One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
Interpretation
The Vietnam War had a devastating impact on domestic programs aimed at improving American society.
In this quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. emphasizes the tragic consequences of the Vietnam War on social initiatives in the United States, often referred to as the Great Society. He suggests that the resources and attention diverted to the war effort resulted in the weakening and undermining of social programs intended to address poverty and inequality, highlighting a deep connection between foreign policy and domestic welfare.
In practice
In a speech about social justice, one might invoke this quote to highlight the distraction of war from domestic issues.
This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.
Music is the best consolation for a despaired man
We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
Israel... is one of the great outpost of democracy in the world
And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land
Al Qaeda is nothing more than a mutant supply chain. They're playing off the same platform as Wal-Mart and Dell. They're just not restrained by it. What is al Qaeda? It's an open source religious political movement that works off the global supply chain. That's what we're up against in Iraq. We're up against a suicide supply chain.
One of our statesmen said, "The curse of this country is eloquent men."
It is a remarkable fact in the political history of man that there is scarcely an instance of a free constitutional government which has been the work exclusively of foresight and wisdom. They have all been the result of a fortunate combination of circumstances.
All anyone needs to enjoy the state legislature is a strong stomach and a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people. As long as you don't think about what that peculiar body should be doing and what it actually is doing to the quality of life in Texas, then it's all marvelous fun.
Our democracy is not a product but a continual process. It is preserved not by monuments but deeds. Sometimes it needs refining; sometimes it needs amending; sometimes it needs defending. Always, it needs improving.
We will keep the promise of Social Security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it - not by turning it over to Wall Street.
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