Sandman
I didn't take anything out of context I just did my own search on the Kennedy statement. Allow me to paste one of the items I found.
The war on individualism
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Posted: October 1, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
We begin with two quotations. No attribution yet. Just the two quotes. You need to ponder over these while you read on.
Quote 1. "We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all."
Quote 2. "We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what's best for society."
Any guesses? The surprise comes later. You need to hold on a few more moments while we discuss the war against individuality.
Yes, a war – a war against the individual. A war that has been waged by the American left for decades.
Why, you might ask, would anyone want to fight the concept of individuality? Good question. Simple answer. Individualism must be fought and suppressed because the concept of the individual is completely incompatible with basic liberal doctrine.
Here's the rub. If you recognize the existence of the individual, it then follows that you must also recognize the concept of individual rights. Among those individual rights are such pesky little nuances as – dare we say it – property rights! Among those property rights would be what our founding fathers might call the right to the fruit of your labors, or what we in our less flowery age would call the money you earn by busting your buns 60 hours a week.
If, then, there is any recognition that you, as a real flesh and blood individual human being, have any right to the money you work for, what sort of excuse can the left come up with to seize those earnings for their wonderful vote-buying schemes?
So, you think I'm going a bit overboard here? Well, while you sit down and grip the arms of your chair for stability, let me tell you that a California congresswoman (Democrat, natch!) recently opined that all wages really belong to the federal government. How's that for individual property rights?
Not convinced? You still don't believe that there's a full-blown war on individuality raging around you? Well then, allow me to invoke the name of one of Washington's premier class warlords, none other than the Senate's Prince of Bloviation, Ted Kennedy. The unlikely event that brought forth this Kennedy gem was the New England Patriots' Super Bowl win earlier this year. Naturally, Kennedy wanted a part in the celebration, so he pushed his way to the television cameras to extol the value of teamwork. Amazingly, Kennedy tells the nation that the Patriots set a wonderful example for us all to follow at a time when we, in America, are engaged in a "war against the individual." His words, not mine. Go plow through The Boston Globe on the Monday following that Super Bowl win to find out for yourself. Do it! You need the research practice.
Driving the point home just a bit more, what do you think this whole "diversity" thing is all about? Diversity committees – diversity seminars – diversity directors. What's behind this sudden love of "diversity"? Easy enough. Diversity identity is group identity. Attention paid to diversity is attention paid to someone's group status, not their individual identity. When you are identified according to group status, any claim to individual rights, or worth, for that matter, fade into meaninglessness.
OK, before I run out of my word allotment, let's go back through history to see, other than Teddy Kennedy, just who we have out there blasting the concept of the individual. It's a rough ride. Hold on.
"There is the great, silent, continuous struggle: the struggle between the State and the Individual; between the State, which demands, and the individual, who attempts to evade such demands."
That gem is from our friend, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
"The main plank in the National Socialist program is to abolish the liberalistic concept of the individual and the Marxist concept of humanity and to substitute for them the folk community, rooted in the soil and bound together by the bond of its common blood."
The National Socialist bit should be your clue. Nazi was the acronym for Germany's national socialist party. That quote is from Adolf Hitler.
Now for the two quotes at the beginning of the column.
"We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all." I left out the first word of this quote. That word is "Comrades!" This from the lips of none other than Nikita Khrushchev.
"We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society."
Ahh. The best for last. The person who uttered those words is none other than the Democratic Party candidate for president in the year 2008. Our very own champion of socialized medicine, Hillary Clinton.
One more quote. A quickie from Ayn Rand: "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."
Can I get an Amen?