Patricia Schroeder: “I am proud to be in that category, and I wanted to say why. If you look back on this last century, think of what it…”

“I am proud to be in that category, and I wanted to say why. If you look back on this last century, think of what it would have been like if there had not been progressives or there had not been liberals. There clearly would not have been any civil rights enacted. The voting rights would not have transpired. Women would not be voting. We would not be dealing with the environment the way we are now, and much more knowledgeable about it. We would not have Social Security. That, clearly, was a very stark difference. We would not have had Medicare. There was a stark difference. We would not have had the Marshall Plan, which President Truman introduced when he was at about a 17 percent approval rating. We would not have had the nuclear test ban. We would not have had the food safety laws or the drug safety laws. We would not have had things like air bags. I remember those fights and how people laughed at those of us who were advocating air bags and the threatening stuff we were hearing from people, and now everybody is delighted that we have them and lives have been saved.”