House Proceeding 03-24-09 on Mar 24th, 2009 :: 0:47:35 to 0:51:15
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0:47:31 to 0:47:52( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: world in celebrating greek heritage and our thriving greek-american friendship. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the chair wreck 23450euses -- recognizes the gentlewoman from florida. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker, to start our discussion i would like to yield four minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. royce, the ranking member on our

0:47:35 to 0:51:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Edward R. Royce

0:47:53 to 0:48:13( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: subcommittee of terrorism, nonproliferation, and trade. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. what come tomorrow we have 188-year anniversary of the independence of greece. we are celebrating greek and american democracy.

0:48:14 to 0:48:34( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: that date tomorrow represents the day in which after 400 years of oppressive rule greeks finally became free. greeks were able and its amazing to think about it, to maintain their language, maintain their religion to hold on to their

0:48:35 to 0:48:55( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: culture despite 20 generations of persecution during that period of time. and i think one of the reasons we are proud here in the united states about theole we played was because u.s. president james monroe and our then secretary of state daniel webster pushed to send funds and supplies to aid greece in that struggle, but

0:48:56 to 0:49:17( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: more importantly to all of us, freed born men both white black, born in the north, traveled to greece during that struggle. they played a role over 180 years ago in securing those freedoms. that was the power at the time of the concept of greek liberty. that it drove americans in this early republic to travel to

0:49:18 to 0:49:38( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: greece in order to take part in that very struggle. and that struggle, frankly, began an alliance between u.s. and greece that has joined our two countries in nato, that has seen our soldiers fight tyranny in world ward ii,-d. wld war

0:49:39 to 0:50:01( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: t, we are indebted to the greeks. 2,500 years ago the greeks ushered in western civilization. and they brought about at that time the scientific method. they gave us the philosophy of aristotle logic. the birth of democratic government.

0:50:02 to 0:50:22( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: the age, first age of reason. they brought forward the poetry of ue rip december, the three dimensional i want painting that wasn't rediscovered as a technique until the end of the dark ages, until the end of the renaissance, when again the enlightenment represent really the rediscovery of greek

0:50:23 to 0:50:46( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: philosophy, of these concepts of the autonomy of the individual, of logic, and reason, and our own foundg fathers were deeply influenced by those ideas. thomas jefferson, adams, madison they not only wrote and read greek, they could speak greek.

0:50:47 to 0:51:07( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: . they were well versed in greek philosophy. jefferson and madison drew heavily on on the greek ideal that a government derives its power from the people. thomas jefferson's stirring words that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights hearten back to theories originating in greek

0:51:08 to 0:51:15( Edit History Discussion )

Edward R. Royce: philosophy. the very architecture of our buildings, the very ideals that drove our founding fathers through all of this, greek