Marco Rubio: Revive Lincoln's 'One

Country, One Destiny'

Marco Rubio7:03 a.m. EDT April 14, 2015

On eve of Lincoln's assassination's 150th anniversary, GOP

must reform government to empower all people equally

(Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

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Yesterday evening, I announced my campaign forpresident of the United States of

America, committing myself to the cause of restoring equal opportunity for every
American. Today, history provides a unique chance to reflect on that cause. We
mark the 150th anniversary of the assassination of America's greatest president,
the man who established the Republican Party to be the party of opportunity
Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln was perhaps the most transformational figure in our history. He had the
courage to measure America as it was against America as it was intended to be,
and to recognize the terrible distance between our founding ideas and the reality of
slavery.He aspired to reform government to empower all our people equally, to

break the powerful hold slaveholders had over Washington and to break the chains
of slaveryitself.
By demanding America live up to its calling as a nation where our rights come from
God, and where government exists to protect those rights without prejudice,
Lincoln took it upon his generation to test, as he put it, "whether that nation, or any
nation so conceived or so dedicated, can long endure."
In the century and a half since, America has proven that it can, in fact, endure.
Each generation after Lincoln's has carried on the tradition of bringing America one
step closer to its founding ideal of equal opportunity for all. The result has been the
rapid spread of the American Dream a Dream that in its short history has
transformed millions of lives and altered the course of human events.
One of the lives it transformed is that of my 84-year-old mother. She and my
fathercame here from Cuba in 1956 in search of economic opportunity. She found it
working as a maid, cashier and stock clerk, and my father as a bartender in hotels.
These jobs were not glamorous, yet they allowed my parents to achieve the
American Dream, because the real American Dream is not about becoming rich.
The real American Dream is about earning a comfortable wage, raising your family
in a safe neighborhood, worshiping as you choose, providing your children a good
education and retiring with dignity after a long and fulfilling life. And the American
Dream is about one thing more than any other. It is about giving your children the
chance to do the things you could not do, go the places you could not go and open
the doors that were closed to you.

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My parents achieved this dream like millions before and since. And in turn, our
parents' generation succeeded in solving the substantial challenges before them
and leaving an even grander American Dream for us to inherit. Now their time is
over, and our own time has come. The American Dream my parents achieved is
slipping out of reach for too many of our people, and our generation will be defined
by how we confront this crisis.

I believe we must do as Lincoln did we must reform government to empower all

our people equally. By applying the principles of our founding to the challenges of
our time, we can not only reclaim the American Dream, we can expand it to reach
more people than ever before. This must be done, because only the American
Dream has the power to unite our people and lead us into another American
Century.
I believe the Republican Party is best equipped to reclaim the promise of America
in our time. We are the party of Lincoln, built on the belief that equal opportunity
and equal rights under God are ideas so powerful they can unite people of every
culture, tongue, race, and creed. We have been that party in the past. At times we
have fallen short. But I believe we are that party today.
Our current president ran for office on calls of opportunity and unity. He claimed the
mantle of Lincoln. While his intentions were genuine, his presidency has only
deepened our divisions and cost us opportunities. This is not because of a flaw in
his character, but rather a flaw in his ideas.
His ideas tell us that becoming better off requires someone else becoming worse
off. They tell us the only way to climb up the economic ladder is to pull someone
else down. They tell us there are two Americas one of haves, one of have-nots
and that government is the best hope for those in search of a better life.

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Lincoln constructed the Republican Party around the idea that we are one America,
united by the belief that there is no limit to what our people can accomplish when
all are given a fair shot. He carried the idea of a united America with him
everywhere he went. I'm reminded of one stirring example in particular, from this
very day 150 years ago.
The suit he wore to Ford's Theater that evening was custom made for him, and in
the lining of the jacket was a hand-stitched inscription. The inscription read, "One
Country, One Destiny."
That was the idea Lincoln lived for, the idea he died for and the legacy he left
behind.

I believe it is also the call of our time, and the call of my party in this election to
pull our nation above its divisions, and reclaim the equality of opportunity that has
long united us as one people. That will be the purpose of my campaign, and that
will be the purpose of my presidency.
One Country, One Destiny for Lincoln's time, for our time, for all time.
Marco Rubio is a United States Senator from Florida and a candidate for the 2016
GOP presidential nomination.
In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from
outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like
this, go to theOpinion front page.
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