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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"But, if by 'Liberal'..."
Accepting the NY Liberal Party Nomination, 1960Then, he continued:
I believe also in the United States of America, in the promise that it contains and has contained throughout our history of producing a society so abundant and creative and so free and responsible that it cannot only fulfill the aspirations of its citizens, but serve equally well as a beacon for all mankind. 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.
<snip>
Our liberalism has its roots in our diverse origins. Most of us are descended from that segment of the American population which was once called an immigrant minority. Today, along with our children and grandchildren, we do not feel minor. We feel proud of our origins and we are not second to any group in our sense of national purpose. For many years New York represented the new frontier to all those who came from the ends of the earth to find new opportunity and new freedom, generations of men and women who fled from the despotism of the czars, the horrors of the Nazis, the tyranny of hunger, who came here to the new frontier in the State of New York. These men and women, a living cross section of American history, indeed, a cross section of the entire world's history of pain and hope, made of this city not only a new world of opportunity, but a new world of the spirit as well.
Please read the rest at the above link.
Have a happy, healthy, safe, holiday.
Cerridwen
(13,260 posts)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.
Tennessee Gal
(6,160 posts)Cerridwen
(13,260 posts)Little Star
(17,055 posts)Cerridwen
(13,260 posts)I appreciate the k&r.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Happy 4th to you and all.
K&R
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)In fact, "liberal" is seen as the opposite of "conservative", and that is enough for me to embrace the word.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)everything else is termed 'liberal'.
Is it 'liberal' to advocate restricting and eliminating women's human rights? According to far too many in the party and here, it is.
Is it 'liberal' to expend unlimited sums of taxpayer money to prop up a cabal of thieves, yet when it comes to actual people, we just don't have it?
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)But, yes, I can see your point. Anyone who thinks that Obama is a Socialist is really out there. Hmmmm, I might have to embrace the word "Socialist" instead of "liberal" if what you say is true.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)tclambert
(11,087 posts)I expect Democrats and "other liberals/progressives" to know the party and its history and the words of its members/leaders prior to posting here. This quote is not new; it dates to 1960. It is, for those who have some knowledge, "common knowledge".
I expect my fellow liberals/progressives/Democrats to know party history. I will not 'dumb-down' my posts to the most ignorant amongst us. That bar is so lowered we have people here who think comparing the plight of the poor in the US is the same as the plight of the poor in Somalia.
Catch up; or be left behind.
Merlot
(9,696 posts)And I agree with you re: common democratic knowledge.
Just think what a surprise it would be to someone who has never read this.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)But, who else could it be?