Sober Senators from Maine Margaret Chase Smith to Susan Margaret Collins: a call to Americans
Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s
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“Declaration of Conscience” delivered June 1, 1950, Washington, D.C.
Margaret Madeline Chase Smith (from Maine): U.S Representative (1940–1949);
U.S. Senator (1949–1973); among the first to criticize the tactics of
McCarthyism in her 1950 speech “Declaration of Conscience”
“…It is high time that we stopped thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom.
“It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”
Speech Excerpt
“The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the
greatest deliberative body in the world.
But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to
the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the
shield of congressional immunity.…
“I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching—for us to weigh our consciences—on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America—on the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges.…
“I think that it is high time
that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the
Constitution. I think that it is high
time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of
the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation.
Whether it be a criminal prosecution in court or a character prosecution in the Senate, there is little practical distinction when the life of a person has been ruined.…
“The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people
smeared and guilty people whitewashed.…
“As a Republican, I say to my colleagues on this side of the aisle that
the Republican Party faces a challenge today that is not unlike the challenge
that it faced back in Lincoln’s day. The Republican Party so successfully met
that challenge that it emerged from the Civil War as the champion of a united
nation…
“Today our country is being psychologically divided by the confusion and the suspicions that are bred in the United States Senate to spread like cancerous tentacles of ‘know nothing, suspect everything’ attitudes.…
“As a United States Senator, I am not proud of the way in which the
Senate has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism.
I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from this side of the aisle.
I am not proud of the obviously staged, undignified counter charges that have been attempted in retaliation from the other side of the aisle.…
“I don’t like the way the Senate has been made a rendezvous for
vilification, for selfish political gain at the sacrifice of individual
reputations and national unity.
I am not proud of the way we smear outsiders from the Floor of the Senate and hide behind the cloak of congressional immunity and still place ourselves beyond criticism on the Floor of the Senate.
Susan Margaret Collins
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(from Maine since 1996): Senior United
States Senator; Chair of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, a former Chair
of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Senator Susan Collins October 5, 2018
The Brett Kavanaugh nomination case
Text transcript not yet available
I listened to this speech, twice,
and I’ve read Sen. Margaret Chase Smith’s 1950 speech more than once; and I
find Sen. Collins goes even further in compelling learnedness in law. Both of
these legislators, in their time, have called Americans to reflect, to care for
the whole union, its character, its institutions, its law; and to reconsider
their actions.
LIVE at YouTube:
Sen. Collins Final Announcement on Kavanaugh Decision (10/5/18) October
5, 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ild0XT8twNw
https://twitter.com/SenatorCollins?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Sources
American Rhetoric top 100 Speeches, Margaret Chase Smith “Declaration of
Conscience” delivered 1 June 1950, Washington, D.C. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/margaretchasesmithconscience.html
Senator Susan Collins website https://www.collins.senate.gov/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HME_qk2zPm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ild0XT8twNw
Wikipedia
Margaret Chase Smith December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Chase_Smith
Susan Margaret Collins born December 7, 1952 -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Collins
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