EDITORIALS
Never Forget That These Editorials Are The Opinion Of One Man
-:--And He May Be Wrong
The Liberal Journalist
/uuuiig me lauua ui our ume is a
particular specie known generally as
The Liberal Journalist. He is identifi
able by numerous strong markings and
characteristics.
He writes objectively of “arch-segre
gationists” and “enlightened-integration
ists”, of “right-wing fanatics” and “left
wing believers”. He recognizes Southern
prejudice but is unable to find a north
ern bigot.
In the lexicon of this queer bird Mrs.
George Wallace is an “ex-five-and-ten
cent-store-clerk" and Hubert Humphrey
is one of the “Great Liberals of our
time”.
Ronald Reagan is an out-of-work actor
hamming it upin politics, but Dick Gre
gory is a great crusader for “human
rights” in the language of this “objec
tive” breed of presstitute.
The Constitution of the United States
to these traitors is a “fraud upon the
people” in the language of their chiefest
apostle, Gunnar Myrdal, but the United
Nations charter is something more sac
red than the Bible, Koran and all other
diai iers iur worm morauiy comoineu.
“One-man-one-vote” is an absolutism
in the mind of the liberal press when the
“provinces” are considered, but in this
same sacred United Nations a tribal fief
dom in darkest Africa, which, changes
“presidents” more frequently than its
presidents change underwear has the
same vote as the most populous nation
in the world.
It is democracy to boycott Rhodesia
but imperialistic to suggest boycotting
North Viet Nam when these pundits put
it down in black and white for their
readers.
And the final and foulest distinguish
ing feature of this strange bird of the
press is its habitual fouling of its own
nest; from which it screams on cue and
frequently about freedom, while hiding,
or. attempting to hide from the world
anything that its precious reasoning
feels “not in the public interest”. Cen
sorship by government is heinous, but
censorship by these journalistic “liber
als” is an act of conscience. They said it,
not us.
'Equal Opportunity'
The current issue of “North Carolina
Education”, the magazine of the teach
ers' union comments editorially, “Equal
opportunity — a Myth”, and deplores
the fact at length that there is a spread
of 9428 to $264 in the expenditures per
pupil in the school districts of our state.
Are we to suppose that if each of 169
districts spent the exact penny for edu
cation that there would be “equal op
portunity”? If we are to suppose this we
quu
are to suppose a 'myth, because equ
dollars do not make equal anything.
One man may earn the exact penny
another but the way they use that ex
act wage can be as far apart as the
poles. One may save and invest wisely
and the other may spend beyond his
means and die a pauper while the other
dies wealthy.
The passipnate concern of public
"^ip^nalBpd'ev-:
to it®*
ridiculous.
It is dangerous to indoctrinate children
for 12 yews in the concept of equal
lunches, equal grades, equal hooors and
then to expect them to understand,
much less believe in the principle which
has made our country flourish.
It is ridiculous to instill instant equali
ty in young minds and turn them loose
in the brutal inequities of the adult
world. And this is more true in the
egalitarian societies of communism than
in the capitalistic world. The spread be
tween a commissar and a peasant is light
years further than between the richest
American and the poorest, either in ma
terial or political affairs.
.If the people who live in a school diS
trtet wharo *9HA
Since 1937 when Hauor was legglizec
in North Carolina it lias heeh the ae
cepted custom of diners out to order i
chaser and poiir their snort from theii
dwn little bottle of booze, This has brok
en the hearts of the. cafe keepers. The]
Would rather sell the thirsty traveller s
25 cent drink for $1.50 than to sell him;
mere 10-cent chaser for 25 cents.
In order to bring this issue before th<
general assembly North Carolina’s big
gest dty, “Queen Charlotte”, home oi
many a charlatan burst forth with this
bright little idea: “Let’s raise so mucl
hell that the law will have to begin en
forcing the law”.
The “law”, as everybody big enougl
to mix a drink already very well knew
is that it is illegal to drink legal booze
anywhere except in one’s own shanty.
The publicity outran the hopes ol
these greedy would-be saloon keepers
It got out before Christmas and knocked
a huge hole in their holiday parties.
North Carolina is, or Was the most in
expensive place in North America tc
take a drink. Whisky sold under state
monopoly is cheaper than in states
where competition kicks the price up
ward by about 25 per cent.
And with that cheaper bottle of booze
one can pour his own drink from his
own bottle and even with a 25-cent chas
er get out with about a 40-cent drink
that would cost him not less than $1.25
and as much as $3 bucks in some clip
joints acros the land.
The members of the general assembly
are well aware of this underground ef
fort so we can relax and look forward
to nothing extreme being done when
they meet next month.
What Is Cheating?
The editor of the Grainger High School
paper has shocked some and irritated
others with an article in which he asserts
that 92.5 per cent of the school’s stu
dents have admitted cheating.
But the young editor admits that
among his definitions of cheating is the
simple act of helping another student
with homework. This leads to a perfect
ly good question: What Is Cheating?
The dictionary has numerous defini
tions, and each person is able to select
the one that best suits his particular
purpose of the moment.
We prefer: “The fraudulent obtaining
of another’s property by a false pretense
or trick.” This is quoted as the meaning
in law of cheat.
Helping or being helped with one’s
homework hardly falls under this usage
of the word.
The Good Samaritan was helping a
man. who needed help very badly. A
Spartan might have scoffed at this kind
ly helping hand. If we were to suddenly
turn the civilized world into the jungle
by living totally' by the survival of the
fittest, there would be no civilization.
And the fittest would not necessarily be
wearing a Phi Beta Kappa key.*
Surely no one wishes to condone or
explain away immorality but one cannot
avoid wondering how finely this line can
be drawn. If it is not cheating to copy
one’s homework; is it cheating to copy
one’s test?
If it is not cheating to borrow money
from a friend in a tight spot, is it cheat
ing to borrow his wife? Obviously the
distinction between using a friend’s mon
ey and his wife is wide.
But there are societies of men where
enough they can move to Washington,
D. C. where the highest per capita ex
penditure per student exists.
Lincoln’s parents did not have to
live in a wilderness where their son had
! . “Think qot of what your country can
4© for you, but of whjtypu can do for
your country.” Of the many epigram
matic utterances of the Late President
i Johh F. Kennedy this is most likely to be
his most quoted, and it surely needs to
be.
|f we wait for government tp do every
thing for us the end Unavoidably is state
socialism, which is that exalted state of
political prostration in which a few an
notated specialists decide what is good
or bad for the uninvolved majority of
us.
So the danger of state socialism is les
sened to the exact ratio that we involve
ourselves in the affairs of government;
involve ourselves unselfishly, that is . . .
If we are merely seeking a soft job, fat
retirement benefits and the tenuous
“security” of-a government paycheck
then we hasten the arrival of totalitari
anism.
But if we involve ourselves as patrons
of government, rather than parasites we
enoble our own actions and help bank,
the fires of those who are trying to build
up a full head of steam for those Utopian
realms of one kind or another of tyran
ny. Whether it is tyranny from the right
or left; from the perfumed and elegant
pretensions of the lesser nobility, as with
Lenin’s brand of statism or the illiterate
bumblings of a paranoid house painter
such as Hitler the end products of so
cialism either from the right or left are
exact because they both meet in that ter
ror of righteousness which ordains one
man with the power as well as the “sac
red duty” to make the rest of us do what
he thinks is good for us.
From the pre-dawn of history until
this minute this has been the form of
government under which the vast ma
jority of mankind has lived. Even in
this mid-20th Century there are few ex
ceptions to this hard rule. The fullest
flower of political freedom and material
abundance has fallen over us lucky
Americans. But it did not fall accidental
ly, nor is it a divine right which we will
enjoy forever.
As our country’s population grows the
smaller is the per cent of people who
can become directly involved in govern
ment. A big city has the same num
ber of aldermen, generally, as the small
est corporate village, and so it is through
the entire apparatus of government. The
importance of personal involvement in
government is that one learns that the
mighty are'mortals, who are subject to
the same pressures, dreams and greeds
as the most ordinary one among us.
So today if we shirk our small duties
to serve; to offer what we can when
and where we can we weaken the struc
ture of representative government
throughout its length and breadth. The
sincere effort of the weakest of us is su
perior to the least effort of the strong
est.
When we stand back and either curse
or bow meekly to our government we
are guilty of a negativism that is helpful
to neither the government or ourselves.
As President Kennedy no doubt un
derstood very well; each of us can, and
each of us must do far more for our gov
ernment than it can do for us. Govern
ment in a representative republic has
nothing, either spiritual or material that
it can give to any of us that has not
been first given to the government.
borrowing a wife is far more acceptable
socially than borrowing more valuable
chattels.
.This is one of the basic quests of so
ciety: Searching for that kind of m< "
ty which bring inner peace, and if t
is one thing that this restless
live in today has proven
it is that one mrist find!
for himself.
..
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