Excerpts from Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s Inaugural Address

State House, Boston
January 4, 2007

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.

My journey here has been an improbable one. From a place where hope withers, through great schools and challenging opportunities, to this solemn occasion, I have been supported and loved and lifted up. And I thank the family, the mentors, the teachers — every one of whom is here today in body or in spirit — just as I thank the tens of thousands of campaign volunteers and millions of voters across the Commonwealth who shared this improbable journey with me.

America herself is an improbable journey … Our founders came on the Mayflower, the Arabella and the early clipper ships. But there were other boats, too. There was the Amistad and her cargo of kidnapped Africans, who commandeered the ship to sail home to Africa, but who were seized in Long Island Sound and imprisoned in New Haven.

On this very day 165 years ago, a young man named Kinna, who had been part of that rebellion, sent a letter from prison to our own John Quincy Adams, who had retired from public life at home in Massachusetts.

Kinna pleaded with Adams to help the 36 captives from his ship to earn their freedom. Adams took the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court and won.

As a gesture of thanks and respect, the Africans gave Adams a Bible, called the Mendi Bible, after their tribal homeland.

I took the oath this morning with my hand resting on that same Bible — and with my resolve strengthened by that same legacy. I am descended from people once forbidden their most basic and fundamental freedoms, a people desperate for a reason to hope and willing to fight for it. And so are you. So are you. Because the Amistad was not just a black man’s journey; it was an American journey. This Commonwealth — and the nation modeled on it — is at its best when we show we understand a faith in what’s possible, and the willingness to work for it…

I know that we can have more and better jobs, and a stronger economy. But we will need the best-prepared workforce on the planet, simpler and faster regulatory processes, a stable and simplified corporate tax structure, and a more cooperative relationship between labor and business. Let’s reach for that.

I know we can have better schools to support that emerging economy and to prepare today’s and tomorrow’s citizens. But we will need high expectations for our kids at home as well as at schools, more flexibility in the classrooms and even in what we consider to be a “classroom,” early education and after-school programs, and public colleges and universities every bit as well-supported and honored as their private counterparts. Let’s reach for that.

I know we can have more accessible and more affordable health care for ourselves and our families. But it will take transparency among clinicians and health insurers, a system of care that makes more use of community settings, simplified administrative systems, and government stewardship for the good of the whole. Let’s reach for that.

I know we can have safer neighborhoods. But it will take more community-based patrols, after-school and enrichment programs, summer job and volunteer opportunities for young people, training and pre-release preparation for inmates, and sensible reform of both CORI and sentencing. Let’s reach for that.

And I will be calling on you — each one of you — to stay engaged, to bring forward your solutions, not just your problems, to suggest a better way, to keep your eye on the higher ground we seek, and to act like this State House is your house. You stood up and you reached out from every corner of the Commonwealth, working together in the best example in recent memory of a bedrock democratic principle: that to make any difference in our common realities, we must see our stake in each others’ dreams and struggles as well as our own, and act on that.

To the earliest settlers of this Commonwealth, as we have been reminded on a couple of occasions today, this Commonwealth was their shining “city on a hill.” To this kid from the South Side of Chicago, Massachusetts is my city on a hill. For every mother living month to month; for every student struggling to get through school; for every dad working two jobs and wondering which one is going to be shipped overseas; for every fisherman wondering whether this year’s catch will do; for every immigrant wondering whether the American Dream is a myth; for every teacher, every bus driver, every government clerk, every firefighter, every small business owner doing your best and wondering whether anyone appreciates you; for every one of God’s children who calls Massachusetts home — let’s rebuild our “city on a hill,” and make it shine again.