I have news for the forces of greed and the defenders of the status quo: your time has come - and gone. It's time for change in America.
Interpretation
The quote calls for a transformative shift against greed and complacency in society.
William J. Clinton's quote emphasizes the necessity for change in America, directly confronting those who prioritize greed and maintain the status quo. It serves as a rallying cry for progress and reform, suggesting that the current state of affairs is no longer acceptable and that new ideas and actions are urgently needed for a better future.
In practice
This quote could be used in a political rally to inspire supporters to push for policies that drive change.
You know, there was a recent poll which said that young people in the generation of the students here felt it was far more likely that they would see a UFO than that they would draw Social Security... It's very important you understand this. Once you understand this, you realize this is not an episode from the X Files, and you're not more likely to see a UFO if you do certain specific things.
When we got organized as a country, [and] wrote a fairly radical Constitution, with a radical Bill of Rights, giving radical amounts of freedom to Americans, it was assumed that Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly...When personal freedom is being abused, you have to move to limit it.
For too long we've been told about 'us' and 'them.' Each and every election we see a new slate of arguments and ads telling us that 'they' are the problem, not 'us.' But there can be no 'them' in America. There's only us.
There is a huge body of business evidence now showing that energy savings give better service at lower cost with higher profit. We have to tear down barriers to successful markets and we have to create incentives to enter them.
Demand that your government pays more attention. It's immoral that people in Africa die like flies of diseases that no one dies of in the United States. And the more disease there is, the more political unrest there will be, leading to more Darfurs, which the U.S. will have to pay to fix.
I was not elected to produce a pile of vetoes.
Part of people's concern is just the sense that around the world the old order isn't holding and we're not quite yet to where we need to be in terms of a new order that's based on a different set of principles, that's based on a sense of common humanity, that's based on economies that work for all people.
The most rigid structures, the most impervious to change, will collapse first.
We should not forget that in the '60s, George Wallace's motto was 'segregation forever,' and that he did nothing to deter bombings and other acts of violence and, by his actions, condoned them.
By changing nothing, nothing changes.
In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.
I must accommodate my history to the hour: I may presently change, not only by fortune, but also by intention.
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