"I'm proud to say I'm a liberal."
On the anniversary of his assassination, let us revisit the words of President John F. Kennedy, who spoke so eloquently about what it means to be a liberal in our society.
It is easy to see how President Kennedy inspired so many people to activism.
"What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "liberal?"
If by "liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then … we are not that kind of "liberal."
But if by a "liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people
-- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "liberal."
- John F. Kennedy, September 14, 1960
