Kerry campaign censors link to Cronkite speech

I was posting to the Kerry campaign "open discussion" forum. It is not so
open. I included a link to a speech by Cronkite from his book, The
Challenges of Change.

Here is an excerpt:

[i]nterestingly enough, "revolting" and "revolution" come from the same
Latin word. And to be revolutionary in attacking our problems of today and
tomorrow is not to deny our American heritage, the heritage of the patriots
who once met here, but to *honor* it.

Indeed, to refuse to recognize the need for revolution is the ultimate
denial of the principles for which the distinguished Virginia forefathers
risked so much, offering even to lay down their lives.

We are now in a scientific revolution. In the life span of the youngest
member of this audience we have sped through three eras-the atomic age, the
computer age, the space age, and now we stand on the threshold of the most
revolutionary of them all, the DNA age--the unlocking of the very secret of
life, of what makes us what we are. We soon will have the frightening
knowledge of how to make man any way we want him-smart or stupid, tall or
short, black or white.

In the next thirty years the transplant of human organs will be commonplace,
the birthrate will be controlled, we will be exploring and perhaps
colonizing the ocean floor. Can anyone deny that a political revolution will
accompany that scientific revolution?

We have the future in our power. The 21st Century will not burst upon us in
full flower. We can mold it to be what man wants it to be. But to do that we
must know what we want, and we must examine each of our institutions to
determine whether they stand up to the challenges of the century ahead.

We may have to look no further than our own failure to plan for this future
to find the seeds of youth's discontent. Convinced that we are not doing the
job, they are turning their backs upon us. And lest they reject that which
is good of our institutions and that accumulated wisdom which we possess
solely by reason of age, we must not reject these youthful dissenters. In
youth's rebellion we must assist, not resist.

Society is going to change. The only question is whether we are going to
help. Not short of death can we avoid being a part of the human parade. The
question is: where will we be in it? Up toward the front, carrying the
banner? Swept along somewhere in the middle? Or perhaps trampled under foot
as it marches over us en route to the future?

Our help is needed. While our way of life will change, we need to
communicate, by word and deed, the values we know are constants--right or
wrong, truth or falsehood, generosity or selfishness, dedication or
cynicism, self-discipline or license.

The ferment aboard today in the land borders on anarchy, and there are
fearful calls for law and order. But as surely as a boiling kettle will not
stop generating steam just because a lid is clamped on it, our ferment
cannot be suppressed by tanks and guns.

Far better than suppressing ferment, how about handling it the American
way-how about channeling it toward a betterment and modernization of this
society for the good of all? Why not use that steam to turn the lathes on
which we can burnish away our self-doubts, polish our patriotism to a new
brilliance and fashion a new American spirit. But to do that we must listen
to the dissenters. And we must begin now. There is no time to lose.

Only by opening our eyes and ears, our hearts and our minds can we arrest
the trend toward turmoil, doubt, suspicion, frustration--but arrest it we
must before a whole generation swept up by it, is asked by inevitable
mortality to assume the mantle of leadership.

We are told that hippy children hate their parents because they have been
given too much, because we have denied them the joys of struggle and so have
denied them the sweetest fruit of all--the taste of victory. If this is our
sin it should be viewed with compassion. We can be forgiven for failing to
understand that we should pretend poverty to assure the right conditions of
growth for off-spring. The sin is inherent in an affluent society.

But there is a solution which takes advantage of our material wealth. With
this wealth and our technological advances we can free the new generation
from the hours of toil once required merely to assure minimum sustenance.

We would substitute education--education, not just training that turns out
cogs for the industrial machine. Education which would prepare them to meet
the challenges of their time, the challenge to all humankind. We would make
it possible for all men, freed from daily drudgery, to think, and to give
public service.

We could inspire man to think of the problems, to seek solutions, to give of
their new-found time freely and gladly. We might even earn their gratitude
for giving them this guidance to the task ahead and for creating the
environment that would bring forth a new nation to meet 21st Century
problems with the same vigor, imagination and constructive use of dissent
that did the first convention here in meeting the 19th Century's challenge.

And so we find again in our search for the future the thread to the past.
For isn't this the core of the greatness of Virginia? Why were the men whose
foresight we praise to this day so omniscient? Because they were the
educated men of their day, born and trained to public service. Yet in the
economy of two centuries ago they were a small class.

What wonders we might accomplish in shaping the next century if a whole
nation were educated, born and trained to public service! A nation of
Jeffersons and Randolphs and Lees and Flemings and Carters and Henrys-is
that really so wild a dream?

At 22, Thomas Jefferson stood outside the House of Burgesses and listened to
Patrick Henry and, as Jefferson later wrote, he was inspired to read and
ponder.

Presently youth is listening outside our doors but is it being inspired to
ponder? Are we inspiring youth to turn off and turn away, or to come in and
join the discussion of their future and ours?

In his excellent book 'Seat of Empire', Carl Bridenbaugh says of the
patriots who first met here: "Their equality and status questioned, even
threatened, the now united gentry became radicals, gentlemen revolutionists.
They revolted to preserve what they had."

If we are to preserve what we have we must lead or at least join the
revolution. Let our new gentry become radicals and seek bold new solutions
to our problems.

This country has not lost its ability to respond to challenge, and while the
challenges of today seem frightening in their complexity, there is no reason
for despair. The more and the greater the challenges, the greater the
heroism of thought, deed and courage to surmount them--and the more exciting
the prospect of the combat.

America can find sustenance and inspiration by looking again at not what we
*were* but what we *are*.

Williamsburg, Virginia, February 3, 1968

The Problems We Face - full text
http://user.intersatx.net/jc/problems.html

Change or Revolution
http://user.intersatx.net/jc/revolution.html

Does the Kerry campaign consider Walter Cronkite to be their opponent in
this election? Should they call it an "open discussion" if a link to a 36
year-old speech by Cronkite is taboo?

They say, "No links to other political campaigns, and no advertisements".

Does a link to that speech really constitute a link to a political campaign?

Change or Revolution
http://user.intersatx.net/jc/revolution.html

Walter Cronkite: Excerpts from his works:
http://user.intersatx.net/jc/cronkite.html

Why Cronkite does not run for president, (and a hint that he would welcome a
draft):
http://user.intersatx.net/jc/cronkite_president.html

	#1
John Champagne	Kerry campaign censors link to Cronkite speech I was posting to the Kerry campaign "open discussion" forum. It is not so open. I included a link to a speech by Cronkite from his book, The Challenges of Change. Here is an excerpt: [i]nterestingly enough, "revolting" and "revolution" come from the same Latin word. And to be revolutionary in attacking our problems of today and tomorrow is not to deny our American heritage, the heritage of the patriots who once met here, but to honor it. Indeed, to refuse to recognize the need for revolution is the ultimate denial of the principles for which the distinguished Virginia forefathers risked so much, offering even to lay down their lives. We are now in a scientific revolution. In the life span of the youngest member of this audience we have sped through three eras-the atomic age, the computer age, the space age, and now we stand on the threshold of the most revolutionary of them all, the DNA age--the unlocking of the very secret of life, of what makes us what we are. We soon will have the frightening knowledge of how to make man any way we want him-smart or stupid, tall or short, black or white. In the next thirty years the transplant of human organs will be commonplace, the birthrate will be controlled, we will be exploring and perhaps colonizing the ocean floor. Can anyone deny that a political revolution will accompany that scientific revolution? We have the future in our power. The 21st Century will not burst upon us in full flower. We can mold it to be what man wants it to be. But to do that we must know what we want, and we must examine each of our institutions to determine whether they stand up to the challenges of the century ahead. We may have to look no further than our own failure to plan for this future to find the seeds of youth's discontent. Convinced that we are not doing the job, they are turning their backs upon us. And lest they reject that which is good of our institutions and that accumulated wisdom which we possess solely by reason of age, we must not reject these youthful dissenters. In youth's rebellion we must assist, not resist. Society is going to change. The only question is whether we are going to help. Not short of death can we avoid being a part of the human parade. The question is: where will we be in it? Up toward the front, carrying the banner? Swept along somewhere in the middle? Or perhaps trampled under foot as it marches over us en route to the future? Our help is needed. While our way of life will change, we need to communicate, by word and deed, the values we know are constants--right or wrong, truth or falsehood, generosity or selfishness, dedication or cynicism, self-discipline or license. The ferment aboard today in the land borders on anarchy, and there are fearful calls for law and order. But as surely as a boiling kettle will not stop generating steam just because a lid is clamped on it, our ferment cannot be suppressed by tanks and guns. Far better than suppressing ferment, how about handling it the American way-how about channeling it toward a betterment and modernization of this society for the good of all? Why not use that steam to turn the lathes on which we can burnish away our self-doubts, polish our patriotism to a new brilliance and fashion a new American spirit. But to do that we must listen to the dissenters. And we must begin now. There is no time to lose. Only by opening our eyes and ears, our hearts and our minds can we arrest the trend toward turmoil, doubt, suspicion, frustration--but arrest it we must before a whole generation swept up by it, is asked by inevitable mortality to assume the mantle of leadership. We are told that hippy children hate their parents because they have been given too much, because we have denied them the joys of struggle and so have denied them the sweetest fruit of all--the taste of victory. If this is our sin it should be viewed with compassion. We can be forgiven for failing to understand that we should pretend poverty to assure the right conditions of growth for off-spring. The sin is inherent in an affluent society. But there is a solution which takes advantage of our material wealth. With this wealth and our technological advances we can free the new generation from the hours of toil once required merely to assure minimum sustenance. We would substitute education--education, not just training that turns out cogs for the industrial machine. Education which would prepare them to meet the challenges of their time, the challenge to all humankind. We would make it possible for all men, freed from daily drudgery, to think, and to give public service. We could inspire man to think of the problems, to seek solutions, to give of their new-found time freely and gladly. We might even earn their gratitude for giving them this guidance to the task ahead and for creating the environment that would bring forth a new nation to meet 21st Century problems with the same vigor, imagination and constructive use of dissent that did the first convention here in meeting the 19th Century's challenge. And so we find again in our search for the future the thread to the past. For isn't this the core of the greatness of Virginia? Why were the men whose foresight we praise to this day so omniscient? Because they were the educated men of their day, born and trained to public service. Yet in the economy of two centuries ago they were a small class. What wonders we might accomplish in shaping the next century if a whole nation were educated, born and trained to public service! A nation of Jeffersons and Randolphs and Lees and Flemings and Carters and Henrys-is that really so wild a dream? At 22, Thomas Jefferson stood outside the House of Burgesses and listened to Patrick Henry and, as Jefferson later wrote, he was inspired to read and ponder. Presently youth is listening outside our doors but is it being inspired to ponder? Are we inspiring youth to turn off and turn away, or to come in and join the discussion of their future and ours? In his excellent book 'Seat of Empire', Carl Bridenbaugh says of the patriots who first met here: "Their equality and status questioned, even threatened, the now united gentry became radicals, gentlemen revolutionists. They revolted to preserve what they had." If we are to preserve what we have we must lead or at least join the revolution. Let our new gentry become radicals and seek bold new solutions to our problems. This country has not lost its ability to respond to challenge, and while the challenges of today seem frightening in their complexity, there is no reason for despair. The more and the greater the challenges, the greater the heroism of thought, deed and courage to surmount them--and the more exciting the prospect of the combat. America can find sustenance and inspiration by looking again at not what we were but what we are. Williamsburg, Virginia, February 3, 1968 The Problems We Face - full text http://user.intersatx.net/jc/problems.html Change or Revolution http://user.intersatx.net/jc/revolution.html

	#2
John Champagne	Is Kerry running against Cronkite? Does the Kerry campaign consider Walter Cronkite to be their opponent in this election? Should they call it an "open discussion" if a link to a 36 year-old speech by Cronkite is taboo? They say, "No links to other political campaigns, and no advertisements". Does a link to that speech really constitute a link to a political campaign? Change or Revolution http://user.intersatx.net/jc/revolution.html Walter Cronkite: Excerpts from his works: http://user.intersatx.net/jc/cronkite.html Why Cronkite does not run for president, (and a hint that he would welcome a draft): http://user.intersatx.net/jc/cronkite_president.html