In A Democracy, Dissent Is An Act

It Is Not Our Affluence, Or Our Plumbing, Or Our Clogged Freeways That Grip The Imagination Of Others. Rather, It Is The Values Upon Which Our System Is Built. These Values Imply Our Adherence Not Only To Liberty And Individual Freedom, But Also To International Peace, Law And Order, And Constructive Social Purpose. When We Depart From These Values, We Do So At Our Peril.

The Legislator Is An Indispensable Guardian Of Our Freedom. It Is True That Great Executives Have Played A Powerful Role In The Development Of Civilization, But Such Leaders Appear Sporadically, By Chance. They Do Not Always Appear When They Are Most Needed. The Great Executives Have Given Inspiration And Push To The Advancement Of Human Society, But It Is The Legislator Who Has Given Stability And Continuity To That Slow And Painful Progress.

When Public Men Indulge Themselves In Abuse, When They Deny Others A Fair Trial, When They Resort To Innuendo And Insinuation, To Libel, Scandal, And Suspicion, Then Our Democratic Society Is Outraged, And Democracy Is Baffled. It Has No Apparatus To Deal With The Boor, The Liar, The Lout, And The Antidemocrat In General.

The Preservation Of Our Free Society In The Years And Decades To Come Will Depend Ultimately On Whether We Succeed Or Fail In Directing The Enormous Power Of Human Knowledge To The Enrichment Of Our Own Lives And The Shaping Of A Rational And Civilized World Order....it Is The Task Of Education, More Than Any Other Instrument Of Foreign Policy To Help Close The Dangerous Gap Between The Economic And Technological Interdependence Of The People Of The World And Their Psychological, Political And Spiritual Alienation.

It Is Amazing How Soon One Becomes Accustomed To The Sound Of Ones Voice, When Forced To Repeat A Speech Five Or Six Times A Day. As Election Day Approaches, The Size Of The Crowds Grows; They Are More Responsive And More Interested; And One Derives A Certain Exhilaration From That Which, Only A Few Weeks Before, Was Intensely Painful. This Is One Possible Explanation Of Unlimited Debate In The Senate.