Second with so much difficulties happening in the left side of the political sectrum I am often reminded why I'm liberal minded. theses quotes encapulate that...
The inherent political weakness of liberals is in their very open-mindedness and willingness to consider all sides of an argument before drawing a conclusion. Immovable ideology and dogma are anathema to a liberal, by definition. Which is why the Republicans have succeeded in coercing an entire country into their clutches.Most people are inherently liberal -- but almost half of any given group of people is of below average intelligence (if you subscribe to that paradigm, which unfortunately, I do), and therefore more susceptible to propaganda. The right has the better propaganda machine thus far, and the left is averse to the use of propaganda in extreme measures by virtue of... virtue. It looks like a losing battle, doesn't it?
Propaganda is not an inherently negative tactic -- it's the only way to reach the masses effectively. In the hands of the right wing (talk about a mixed metaphor), through the use of the vast right wing conspiracy and its puppets -- the media -- propaganda has been used to convince the masses that the word "liberal" is an epithet. That even though the majority of them are not rich, taxes on the rich are unfairly applied. That although most of them would be the beneficiaries of universal healthcare, they must protect the minority who would lose the money they (the majority) put in their (the minority) pockets. It's ingenious, really. People will buy anything if it's repeated often enough and loudly enough by the pretty people on their television screens.
If you accept the premises that the majority of people have their minds made up for them by outside influences (propaganda), that "conservatives" are more adept at using propaganda because they'll say anything they need to say to make their point, that liberals are hampered by their principles in the use of propaganda (and, yes, it's all theory, and a lot to swallow whole), then it stands to reason that there is only one way for the liberal side to win in a contest of this sort: We must have principles on our side. We can only feel justified in resorting to propaganda if the propaganda is actually true and right.
Well, hallelujah. We are right, what we are saying is true. Karl Rove is the doppelganger-- he is the devil, the Evil Twin. There must be a good twin out there somewhere. We need someone driving our propaganda machine whose relentlessness, dedication to the cause and commitment to winning the hearts and minds of the majority matches that of the right wing. We have the message of truth; we need effective messengers.
Then there's this longer quote from kennedy,
"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 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.
Our responsibility is not discharged by announcement of virtuous ends. Our responsibility is to achieve these objectives with social invention, with political skill, and executive vigor. I believe for these reasons that 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.
What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal."
But 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."
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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