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No one of these centers or levels has the power to destroy another. The truth is that the federal idea—like the whole American experience—is a political adventure. It is no static thing, no dead definition, no dogmatic proclamation." On Big Government: "The striking fact in our domestic political experience since World War II has not been the growth of federal government—but the far more rapid expansion of state and local government to meet growing social needs. The role of the state within American federalism is far from 'obsolete' It is as dynamic and promising as is the federal idea itself." On the New Deal: "While the New Deal accomplished major social advances and did much to restore the confidence of the people, its leaders did not display great comprehension of the nature and workings of our economic system. They showed little or no awareness of the need to create a climate for growth to encourage an expanding American economy. This experience brought home the fact that it does not suffice to understand social needs and aspirations—without also fully understanding the dynamics of our economic system." On Today's Politics: "In the political environment of today, I would mark three pervasive attitudes or tendencies as plainly damaging to our processes of government. The first is the scorn of scepticism toward practical partisan politics. To call politics dirty is to call democracy dirty. The second is an addiction to political labels and slogans, along lines loosely called liberal and conservative. We all know that in any serious historical sense these terms have lost all meaning. The third is a timidity of leadership that rarely glimpses the dawn of any new concepts—but passively awaits the high-noon of crisis." On States' Rights: "The essential political truth is that—today more than ever—the preservation of states' rights depends upon the exercise of states' responsibilities. So great and urgent are the demands of national defense and foreign policy upon all resources of the national government that now, as never in our history, are state governments challenged to face and meet the pressing domestic concerns of our society. Our states are designed to be our great centers for political experiment. In a word, it is time for the states to lead." On National Purpose: "Political creation, not improvisation, is the order of the day. And anything less than a grand design—a major idea and a lofty sense of purpose—is too puny for the time in which we live. We are living in an age when (in the words of Walter Prescott Webb) we 'look down the long gunbarrel of history.' At such a time our sights and all our perceptions and faculties must be set for new ideas." On World Order: "The free world is grappling with precisely the political equation—the elements of order and the factors of freedom—whose balancing has been the supreme political achievement of our nation's history.