View from the ‘Bridge

Here is a copy of Governor Patrick’s (it feels SO good to say that) inaugural address. This will probably make it all over the Massachusetts blogosphere, but it deserves to be reprinted everywhere. It fills me with hope and excitement about the Patrick administration. I only wish I could’ve been there to see him deliver it in person.

We meet today on a singular occasion. More than the passing of title and honor, more than the ritual transfer of the power of government — this is the occasion when the people charge new leadership to steward the public trust. It is a profound responsibility. I accept it humbly, mindful of the history that brought us here, and the challenges before us.

For a very long time now we have been told that government is bad, that it exists only to serve the powerful and well-connected, that its job is not important enough to be done by anyone competent, let alone committed, and that all of us are on our own. Today we join together in common cause to lay that fallacy to rest, and to extend a great movement based on shared responsibility from the corner office to the corner of your block and back again.
(more…)