Idealism

Warning: this post contains a little bit of maudlin hero worship. We apologize for the interruption, and promise that we will return to our regularly scheduled program of bitchy ranting tomorrow.


Recently, I rewatched a biopic about Bobby Kennedy (titled, oddly enough, RFK). While the movie was pretty poor, it reminded me again of one of my favorite speeches. At the end of the film, over footage of Kennedy's body travelling cross country by train, the movie played a recording of his University of Kansas speech from March, 1968:

Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that, counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It 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 tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.

Personally, I tend to sympathize with Robert Kennedy's politics, although I don't really buy into the martyr mystique. He was a deeply flawed human being who could be vicious and vindictive. However, love him or hate him, I think it's impossible to not be impressed with this speech. I don't know if its genius lies in the concrete examples he uses or in the rhythm of the writing, but there's something about it that deeply moves me. I guess that, ultimately, the key element is a honoring of America and what it stands for. Like Lincoln's Lyceum speech, this piece recognizes that the greatest threat to American society lies within its borders.

I wish that this level of public rhetoric still existed in the United States. When the Vice President tells Patrick Leahy to "fuck yourself" on the floor of the Senate, I can't help but feel that we've slipped a notch or two.