Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of both spirituality and of human liberty. It is that unique self-definition which has gi… - Jimmy Carter

The excessive punishment of prisoners and the use of the death penalty in the United States, alone in the developed world, have continued to fall most heavily on the poor, mentally ill, and people of color. It was on this subject that I made the best speech of my life.

I want to mention now a subject that's important to me and to you. I've worked with many of your members trying to overcome the very great difficulties of simply getting free American people registered to vote. We need to open up our electoral system to greater participation. Many working people don't vote because they don't have the time to go through lengthy and needless registration procedures. Vice President Mondale and I have worked out legislation that would let people register at the polls on the day of a Federal election. There are some powerful, special interests, including the Republican Party, who are trying to kill the electoral reform bill because they don't want working people to register and to vote. I need you to help me get this bill passed through Congress. And we need to create an agency for consumer protection. Now in Government, many of the regulatory agencies that were designed originally to protect consumers have been seduced, and now they protect the industry that's supposed to be regulated. This needs to be changed. This bill would consolidate consumer advocacy programs that are now scattered ineffectively throughout the maze of Federal agencies. It would just give consumers a voice in Government offices where, too often, the only voices heard have been those of lobbyists for the wealthy and powerful. Now, there are enormous pressures to kill this legislation creating this new consumer agency. I want to make sure that they don't get away with it. The UAW has long supported the consumer agency and easy registration procedures to vote. Together, I believe we can get both these measures passed this year. We must also make government more efficient, because we don't have the money to waste on inefficiency, on duplication, or to give handouts to those who can take care of themselves. Waste robs us all. It prevents the realization of our hopes and dreams. An efficient government means spending money only where it will actually benefit our people. We've proposed a $350-million increase in the Title I education funds for poor and deprived little children. We've proposed raising the basic opportunity grants from $1,400 to $1,800 a year, to help families put their children through college. But when spending is wasteful--when spending is wasteful--we've moved vigorously to cut it out. We found $4 billion in water projects that simply couldn't be justified or were more expensive or elaborate than they needed to be. We are moving to get rid of some of the more than 1,100 advisory commissions in the Federal Government. We are instituting zero-based budgeting, and we are supporting sunset legislation to help us get rid of programs that have outlived their usefulness. The more money that we can save that's now being wasted, the more money we'll have without increasing taxes to meet the needs of our people. We've also begun a complete reorganization of the executive branch, and we are starting at home in the Executive Office of the President. Now, I believe that we can be fiscally responsible and still satisfy the needs of our people. And I believe that we cannot satisfy our needs unless we are competent and efficient. We can cut both unemployment and inflation. And I believe that our policies will help us reach both goals.

The bill of rights for handicapped was spelled out in Title V of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and we are going to enforce the regulations that are specified in that bill. We're going to enforce the regulations that tear down the barriers of architecture, and we are going to enforce the regulations that tear down the barriers of transportation. I know you have heard the announcements made by Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams about the Trans-Bus. We've spent millions of dollars--the Federal Government has spent millions of dollars investing in the kind of public transportation that would serve your needs. And I am going to really enjoy in the future--as soon as those buses can come off the assembly line, and all of the new ones are going to be these kinds of buses--when they come up to you on the sidewalk and kneel down to let you get in. As you know, section 504, of which I am sure you have all heard and of which I am sure now that Joe Califano has also heard, has provided a framework for the regulations that have now been adopted. And Joe Califano assures me and he assures you that these regulations are going to be enforced. They require that when programs are made available to the public that those programs are made available to the handicapped public; the employers will give a handicapped person a fair chance to correct the handicap and to become qualified for an available job. They require the tearing down of the barriers that I have already described to you. When Federal funds come to the Health, Education, and Welfare Department, and later on without delay they will apply to all programs of a similar nature, they will provide that a handicapped child for the first time in the 200-year existence of our country has the right to go to free public schools, and that that child has a right to go to free public schools in a regular classroom with other students. It's almost inconceivable, and it's a reflection on all of us in leadership positions that these basic rights have been delayed so long. These are times for thanksgiving, but for a sustained demand and a time to assess other opportunities in the future.