There is nothing more important to a democracy than an active and engaged press.
William H. McravenRead
Flaws and all, I believe the free press is our country's most important institution - one I am more than happy to defend. One I did, in fact, defend for 37 years.
Interpretation
The free press is essential to our society, and despite its imperfections, it deserves protection and support.
In this quote, William H. McRaven emphasizes the vital role of the free press in a democratic society, acknowledging its flaws while asserting its importance as a cornerstone of freedom and accountability. He expresses his commitment to defending this institution, highlighting the need for a robust press to maintain transparency and inform the public, which in turn upholds democracy itself.
In practice
This quote can be used in speeches advocating for press freedom.
There is nothing more important to a democracy than an active and engaged press.
We must challenge this statement and this sentiment that the news media is the enemy of the American people. This sentiment may be the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.
If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.
SEALs aren't the only heroes out there. Everyone who puts on a uniform meets that threshold.
To be a good leader, you have to be a good communicator. As a leader, you have to communicate your intent every chance you get, and if you fail to do that, you will pay the consequences.
If you start focusing on the next job, then you're probably not going to do the one you have very well.
Many heroes lived before Agamemnon; but all are unknown and unwept, extinguished in everlasting night, because they have no spirited chronicler.
The protection of the masses has in all times been the pretense of tyranny - the plea of monarchy, of aristocracy, of special privilege of every kind. The slave owners justified slavery as protecting the slaves.
Is not nationalism - that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder - one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred? These ways of thinking - cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on - have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.
The boundaries of democracy have to be widened so as to include economic equality also. This is the great revolution through which we are all passing.
Enlightenment is not something you achieve. It is the absence of something. All your life you have been going forward after something, pursuing some goal. Enlightenment is dropping all that.
Blasphemy is an epithet bestowed by superstition upon common sense.
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