An Act Of Faith

In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.  Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects.
—    J. William Fulbright
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On This Day In:
2019	Fostering Debate
2018	The Births Of Spring
2017	Drug Epidemic In America
2016	Word Up, Chuck!
2015	Sometimes I Wonder About Things
2014	Still Racing
2013	Anew
2012	Make Both
2011	Are You Happy Yet?

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Symptoms

Mere unorthodoxy or dissent from the prevailing mores is not to be condemned.  The absence of such voices would be a symptom of grave illness to our society.
—    Earl Warren
Former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
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On This Day In:
2016	Tossers
2015	Hunger
2014	Outside Dependence
2013	Doing Right
2012	A Short Course In Human Relations
	If Death Be My Future
	Strive
	Such A Fool
2011	I’m Working For A Living

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The Press Is NOT The Enemy

To demonize the press, to characterize it as not just mistaken but malign, is to lay the groundwork for repression.
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The enemy in any democracy is not dissent, from either within or without.  Dissent, in fact, is essential.  The enemy is dishonesty, ignorance, indifference, intolerance.  The ability to hold journalists accountable has never been greater, and we take legitimate criticism as a challenge to do better.  Attempts to suppress, dismiss and control, on the other hand, we understand as exactly what Thomas Jefferson warned against.
—    Nancy Gibbs
Editor of Time Magazine
From her editorial: “Jefferson’s Warning to the White House“, dtd: 13 February 2017
[Thomas Jefferson’s comment was that given the choice of government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, he’d choose newspapers over government.    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2016	It Ain’t Easy
(Leap Year 29th)	Or Try To, Anyway…
(Leap Year 29th)	Circles Within Circles
2015	A Series Of Funerals
2014	And Your Point Is?
2013	Infinitely Care
2012	In My Room
(Leap Year 29th)	Stingray – TV Series Review (This is my most popular post since starting my blog – hands down! It still draws hits almost every week. The hits seem to come mostly from Central Europe. I guess the show must be in syndication there.)
(Leap Year 29th)	A Single Thread
2011	Lyrical Mixture
	Teaching = Translating

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Starting To Stumble

The right of dissent, or, if you prefer, the right to be wrong, is surely fundamental to the existence of a democratic society.  That’s the right that went first in every nation that stumbled down the trail toward totalitarianism.
—    Edward R. Murrow
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On This Day In:
2015	Begin Combat
	I Am A Runner
2014	Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013	Additions
	The Object Of Instruction
2012	Telling Her
2011	On Torture

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Itchin’

No body politic is healthy until it begins to itch.
—   Heywood Broun
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On This Day In:
2015	In The Not So Distant Future
2014	Sources
2013	Three Essentials
2012	Just Looking
2011	Religious Lessons
2010	View From Under The Bus… (A mid-term report card on the Obama Administration. Long, but still worth reading for historical perspective.)

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We Must Dissent

We cannot play ostrich.  Democracy just cannot flourish amid fear.  Liberty cannot bloom amid hate.  Justice cannot take root amid rage.  America must get to work.  In the chill climate in which we live, we must go against the prevailing wind.  We must dissent from the indifference.  We must dissent from the apathy.  We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust.  We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away.  We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope.  We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership.  We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.
The legal system can force open doors and sometimes even knock down walls.  But it cannot build bridges.  That job belongs to you and me.  Afro and White, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, our fates are bound together.  We can run from each other but we cannot escape each other.  We will only attain freedom if we learn to appreciate what is different and muster the courage to discover what is fundamentally the same.  America’s diversity offers so much richness and opportunity.  Take a chance, won’t you?  Knock down the fences that divide.  Tear apart the walls that imprison.  Reach out, freedom lies just on the other side.  We should have liberty for all.
—   Thurgood Marshall
Former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Acceptance Speech for the Liberty Medal
July 4, 1992
Independence Hall
Philadelphia, PA
[I “found” this quote when it was read (twice) in the Netflix TV series “Daredevil” which I reviewed earlier this month.  The sentences about “dissent” were quoted.    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2014	Now What?
2013	Judgement
2012	Stuck In My Mind
	Life’s Hope
2011	Just Getting Up
	Directions Please

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