Google News Comment by Bill Gluba, Mayor, City of Davenport, Iowa
Time Again to Ask “Why Not?” – 9 hours ago
As a twenty-six year old idealistic political activist out to change the world through the democratic process, and as one who had marched with Dr. Martin Luther King on August 28, 1963 in Washington D.C., I was almost totally devastated when first Martin Luther King and then Bobby Kennedy were senselessly gunned down.
For many of us who thought we were changing the world for the better and who had nothing but hope in our hearts for the future, it was hard to continue to be an optimist and still believe that our system might work. In fact a lot of young people from that period just gave up and left the political system entirely. But for those of us who were inspired by the message of hope and idealism of these three great leaders – John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King — we knew we had to continue the struggle and we did.
For many it was the words of Bobby Kennedy that “Some men see things as they are and ask ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and ask, ‘Why not?” that gave us the strength to continue to fight for social and economic justice for the next forty years. It is now heartening that the nomination of my friend Barack Obama, has lifted and renewed the spirits of a lot of us from the sixties who again feel there is hope for the future. It is time again to ask “why not?”