This really is a beautiful speech. Even if you aren't an Edwards fan, it is good stuff.
>>At the heart of the American dream there's a simple bargain; if you work hard and play by the rules, America will give you the opportunity to build a better future for you and your children.
For our parents and grandparents, that often meant starting on the bottom-rung in the local company and working your way up the ladder. You might move around, you might get transferred, but you pretty much knew your course once you set out on it. Your neighbors often lived a pretty similar life, and your community was a support network.
Today, we live in a vastly different world. You can't just work your way up the company ladder for the rest of your life. More and more children live in single-parent families, or families where both parents work. Communities aren't as connected anymore, and they aren't as insulated anymore.
Now, as never before, education is the key to opportunity.
For me that's not an abstraction. My parents didn't go to college. Because of their love and hard work, and with the help of some good schools and great teachers, I was able to go to Clemson University. I played football there but didn't get a scholarship, and I had to leave after my first semester because I couldn't afford it. I was able to transfer to a great public university, North Carolina State, and I worked my way through school there on a road crew, in a mill, and at UPS unloading trucks for a while. I graduated from State, went to law school at our rival, UNC, and eventually built a life I frankly never dreamed I'd have.<<
The rest of the speech:
http://www.johnedwards2004.com/page.asp?id=61