On the recordJanuary 8, 2015
Now that you have yielded me time, I can say anything I want. I can offer any idea and I can criticize anything. No police force, not the greatest military in the world can stop me from speaking my mind. This is true not because I am a particularly regular source of good ideas or because we are particularly gracious to one another around here; it is true because we are humble about what we know for sure. We used to know for sure in this Chamber that women should not vote and that racial discrimination was okay. Opposing those ideas used to be offensive and provocative. In Paris yesterday, several courageous journalists were murdered because their ideas were provocative to some. They were murdered by cowards who know that their ideas and visions would and will be rejected by civilized humans everywhere. There is no courage in killing the unarmed. To those who committed these atrocities yesterday: bring your ideas to a forum like this one or to forums like this one all over the democratic world, bring your ideas to be examined and debated--that is the path of courage and honor. ____________________
