During his November 7, 2015 dialogue with residents of New York City, Lyndon LaRouche began the proceedings with the following opening remarks:
Now we've come to a period in which there are various elements of destruction of the United States. The most important point right now, in terms of the entire United States, lies within the province of Manhattan. Manhattan was the birthplace of the United States, led by especially Alexander Hamilton. And everything that has come to the United States has been a product of the continuation of the principles of Alexander Hamilton and his associates, and every one of us, like me, who has had his own role in the leadership of the United States, briefly but significantly. And what's happened, is we have been destroyed throughout the United States. The fact of the matter is that if you want to save the United States, if you want to save our nation and what it stands for, you have to concentrate on the mission of Manhattan, the mission of Manhattan which is defined by Alexander Hamilton. It's still there today. There's a lot of clutter in Manhattan; there are all kinds of people there. But at the same time, there is a coincidence which is good, as contrasted with incidence, which is intrinsically evil. And intrinsically evil means,-guess what? It means speculation, it means financial organizing. So these things have to be cleared away. We have to recreate the United States to its intention, and recognize that Alexander Hamilton, even to this day, provides a model of excellence for what this nation represents. And you can find the essence of the United States in the founding role of Alexander Hamilton in creating the United States, including Manhattan. And we have to therefore realize that other parts of the United States may be valuable parts of the United States, but they lack an essential part of what lies in Manhattan. That is, not all of Manhattan is good, as everybody in Manhattan knows. Some of the worst crooks in the world have been in Manhattan. But we know there is in Manhattan still, a legacy of Alexander Hamilton; and it's not just the tomb that he has down there in the southern part of the territory. It's what he represents, and what has inspired other people, as by Alexander Hamilton's model, up to the present time. Therefore, if we're going to solve this problem, we have to recognize that many parts of the United States are deficient. That is, they are deficient as trying to play a role as leadership. And the fact is, we've often destroyed the foundation of the United States, which is typified by Alexander Hamilton more than anything else. And you start to disperse the elements of the United States into local states, or fractions of local states, cults, and so forth, and what happens is you lose the original intention of the foundation of the United States, which was a miraculous development for all mankind. And the role of Manhattan in terms of bringing foreigners into the United States, and making them citizens in the United States, and spreading that influence from inside the United States, from Manhattan,-that is the particular genius which lies as a potential within the United States still today.