"We Dissent!" [View all]
"It is not enough to allow dissent. We must demand it. For there is much to dissent from.
"We dissent from the fact that millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich.
"We dissent from the conditions and hatreds which deny a full life to our fellow citizens because of the color of their skin.
"We dissent from the monstorous absurdity of a world where nations stand poised to destroy one another, and men must kill their fellow men.
"We dissent from the sight of most of mankind living in poverty, stricken by disease, threatened by hunger and doomed to an early death after a life of unremitting labor.
"We dissent from cities which blunt our senses and turn ordinary acts of daily life into a painful struggle.
"We dissent from the willful,heedless destruction of natural pleasure and beauty.
"We dissent from all these structures -- of technology and of society itself -- which strip from the individual the dignity and warmth of sharing in the common tasks of his community and his ountry."
-- Senator Robert F. Kennedy; Berkley; October 22, 1966.
While preparing for the grass roots pro-environment, anti-hydrofracking community's meeting with Robert Kennedy, Jr., next Monday, I came across my copy of RFK's promo-magazine from his 1968 run for the presidency. This powerful speech is included in its pages. (There is also a three page interview with Robert, Jr., then 14.)
It ranks among the best political speeches in our nation's history, in my opinion. It also serves as a stark reminder of what the leaders of the Democratic Party once stood for.
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