Excerpt from Jimmy Carters 1974 Georgia Law Day Address, in my opinion one of the most powerful speeches made based on the meaning and the audience this was originally delivered to. A very liberal view point directed at a conservative crowd of southern lawyers, he made the speech on his personal ethic, openly pointing a finger at his audience.
“My own interest in the criminal justice system is very deep and heartfelt. Not having studied law, I’ve had to learn the hard way. I read a lot and listen a lot. One of the sources for my understanding about the proper application of criminal justice and the system of equity is by reading Reinhold Niebuhr from a book that Bill Gunter gave me quite a number of years ago. The other source of my understanding about what’s right and wrong in this society is from a personal, very close friend of mine, a great poet named Bob Dylan. After listening to his records about “The Ballad of Hattie Carol” and “Like a Rolling Stone” and “The Times, They Are a-Changing”, I’ve learned to appreciate the dynamism of change in a modern society.
I grew up as a landowner’s son. But I don’t think I ever realized that the proper interrelationship between the landowner and those who worked on a farm until I heard Dylan’s record, “I Ain’t Gonna Work on
Maggie’s Farm No More.” So I come here speaking to you today about your subject with a base for — for my own information founded on Reinhold Niebuhr and Bob Dylan…”
“And — and I don’t exactly know how to say this, but — but I just was thinking a few moments ago about some of the things that…could, that are of deep concern to me as Governor. As a scientist, I was working constantly, along with almost everyone who professes that dedication of life, to — to probe, probe, probe every day of my life for constant change for the better. It is completely anachronistic in the makeup of a nuclear physicist or an engineer or scientist to be satisfied with what we’ve got, or to rest on the laurels of past accomplishments. It’s — it’s the nature of the profession.
As a farmer, the same motivation persists. Every farmer that I know of, who’s worth his salt or who’s just average, is ahead of the experiment stations and the research agronomists in finding better ways, changing ways to plant, cultivate, utilize herbicides, gather, cure, sell farm products. The competition for innovation is tremendous, equivalent to the realm of nuclear physics even.
In my opinion, it’s different in the case of lawyers. And — and maybe this is a circumstance that is so inherently true that it can’t be changed.
I’m a Sunday school teacher, and — and I’ve always known that the structure of law is founded on the Christian ethic, you shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself, a… very high and perfect standard. And we all know that the fallibility of man and the contentions in society as described by Reinhold Niebuhr and many others don’t permit us to achieve perfection. We do strive for equality, but — but not with a — with a fervent and daily commitment of life.”
Accessed from American Rhetoric
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jimmycarterlawday1974.htm