比爾.柯林頓：政治是為了讓最大多數人過上平凡生活

最新 07-19

作者：比爾.柯林頓

7月2日，世界各國領袖相聚在斯特拉斯堡送別德國最偉大的前總理赫爾穆特·科爾，美國前總統比爾·柯林頓在科爾葬禮上發表了引人深思的演講。柯林頓在悼詞中列舉科爾面對的五大問題，他說21世紀歐洲始於科爾，科爾讓他領會到：「政治不是為了用偉大的方式統治，而是為了讓最大數量的人們過上平凡的生活」。

THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAY A FEW WORDS. THANK YOU TO PETER, WALTER, HELMUT S FAMILY. LEADERS OF EUROPE AND THE EUROPEAN UNION, CHANCELLOR MERKEL,PRESIDENT MACRON, PRIME MINISTERS AND OFFICIALS WHO ARE HERE, I ASK YOU TO THINK ABOUT SOMETHING NOT IN MY NOTES.

I WAS LOOKING AROUND THIS CROWD TODAY, AT ALL OF US WHO USED TO BE IN OFFICE., ALL OF US WHO CAME. WHY? BECAUSE HELMUT KOHL GAVE US A CHANCE TO BE INVOLVED IN SOMETHING BIGGER THAN OURSELVES, BIGGER THAN OUR TERMS OF AWESOMENESS -- OF OFFICE, BIGGER THAN OUR CAREERS,BECAUSESOONER OR LATER ALL OF US WILL BE IN A COFFIN LIKE THAT. AND THE ONLY GIFT WE CAN LEAVE BEHIND IS A BETTER FUTURE FOR OURCHILDREN AND THE FREEDOM TO MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES, INCLUDING THEIR OWN MISTAKES.I LOVED HIM. HILLARY SAID I LOVED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS THE ONLY PERSON WITH A BIGGER APPETITE FOR FOOD THAN I HAVE.HE CAME TO WASHINGTON SO MUCH.

ONCE HE TOOK ME TO HIS FAVORITE RESTAURANT IN THE CAPITAL OF MY COUNTRY. I RECOMMEND IT TO YOU.WHY AM I SAYING THIS? BECAUSE THE 21ST CENTURY IN EUROPE AS YOU SEE REALLY BEGAN ON HIS WATCH, BECAUSE HE HAD FIVE BIG QUESTIONSTO ANSWER, WHICH ALL HAVE RAMIFICATIONS TODAY. AND BECAUSE OF THE ANSWERS HE GAVE, WE ARE HERE. SHOULD THERE BE A REAL UNITED GERMANY AFTER THE BERLIN WALL FELL? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? HOW MUCH WILL IT COST? IT WILL BE A REAL PAIN, BUT WE ALL WANT PEOPLE IN ONE COUNTRY, AND WE SHOULD UNDERGO THE DISLOCATION AND THE DIFFICULTY. EVEN IN HIS CASE IF IT COSTS HIM AN ELECTION, BECAUSE IT TOOK LONGER TO LIFT THE EAST THAN COULD HAVE BEEN PREDICTED.

SHOULD THERE BE A REAL EUROPEAN UNION, AND SHOULD IT BE EXPANDED SO THAT GERMANY WILL NEVER AGAIN BE ON THE EDGE OF EUROPE, THE SOURCE OF DISLOCATION AND MORE? -- AND WAR? THE POLLS, AND GARY AND S, -- ON GARY AND -- HUNGARIANS, CZECHS, AND OTHERS, SHOULD WE DO THIS TOGETHER? SHOULD GERMANY, SO LONG DISTRUSTED BY ITS NEIGHBORS, TAKE AN AGGRESSIVE POSTURE TO END OF THE SLAUGHTER IN BOSNIA? SUPPORTING NATO S FIRST INTERVENTION OUTSIDE THE MEMBER NATIONS AND THE FIRST DEPLOYMENT OF GERMANFORCES OUTSIDE OF ITS OWN COUNTRY SINCE THE END OF WORLD WAR II?

AFTER ALL THE CARNAGE OF THE WAR, FINALLY THE BERLIN WALL FALLS.SHOULD YOU JUST HEAVE A SIGH OF RELIEF OR RECOGNIZED THAT THIS HAS BEEN A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE FOR RUSSIA AND REACH OUT A HAND OF FRIENDSHIP, ACCOMPANIED BY A CHECK AND GIVE ME A CHANCE TO DO THE SAME? SHOULD NATO HE PRESERVED OR SCRAPPED? THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT IT SHOULD BE SCRAPPED. AND INSTEAD, IT EXPANDED, NOT AS A THREAT, BUT HAS A PROMISE WITH A SPECIAL SET OFPARTNERSHIPS THAT INCLUDED BOTH RUSSIA AND UKRAINE, TO GUARANTEE THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY AND COOPERATION OF PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE.THESE WERE REALLY BIG QUESTIONS. IT SOUNDS SO EASY NOW, AND YOU SAY NOT ONLY WAS IT EASY, BUT LOOK HOW REALITY HAS INTERVENED,LOCALE -- LOOK HOW THINGS ARE NOW.

YOU MAY THINK ALL OF US WHO GROW GRAY GROW DOTTERING IN THE FACE OF REALITY IS, BUTTHERE ARE NO PERMANENT VICTORIES OR DEFEATS IN POLITICS. WHAT MATTERS MOST IS WHAT DRIVES US. I LOVED THIS GUY BECAUSE HIS APPETITES WENT FAR BEYOND FOOD, BECAUSE HE WANTED TO CREATE A WORLD IN WHICH NO ONE DOMINATED, AND WORLD IN WHICH COOPERATION WAS BETTER THAN CONFLICT, IN WHICH DIVERSE GROUPS MAKE BETTER DECISIONS THAN INDIVIDUAL DICTATORS, IN WHICH YOUNG PEOPLE WOULD BE FREE TO SAY THAT IN OUR TIME WE WERE WRONG, AT LEAST WHAT WE DID WAS NOT ENOUGH FOR NOW.NO THING CAPTURED THIS MORE THAN HIS WILLINGNESSTO -- THE ENORMOUS CONTRIBUTION THAT GERMANY MADE TO THE EUROPEAN UNIT THAN TO GIVE UP THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CENTRAL BANK.WE HAVE TO LEARN TO SHARE. ALL OVER THE WORLD TODAY THERE IS A NEW UPRISING OF IDENTITY POLITICS. WHO ARE WE, AND SHOULD WE BE DEFINED MOST BY OUR DIFFERENCES OR MOST BY WHAT WE HAVE IN COMMON? MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, HELMUT KOHL LOVED BEING GERMAN.

I MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR HIM ON A STATE VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES TO BE MORE GERMAN BECAUSE I TOOK HIM TO MILWAUKEE, OUR MOST GERMAN CITY, TO A GERMAN IMMERSION SCHOOL WHERE HE SPOKE GERMAN WITH AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS WHO SPOKE AT ALL DAY EVERY DAY IN SCHOOL. HE TOOK THE POSITION THAT IN AN INTERDEPENDENT WORLD WHERE THE BORDERS WERE LOOKING MORE LIKE -- THAN WALLS, WHERE TECHNOLOGY ALONE MADE WONDERFUL THINGS POSSIBLE, BUT ALSO MADE US MORE VULNERABLE TO EVERYTHING FROM TERROR TO CYBER TERRORISM, THAT WE HAD TO SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND. HE LOVED BEING GERMAN. HE TRIED TO GET ME TO EAT SOME THINGS I DO NOT WANT TO EAT BECAUSE HE LOVED BEING GERMAN. HE LOVED BEING A EUROPEAN. BUT IN HIS BIG, HIGHLY POLITICAL, OFTEN OVERBEARING LEADERSHIP, THERE WAS THE GERM OF UNDERSTANDING THAT THE CANCERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY WERE ALL BORN OF PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE DOMINATION WAS BETTER THAN COOPERATION. THAT IS WHYWE ARE ALL HERE. ALL OF US OLD GUYS THAT USED TO BE WANTED TO COME BACK AND SAY, THANK YOU FOR GIVING US A CHANCE TO BE PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER THAN OURSELVES.

THANK YOU FOR GIVING US A CHANCE TO BE A LITTLE BETTER, TO REMEMBER THAT THE POLISH WORKERS IN GDANSK, THEIR LIVES WERE AS IMPORTANT AS HOURS OF IN THE EYES OF GOD.POLITICS IN THE END IS NOT ABOUT GREAT WAYS OF DOMINATION,BUT ABOUT THE POSSIBILITIES OF ORDINARY LIFE FOR THE LARGEST NUMBERS OF PEOPLE. THE RICHEST PERSON IN THE WORLD ONE DAY WILL LIE IN A COFFIN. THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON, WHETHER YOU KILL OR PRESERVE LIFE, WE ARE ALL GOING HOME,AS THEY SAY IN THE UNITED STATES, IN OUR AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES, BECAUSE MEETINGS LIKE THIS, HOME GOINGS. NO ONE LOVED THAT MORE THAN HELMUT KOHL. SO SLEEP WELL, MY FRIEND.

THE GREATEST GIFT YOU LEFT US IS THE LESSONS THAT THE THING THAT MATTERS MOST IN LIFE IS WHAT WE LEAVE OUR CHILDREN -- THE FREEDOM, THE PIECE, THE SECURITY TO BUILD OUR OWN DREAMS WHILE LIFTING UP, NOT TEARING DOWN.YOU DID A GOOD JOB WITH YOUR LIFE, AND THOSE OF US WHO SHARED IT LOVE TO YOU FOR IT. THANK YOU.

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