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In reply to the discussion: Liberal or Progressive [View all]
 

WillyT

(72,631 posts)
27. JFK's Remarks... Liberal... K & R !!!
Thu Dec 20, 2012, 10:15 AM
Dec 2012
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."

But first, I would like to say what I understand the word "Liberal" to mean and explain in the process why I consider myself to be a "Liberal," and what it means in the presidential election of 1960.

In short, having set forth my view -- I hope for all time -- two nights ago in Houston, on the proper relationship between church and state, I want to take the opportunity to set forth my views on the proper relationship between the state and the citizen. This is my political credo:

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. And the only basic issue in the 1960 campaign is whether our government will fall in a conservative rut and die there, or whether we will move ahead in the liberal spirit of daring, of breaking new ground, of doing in our generation what Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson did in their time of influence and responsibility.

Our liberalism has its roots in our diverse origins...


Full Speech: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/jfk-nyliberal/


Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Liberal or Progressive [View all] Riftaxe Dec 2012 OP
I self identify as a very liberal progressive.... peacebird Dec 2012 #1
That has me scratching my head Riftaxe Dec 2012 #2
Your whole post has me scratching mine. Jackpine Radical Dec 2012 #5
Folette and uren Riftaxe Dec 2012 #22
apparently we have to choose sides Riftaxe Dec 2012 #3
Liberal, because... LAGC Dec 2012 #4
I am aware of their history Riftaxe Dec 2012 #6
Also some progressives want to ban porn - as a liberal I find bans disgusting banned from Kos Dec 2012 #10
You know if you dunk someone in water and they cry out, they are liberal! el_bryanto Dec 2012 #7
I think "progressive" is a re-naming of "liberal" Evergreen Emerald Dec 2012 #8
I suspect it not as clear cut as that Riftaxe Dec 2012 #11
Liberal was successfully turned into a dirty Evergreen Emerald Dec 2012 #39
I agree with you. I find the these to terms Skidmore Dec 2012 #36
Let me know which group believes current military spending is fucking insane think Dec 2012 #9
Cut military spending by 80% Riftaxe Dec 2012 #12
All Progressives are also Liberal but not all Liberals are also Progressives. JaneyVee Dec 2012 #13
Lord, i only took a course in phiosophy Riftaxe Dec 2012 #15
I'm both MotherPetrie Dec 2012 #14
The problem I have with the word "liberal" gollygee Dec 2012 #16
Left over from the age of enlightment Riftaxe Dec 2012 #17
Liberals believe in free markets and free trade banned from Kos Dec 2012 #18
On this we do agree Riftaxe Dec 2012 #19
Socialism vs regulated economy zipplewrath Dec 2012 #20
The distinction is a very important one Riftaxe Dec 2012 #23
'Extremely/Strongly anti-nazi'. Mc Mike Dec 2012 #21
Liberal mean right-wing economic policy outside the US. Progressive is more historically accurate. Selatius Dec 2012 #24
Anti-authoritarian leftist or left libertarian, I think works for me. TheKentuckian Dec 2012 #25
In the end, i suspect progressives and liberals Riftaxe Dec 2012 #26
JFK's Remarks... Liberal... K & R !!! WillyT Dec 2012 #27
A repost fron one of your earlier ones Riftaxe Dec 2012 #29
"Progressive" is the label the phoney, Third-Way types adopted to distance themselves Romulox Dec 2012 #28
Having voted for Bill twice Riftaxe Dec 2012 #30
Not even progressives zipplewrath Dec 2012 #31
+1 leftstreet Dec 2012 #34
That's the way I see it too. forestpath Dec 2012 #35
Yep. nt raouldukelives Dec 2012 #38
I appreciate this post and this type of post. MrYikes Dec 2012 #32
Chinese Restaurant Menu slackmaster Dec 2012 #33
Most of us should learn to be more pragmatic. nt Comrade_McKenzie Dec 2012 #37
Your post got hidden because you falsely accused another DUer of thinking 'fuck the homeless' muriel_volestrangler Dec 2012 #40
Your OP needs some rewording. ManiacJoe Dec 2012 #41
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