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Mario Savio, an activist and teacher, 1960's and onward..
Was at Berkeley, California in the 1960's. Passed away 1996. Mr. Savio spoke passionately on a number of issues. At least
one time calling "dysfunctional?" aspects of our society a machine. He believed that sometimes, aspects of
our society can become so repugnant that people just cannot be a part of it, not even passively, that we must in these times
do all we can to make things better, using our very bodies if needed to stop what he called the "machine".
"America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Alexis
de Tocqueville- French Statesman, 1805-1859 age 53. This statement is attributed to Tocqueville but research has been unable
to find it in his works? I find the statement pretty solid, but it raises questions with me , especially due
to the period of history in which it was made. When statement was made slavery and the wars against the native inhabitants
of the North American continent were in full swing. If someone could call us great at this moment in our history, I detect
a very serious observational disconnect. Have we as a society ever really deserved to call ourselves great? The fact that
an intellectually honest study of our history provides ample justification to answer this question in the negative. What I
see is the existence of very powerful groups of people that by their actions, words have kept the United States from
reaching it's potential to be truly great. I find the moments of greatness that we as a society can legitimately lay
claim to have largely been the result of steadfast idealists who work tirelessly against the negative efforts of the
other group of people I refer to above. Colin McCoy
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