Chris Hedges speaking at the Lincoln Memorial. (Christopher Smiley / YouTube)

What does it take to resist? Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges explained at a Veterans for Peace anti-war demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial on Memorial Day.

“Reinhold Niebuhr labeled the capacity to defy the forces of repression ‘a sublime madness in the soul,’ ” Hedges said. “Niebuhr wrote that ‘nothing but madness will do battle with malignant power and spiritual wickedness in high places.’ This sublime madness, as Niebuhr understood, is dangerous, but it is vital. Without it, ‘truth is obscured.’ And Niebuhr also understood that traditional liberalism was a useless force in moments of extremity. Liberalism, Niebuhr said, ‘lacks the spirit of enthusiasm, not to say fanaticism, which is so necessary to move the world out of its beaten tracks. It is too intellectual and too little emotional to be an efficient force in history.’ This sublime madness is the essential quality for a life of resistance.”

Listen to the full speech by Hedges below.

READ: A Time for ‘Sublime Madness’

—Posted by Eric Ortiz

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#anti-war#liberalism#lincoln memorial#peace#reinhold niebuhr#resistance#revolution#truth#veterans for peace#video#war#washington d.c.