Veterans' Day is not a Wal-Mart Sale for Edwards

"Those who fought to create this nation did not liberate this ground for freedom and democracy so that some two centuries later, on our watch, government of the people would become government of the corporate interests.

Those who gave their lives at Gettysburg and Antietam in the name of Union and equality did not die for a nation, on our watch, still divided by opportunity and justice.

Those who fell at Guadalcanal and at Normandy to save the world from tyranny did not perish to let corruption seep into our government slowly and persistently over decades almost unnoticed until, on our watch, it threatens the lifeblood of our democracy.

Those who fell in Vietnam - who did what their leaders asked of them long after those leaders knew it was a mistake - and whose valor, bravery and sacrifice was all the harder to bear because they suffered their wounds without the full support of the American people - did not fall so that, on our watch, we would tolerate leaders who once more would refuse to admit their mistakes, but instead press on with a war that should have ended a long time ago.

Those who died defending freedom and the rights of Americans for all time did not die so that, on our watch, we would let the president take those rights away. They did not die for a 21st century America where poverty is still endemic, one of every three African-American children has no health care, and one in four homeless people are veterans.

All those who have served our nation from Valley Forge to Baghdad have risked everything they have and everything they are - not so the torch that Americans pass from one generation to the next - the torch of a better America - might be dropped, but to keep it burning strong.

In their name, we must no longer turn our heads. We must no longer live in vague acknowledgment of the corruption and incompetence that threatens the promise of our children’s future while saying to ourselves, the problem’s just too big, there’s nothing we can do about it.

I stand before you today to say - that is not good enough. There is something we can do. Our founders placed the ultimate power in our hands - ours alone. When we take its reins, it is irresistible. If someone tells you there is nothing we can do, you tell them the ghost of generations proves them wrong - there is nothing we cannot do.

It will not be easy, but we are Americans - we never take the easy way out. So hear this - it is a call to your conscience and your heart. A call not for me, but for them. For those who have served. For those who will. For our children, their children, and their children after them.

Let us stand up and give everything we have as all those before us have done."