There also was the danger that fighting would cause slave states still in the Union to secede and join the southern Confederacy.

VOA: special.2009.08.06

And I will die fighting for this cause.

VOA: special.2009.06.18

"We don't understand how come a mediator who was supposed to defend the cause of democracy will help us to embrace something we've been fighting for nine months, thinking that we were willing or keen to accept a token of gratitude from the general,".

VOA: standard.2009.03.12

Fighting a lost cause sharpens one's opinions.

CNN: Lance Morrow: Why Ralph and Pat should be in the debates

But in his public life, Kennedy was the kind of politician who seems absent from modern politics, one who was loyal to an ideological outlook -- an ethos, as Sobchak would say -- and who devoted his career toward fighting for that cause.

CNN: Commentary: Ted Kennedy was a true believer

Thus, splinter groups are emerging every day and fighting for the same cause.

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