In A Democracy, Dissent Is An Act

In A Democracy, Dissent Is An Act Of Faith.

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.

Naturepitiless In A Pitiless Universeis Certainly Not Concerned With The Survival Of Americans Or, For That Matter, Of Any Of The Two Billion People Now Inhabiting This Earth. Hence, Our Destiny, With The Aid Of God, Remains In Our Own Hands.

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.

Intolerance Of Dissent Is A Well-noted Feature Of The American National Character.