If freedom makes social progress possible, so social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom. The two are inseparable partners in the great adventure of humanity.
Robert KennedyRead
Virginia States' rights, as our forefathers conceived it, was a protection of the right of the individual citizen. Those who preach most frequently about states' rights today are not those seeking the protection of the individual citizen, but his exploitation. The time is long past — if indeed it ever existed — when we should permit the noble concept of states' rights to be betrayed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The concept of states' rights is intended to protect individual citizens, not exploit them.
In this quote, Robert Kennedy expresses concern over the misuse of the ideas surrounding states' rights, which were originally aimed at safeguarding individual liberties. He suggests that today's proponents of states' rights often exploit this notion for their own gain, rather than genuinely protecting the rights of citizens, and emphasizes the need to uphold the integrity of this concept against such exploitation.
Themes
States RightsIndividual RightsProtectionExploitationLiberty
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of civil rights and protecting individual freedoms.
More from Robert Kennedy
All quotes →Elections remind us not only of the rights but the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy.
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Within the United States, we have put great emphasis upon political freedoms. Because it has been our experience that these freedoms can lead to others.
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It is one thing to open job opportunities. It is another to train people to fill them, or to persuade American enterprise to seek Negro as well as white applicants.
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Our attitude towards immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as the talent and energy allow. Neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances.
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The Gross National Product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America - except whether we are proud to be Americans.
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