Walter Cronkite's defense of liberalism
Walter Cronkite delivered a full-throated defense of liberalism at People For the American Way's Spirit of Liberty dinner held on 11/17/1988 at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC:
"I know that liberalism isn't dead in this country. It isn't even comatose. It simply is suffering a severe case of acute laryngitis...For instance, we know that unilateral military action in Grenada and Tripoli was wrong. We know that Star Wars means uncontrollable escalation of the arms race. We know that the real threat to democracy is when half the nation is in poverty. We know that Thomas Jefferson was right when he said that a democracy cannot be ignorant and free. We know, we know, that no one should tell a woman she has to bear an unwanted child. And we know that there is freedom to disagree with all or part of what I've just said. But God Almighty, God Almighty, we've got to shout these truths in which we believe from the rooftops, like that scene in the movie NETWORK. We've got to throw open our windows and shout these truths to the streets and to the heavens. And I bet that we'll find that more windows are thrown open to join the chorus than we'd ever dreamed possible..."
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