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- [Speaker 1] What is a senator?

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1% of one-half of one of the 
three branches of government.

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Unless, of course, 
you're Mr. Moynihan.

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(light music)

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His life was one of the broadest

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and deepest public careers 
in American history.

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(light music)

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- [Narrator] Politician, social 
philosopher, and statesman,

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Daniel Patrick Moynihan's 
wide ranging influence

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can still be felt today.

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- [Speaker 2] I don't 
think you get many people

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in public life

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who have this kind 
of unique insight.

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From highway safety, to welfare.

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- [Speaker 3] Social 
and family policy.

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- [Speaker 2] United Nations.

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- [Speaker 1] Infrastructure.

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- [Speaker 3] 
Public architecture,

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secrecy in government.

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- [Narrator] In the last 
half of the 20th century,

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Daniel Patrick Moynihan 
was at the center

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of America's most urgent 
political debates.

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- Equality and liberty 
are two different things.

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- [Narrator] He served 
four consecutive presidents

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and was elected to four 
terms in the Senate.

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It all began with his 
fight for America's poor.

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- Things are not getting 
better for everybody.

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There's a group of Americans 
for whom things get worse.

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- I certainly have memories 
of when the Moynihan report

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exploded into controversy.

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- [Narrator] He rose 
to national celebrity

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as America's most 
famous representative

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to the United Nations.

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- One word that's attached 
to you wherever you go

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until you're probably sick 
to death of it is flamboyant.

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The flamboyant Patrick Moynihan.

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- Am I embarrassed to speak for

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a less than perfect democracy?

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Not one bit.

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Find me a better one.

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(light music)

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- He was a man shaped 
by The Depression.

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He saw government do an 
enormous amount of good.

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- [Speaker 4] He 
was always a liberal

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who knew that liberalism thrived

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only when it could 
question itself.

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- Moynihan hated the notion

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that government is the problem.

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His own rejoinder to that was,

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if you have contempt 
for government,

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you will get 
contemptible government.

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(uptempo music)

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- There's no doubt in my mind

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that if Pat Moynihan 
had been airdropped

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into New England in the 1770s,

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he would've been one of 
the most prominent members

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of our Founding Fathers.

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(light theatrical music)

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- [Moynihan] The great 
challenges of our time

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have been challenges of ideas.

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Politics is an argument 
about the future.

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(theatrical music)

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(air swooshes)