Below is an extended excerpt from the actual source of the quote originally posted by scheming daemons (and highly recommended). My source below is the Truman Presidential Library.
The previously posted (and slightly shorter) version of the quote is found a bunch around the internet, yet
the original quote has five more examples of the problems with Republicans - and most of those five examples are still quite powerful today. Nothing against the original poster on this board - the Truman quote is so good it gets additional airplay from this post. But still, I wonder who did the editing on this Truman quote way back when?
N.B. The
five omitted portions of the Truman quote are underlined, in italics, and in large type below. The extended portion in italics only, except for the underlined emphasis, is the basic starting and ending point for the edited version of the quote. The words at the beginning are on earlier part of this nationwide Truman radio address that is really good Truman, and I just had to add it in.
{...}True liberalism is more than a matter of words. It demands more than sound effects. It cannot hide behind the catch phrases of the Republican candidate for President-catch phrases like "unity" and "efficiency." Unity for what cause? Efficiency for what Purpose, I wonder ?
The American people, in this critical year, are entitled to a full and open discussion of the issues. They are not getting it from the Republican candidate for President.
It is no service to the country to refuse, in the name of unity, to discuss the issues. It is no service to democracy to conceal the difference between the major parties.
Unity in a democracy cannot be produced by mealymouthed political speeches.
Unity on great issues comes only when the voice of the people has been heard so clearly, so strongly, so unmistakably, that no one--not even the second guessers--can doubt what the people mean.
Thomas Jefferson did not seek unity by concealing the real issues between himself and Alexander Hamilton. He made the issues clear, so that the people could reach a decision. And their decision determined that democracy rather than autocracy should prevail in this great country of ours.
Andrew Jackson did not seek unity with the moneymakers in Philadelphia. He made the issues so clear that the people decided to place the control of the money in the Government of the United States, and not in a few private banks.
Abraham Lincoln did not seek unity with Stephen A. Douglas. He made it clear that this Nation could not continue to exist half slave and half free.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1933, did not seek unity with the economic royalists. He proposed the New Deal.
And today, I do not seek unity by concealing the issues between me and the special privilege groups that control the Republican Party.
I never will seek that sort of unity.
-----------------
{...}
Hitler learned that efficiency without justice is a vain thing.
Democracy does not work that way. Democracy is a matter of faith--a faith in the soul of man--a faith in human rights. That is the kind of faith that moves mountains--that's the kind of faith that hurled the Iron Range at the Axis and shook the world at Hiroshima.
Faith is much more than efficiency. Faith gives value to all things. Without faith, the people perish.
Today the forces of liberalism face a crisis. The people of the United States must make a choice between two ways of living--a decision, which will affect us the rest of our lives and our children and our grandchildren after us.
On the other side, there is the Wall Street way of life and politics. Trust the leader! Let big business take care of prices and profits! Measure all things by money! That is the philosophy of the masters of the Republican Party.
Well, I have been studying the Republican Party for over 12 years at close hand in the Capital of the United States. And by this time, I have discovered where the Republicans stand on most of the major issues.
Since they won't tell you themselves, I am going to tell you.
They approve of the American farmer-but they are willing to help him go broke.
They stand four-square for the American home--but not for housing.
They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights.
They favor a minimum wage--the smaller the minimum the better.
They indorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools.
They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for people who can afford them.
They approve of social security benefits-so much so that they took them away from almost a million people.
They believe in international trade--so much so that they crippled our reciprocal trade program, and killed our International Wheat Agreement.
They favor the admission of displaced persons--but only within shameful racial and religious limitations.
They consider electric power a great blessing-but only when the private power companies get their rake-off.
They say TVA is wonderful--but we ought never to try it again.
They condemn "cruelly high prices"--but fight to the death every effort to bring them down.
They think the American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people.
And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.
Now, my friends, that is the Wall Street Republican way of life. But there is another way--there is another way--the Democratic way, the way of the Democratic Party.
Of course, the Democratic Party is not perfect. Nobody ever said it was. But the Democratic Party believes in the people. It believes in freedom and progress, and it is fighting for its beliefs right now. Original Source in Truman Library: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=1986 October 13, 1948 speech by President Harry S. Truman, addressing the people of Minnesota and "proud to salute a fighting liberal--the next Senator from Minnesota, Mayor {Hubert} Humphrey of Minneapolis." Broadcast nationwide.
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