The damage done to this country by its own misconduct in the last few months and years, to its very heart and soul, is far greater and longer lasting than any damage that any terrorist could possibly inflict upon us.
Interpretation
The internal issues of a nation can have more damaging effects than external threats.
The quote by Theodore C. Sorensen highlights the detrimental impact that a country's own actions and misconduct can have on its fundamental values and integrity. It underscores the idea that while terrorism poses a significant threat, the erosion of a nation's core principles due to its own behavior can lead to more profound and enduring harm, affecting its identity and future.
In practice
In a political speech about the importance of integrity in governance, one could reference this quote.
Our surest protection against assault from abroad has been not all our guards, gates and guns, or even our two oceans, but our essential goodness as a people. Our richest asset has been not our material wealth but our values.
We have contingency plans for war, but none for peace.
Public opinion rarely considers the needs of the next generation or the history of the last. It is frequently hampered by myths and misinformation, by stereotypes and shibboleths, and by an inate resistance to innovation.
U.S. Government propaganda tries to give the impression that aerial bombardment achieves near-surgical accuracy, so that military targets can be destroyed with minimal effect on civilians. Technical documents give a different picture.
There is an important sense in which government is distinctive from administration. One is perpetual, the other is temporary and changeable. A man may be loyal to his government and yet oppose the particular principles and methods of administration.
There might be a lot of difference between Republicans and Democrats on key social issues like women's rights and health care. But when it comes to taking corporate cash, they're pretty much the same beast.
I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.
Politics is the art of the next best.
We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will talk sense to the American people. But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense.
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