If you want to preserve - I'm very serious now - if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started.
Interpretation
A free press is essential for democracy and individual freedoms.
In this quote, John McCain emphasizes the critical role of a free and sometimes adversarial press in maintaining democracy. He warns that without such a press, the erosion of individual liberties could occur, leading to authoritarianism, as history has shown when dictators rise to power.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of journalism in a democratic society.
Giap was a master of logistics, but his reputation rests on more than that. His victories were achieved by a patient strategy that he and Ho Chi Minh were convinced would succeed - an unwavering resolve to suffer immense casualties and the near total destruction of their country to defeat any adversary, no matter how powerful.
Whenever America sends its citizens into harm's way, it must do so with eyes wide open.
For decades we have been living lives of abundance, with little regard for our natural resources or global health. But we are now facing hard choices in our energy policy. Future generations - my children and grandchildren, along with yours - will have to live with the decisions we make today. And so it is time for us to make some tough and - hopefully - smart choices regarding our energy use and production before it is too late.
We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital.
I appreciate our government's determination to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the Bytyqi brothers, which Serbia's Interior Minister has rightly called 'an exceptionally serious crime,' and hope the Serbian government's pledge of full cooperation... is matched by a final accounting of their murder.
What is most troubling about Mr. Putin's aggression in Crimea is that it reflects a growing disregard for America's credibility in the world. That has emboldened other aggressive actors - from Chinese nationalists to Al Qaeda terrorists and Iranian theocrats.
The government is tottering. We must deal it the death blow an any cost. To delay action is the same as death.
Political writing in our time consists almost entirely of prefabricated phrases bolted together like the pieces of a child's Meccano set. It is the unavoidable result of self-censorship. To write in plain, vigorous language one has to think fearlessly, and if one thinks fearlessly one cannot be politically orthodox.
Black women have been saving this republic since its founding. That was especially so during the Trump era when their turnout helped elect Democrats in unlikely places such as Alabama and Georgia.
The vote is a trust more delicate than any other, for it involves not just the interests of the voter, but his life, honor and future as well.
The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.
Russians can give you arms but only the United States can give you a solution.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.