"If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.' . . .
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves. . . .
"I do not believe in a superstate. I see no magic in tax dollars which are sent to Washington and then returned. I abhor the waste and incompetence of large-scale federal bureaucracies in this administration as well as in others. I do not favor state compulsion when voluntary individual effort can do the job and do it well. But I believe in a government which acts, which exercises its full powers and full responsibilities. Government is an art and a precious obligation; and when it has a job to do, I believe it should do it. And this requires not only great ends but that we propose concrete means of achieving them. . . . liberalism is our best and only hope in the world today. For the liberal society is a free society, and it is at the same time and for that reason a strong society. Its strength is drawn from the will of free people committed to great ends and peacefully striving to meet them. Only liberalism, in short, can repair our national power, restore our national purpose, and liberate our national energies."
~ John F. Kennedy, September 14, 1960
Great words of wisdom by a great president.
ReplyDeleteI am a liberal and I'm proud to be one.
I was just going to say that Sweet Virginia! Exactly. I'm liberal and proud of it! And I'm tired of not shouting it to the world because the tea baggers got people thinking it's a dirty word. When it's something to be proud of!
ReplyDeleteAnd I was also going to say that you stole my story Anita! Then I saw John F. Kennedy said all that. How could I even put myself in the same category?
Deb, JFK was a great president. Too bad we don't have more statesmen in Congress. The world would be a better place.
ReplyDeleteYeah. They care too much about keeping their jobs than doing their jobs. It's just shocking what this has evolved to. Campaign finance reform and term limits! That'll stop the legalized bribery.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I can't see it happening, though.
ReplyDeleteWhen you look back over history, things happened that people never imagined that changed whole ways of life. If we keep talking about this and making people realize this is a large part of the reason why our politicians don't vote for what's best for America--because they are being bribed--it'll change. It may take a while. But it'll happen. We liberals have to start speaking up!
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