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As long as America must choose, that long will there be a need and a place for the Democratic Party. We Democrats can run on our record but we cannot rest on it. We will win if we continue to take the initiative and if we carry the message of hope and action throughout the country. Alexander Smith once said, 'A man doesn't plant a tree for himself. He plants it for posterity.' Let us continue to plant, and our children shall reap the harvest. That is our destiny as Democrats.

Robert Kennedy#28

PoliticsActionHopeLegacy

About this quote

What does it mean?
The Democratic Party must continue to initiate hope and action for future generations.
In plain terms
Democrats must work for hope and action to benefit future generations.
What can you take from it?
Political success depends on initiating hope and action.

Where it applies

  • political campaigning
  • party strategy
  • civic duty

Putting it to work

  • political organizing
  • policy advocacy
  • voter engagement

Questions to consider

  • How do you sustain political hope?
  • What defines a legacy of action?

Another view

Party labels may limit the appeal of these values.

More from Robert Kennedy

  1. Another great task is to confront the poverty of satisfaction--a lack of purpose and dignity--that afflicts us all. Too much and too long, we seem to have surr…

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  2. As long as men are hungry, and their children uneducated, and their crops destroyed by pestilence, the American Revolution will have a part to play. As long as…

    Permalink to quote #29
  3. All of us, from the wealthiest to the young children that I have seen in this country, in this year, bloated by starvation - we all share one precious possessi…

    Permalink to quote #26

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