this series of programs is being presented to help all of us understand our advantages and our american league of life for today's topic let's join the group of young people at the national education program workshop in search the arkansas at the classroom lector and as dr clifton gayness jr noted young historian we're discussing today one of the most precious gifts on earth american citizenship american citizenship is a combination of freedom and responsibility the privileges of freedom come to us as a heritage from many generations of pioneering americans the responsibilities must be developed by each new generation by each individual citizen some of you may be asking yourselves why should we be bothered with developing citizenship responsibilities well there are many reasons one of the primary reasons is that great principles do not live from generation to generation without being nurtured without being kept vigorously alive unless we understand and work effectively for the principles upon which our american way of life is founded the structure will crumble and our heritage of freedom will perish another primary reason for the development of citizenship responsibility is that we are living in an era marked by the growth of socialism substantial degree and one form or another so well as i'm has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of the earth and the shadow is encroaching upon our own liberty a third major reason for accepting our citizenship responsibilities and working at them is a presence within america of socialist and communist propaganda dedicated to the establishment of a new art or the communist fifth column this among us are working for a world dictatorship to accomplish this their strategy is to undermine the confidence of our people and the american system and the principles on which it stands the socialist among us seek to bring about a gradual change in our system by gradually destroying the principle of the private ownership of property and substituting the socialist principle of government ownership not as a practical for a moment is the american way of life worth bothering about but is where the viewpoint of self interest well let's see we know that under the stars and stripes we have more freedom than to have allies people on  i freed him stems from the fact that america is a republic founded on a constitution and dedicated to the principle of democracy and the worth of the individual the people rule but some fall off the firs tell us that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach in other words food the material things of life are dear to the heart let's look briefly at the material blessings of america our nation although containing only six percent of the land area and seven percent of the population of the world produces profit two percent of the world's wealth we know that the average american in all walks of life has a living standard twice as high as the best in europe socialism is widespread and from five to ten times better than in the communist country such as russia and china and if we remember our previous lessons we know that this economic abundance is possible in america because incentives for progress and the other factors built into our dynamic private enterprise system have enabled us to utilize our resources to the fullest extent so we do have good sound reasons both abstractly and self interest most of the nations are affected and america is a target in fact the number one target of both the socialist and the communists if we permit our great system to crumble through the apathy of our citizenship w not only our freedom but our prosperity and our still brighter future but then must we do a citizen what are our obligations of citizenship number one to understand the american way of life and what makes it tick for instance we should understand that our form of government is a republic not a pure democracy and we should clearly understand the difference who can tell us the  words that fuel democracy establishes majority rule within the now and the overrun yes it does on the other hand our republic is based on a constitution which protects minority rights republic authority is surrounded by an ingenious system of checks and balances that prevents autocratic dictatorial rule that is if we maintain the constitution as our basic law well that replay sums up our political structure what about our economic structure over economic system is based on three major principles private ownership of property the profit motive in the competitive open market yes those are the three great pillars of private ownership defuses the well said economic power over the very widest area over our whole population and makes our people independent masters of their own li the profit motive as we have learned is active in all of human behavior and our economic system the profit motive is the incentive for new development and constantly expanding production and the open competitive market is where the consumer is king it is this factor in our economy which brings about better goods and lower prices as one company after another tries to outdo its competitors and get the consumers business these are some of the basic facts about our own system which every citizen should know but now let us go on to additional obligations of american citizenship number two i do understand communism its basic godless philosophy its goal of world conquest it's insidious tactics and it's cunning strategy number three on our list of obligations is to understand socialism and all the cunning disguises in which it presents itself to the american people for obligation is to understand propaganda techniques as used by both the communist and the socialist this is a very vitally important need thousands of good loyal americans have been duped into actually aiding the communists simply because they did not look carefully before they joined some high sounding venture before they more or less blindly advocated some course of action number five in the list of american citizenship obligations is to take an interest in your public schools and in your private and public finance colleges to take an interest in what's being taught and how it's being taught and to take an interest in the welfare of the teachers who contribute so much to the development of america number six in addition to voting in all elections become active in government run for local state and national office help select capable people of the highest integrity to serve be constantly vocal on all local and national political your representatives in congress are even the president himself what you think is the best course on the issues that come before the public number seven strive constantly for spiritual growth we as individuals can push the world along toward mankind's highest destiny if each of us will make the welfare of his fellow man his first concern and if each of us will apply the principles of god's truth to our political and economic affairs and lastly obligation number eight dedicate a part of your everyday life to the bringing of these requirements of american citizenship to the attention of fellow students fellow workers neighbors and friends is it too much to ask that we fulfill these obligations of citizenship if we think so we should read again the history of the founding of this nation and consider the hardships of the people who made possible our freedom they felt that no challenge was to greatest freedom was at stake that spirit carried them on it created for us the foundation of our great heritage we have seen it flare up and burn brightly in every national emergency on the battlefield idahoans the socialist of the communists and their followers would like to see the american spirit extinguished if each of us will rise to the occasion if every citizen young and old will accept the challenge of his citizenship and the socialist and communist and their followers will not prevail and america will go on toward the fulfillment of our great world destiny concludes the american adventure series our next series of classes in the american way of life will be announced soon for now political and economic system which has made america great watch for the next presentation of the american adventure