, all of you were chosen to be here because of your potential for leadership. And I hope that after this week that more than a few of you will consider what you will do in your communities to become public servants and be involved. You know, public service takes a lot of different forms. It can mean running for office, but it can also mean being a coach of a little league baseball team. There are all kinds of things between those that you can do. One of the most important, of course, is just getting out to vote. It’s one of the easiest things you can do. [garbled]…you vote for president, for governor, for the Congress, for your state officials, or your county officials. And it’s something that every American has not only a right but a responsibility to do.

All of you are about to reach that age. Let me see a quick show of hands. How many of you are eighteen already? How many of you will be eighteen on Election Day? [voice: “Yeah.”] How many of you are registered to vote? Okay, here’s the law in Missouri. If you’re going to be eighteen by Election Day you can register to vote at age seventeen and a half. So that time has passed. You should all be registered. If you haven’t done that you can go to my web site. It’s http://www.sos.mo.gov or you can go to your local election officials and get yourself registered before this upcoming very historic election.

You know, a lot of people take for granted the right to vote. But there are people in countries,and they’re countries that I’ve been to and worked in, that didn’t enjoy those same rights. And mistakenly some, some of the folks in our, in our country sometimes say, “You know what? It doesn’t matter if I vote. It doesn’t matter, they’re all the same. How can one vote really make a difference?” I want you to go away today with a number. How many people are here at Boys State? Some body told me there were nine hundred or so. Is that right? [crosstalk] Nine hundred and ninety one? [audience: “Eighty one.”] Nine hundred and eighty one. Does anybody here know how many votes the 2000 election was decided by in the State of Florida? [crosstalk] Hah. That’s the Supreme Court number. The actual number in Florida was five hundred and thirty seven votes. [audience: “Oooh.”] Five hundred and thirty seven votes was the difference between George Bush and Al Gore becoming President of the United States. You have twice that many people at Missouri Boys State. Do not ever think that your vote doesn’t count.

You know, there’ a great story I like to tell about people and people, just one, making a difference. And it’s a story that goes back to World War II, maybe some of you veterans can remember this story. It happened in 1940. The German army was advancing across Europe….and they [the British] were at the edge of the sea, and they were in a small little fishing village called Dunkirk. And before them was the English Channel and twenty miles of sea, and on the other side, behind them was the German army advancing. There were about three hundred thousand troops there. And there was no real hope of getting them out. The war department met in Britain. They tried to figure out what they could do, because all the ports had been destroyed. And so they figured they could only really get about seventeen thousand of those men out alive. They were left, they say, between the devil and the deep blue sea. One morning they woke up early, they looked out, and they saw ships. And they saw boats. And there were fishing boats. And there were fire boats. And there were sail boats. And there were yachts. And there were ferries. And every boat of every size was out there. And those boats were captained by regular people. It wasn’t military, it was civilians. It was regular people that decided that one person could make a difference. And they got all those troops out of there. And it was a miraculous…recovery mission of all of these troops. And it made a difference. Because those people decided that one person could make a difference.

And so my point to you today in talking about that is that one vote or one boat can make a difference. In people’s lives and in your communities. In your state and in your country.

And I grew up in this family, if you’ve heard my bio, we did a lot in politics. But to us politics wasn’t about partisan bickering, all of that kind of stuff that we all hate. It was about making a difference in your community. And so when I was a kid we’d go door to door and try and get the bond issue passed for our local swimming pool. Because we needed a new swimming pool. Or we’d go around to try and raise money for the new church building in our town. And that was how we were involved in our community.

My father, when he was governor, he would go out and walk the country roads in Rolla where I grew up. And every morning when he’d go out to walk he took with him a plastic bag. And guess what that was for? [crosstalk] Trash. And here he is, the Governor of Missouri, walking down country roads in Rolla, no one knew he did this. he didn’t tell anybody he did this. He did it because it was his way of making a difference and improving the community where he lived.

So, think about that as you leave this place. I hope that you leave with anew sense of recognition about what you can achieve, both together, but also individually. And that you’ll look back at this time and think – this was the moment that sparked your interest in it was your responsibility to change our state, to change our nation, to change your communities.

You know there’s a great quote that I love from when martin Luther King spent time in that Birmingham city jail. He said this, he said, “Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through tireless efforts, persistent work, of men willing to be coworkers with God. And without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively. And for
ever realize that the time is always right to do good.” The time is always right to do good.

Thank you all for the good that you’ve already done here. And what you will do for your communities going forward. The future of our state is in your hands. And I’m confident that you’ll do a great job. So thank you very much. [applause]