Meanwhile, at the birthplace of American liberty, Colin Powell gets 100,000 bucks and a gold Liberty Medal in exchange for a speech in which he “called on Americans to live up to their national ideal of liberty by confronting poverty, bigotry and inequality as the nation pursues its war on terrorism.” Powell “focused on Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a democratic system designed to correct injustice,” pointing out that “we know that there are still bigots.” Presumably it is Powell’s explicit equation of liberty and the thought of Thomas Jefferson with a mixture of state-secured equality, thought control and national security that explains why, in the words of the news article, he is “widely viewed as a lone moderate in the conservative administration of President Bush.”
It’s impossible to tell from
It’s impossible to tell from the Reuters news account of the speech, but one wonders if Powell gave any examples of this “bigotry” that is supposedly keeping people in poverty.
Powell is a convinced
Powell is a convinced liberal and this is how they talk. When you press them, they will get testy in my experience. Being a liberal is striking the “correct” attitudes.