The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-05-13
THE CHRISTIAN BASIS OF CITIZEN.
SHIP"

In an article on the above named
subject published in the second
(ApriD number of the South Atlantic
Quarterly, DR.. John G. Kilgo sets
forth very clearly and strongly some
facts that We have often tried to
emphasize. We quote some of the
most striking paragraphs of his
article:
The right to vote must always
mean tremendous responsibility for
the individual voter. Tt forces the
weight of the government upon the
single citizen, and separates him
from the community in the exercise
of a sacred function. Universal
suffrage can mean nothing without
an emphatic sense of personal duty.
Unthinking obedience to the dictates
of a community is the supreme dan.
ger of suoh a policy of government,
for the amount of individual con-
soiousness in a people is the measure
of security to such a government as
ours.
Where all have the right to vote,
none have q right not to vote. An
election means q choice-a govern
ment, and he who does not vote is
more responsible for a bad admins
tratiOn than the man who voted for
1t. Indifference to goods more to be
dreaded than active concern for evil.
No man can lose a,vote, if it be a
conscientious expression of interest
in good governments. No single
voter is expected to carry an cleo
ton, but he is expected to be inter
ested in it. Not to vote is to forfeit
the right of citizenship. It is the
height of political trickery to exhort
a man to vote with the winning side
in order to save a ballot. A ballot
behind which does not stand an hon
est, brave, conscientious voter is al
ready lost; and it should never be
forgotten that a lost freeman can
never cast a saving ballot. Saving
citizenship is far better than saving
ballots. No election can be worth
the price of an outraged civic con-
science.
That individual freedom must ex-
ist with universal suffrage cannot be
overlooked. These words of Bishop
Haygood clearly and forcefully ex-
press the true idea of such freedom:
II do not mean SO obvious u thing as
freedom from mere force; 1 mean
his mind as we'll as his body must be
free. Suppose a voter at the polls,
ready to cast his ballot. How is
that vote determined? By avarice,
by terror, by appetite, by hatred, by
any influence that determines the de-
oision against his Judgment as to
what is wise, and against his con-
science as to what is right? That
influence has mastered him, has I'm.
fitted him for the office and duty of
a voter" Is this not the most effeo-
tive way of taking the ballot from a
citizen? Do not some who talk of
saving a universal suffrage strive to
destroy it by debating it's direotionP
What should be the attitude of the
Christian citizen to political parties?
That will depend upon the character,
methods and aims of the parties.
One thing is forever true, he cannot
be a partisan in the ordinary sense
of the term. The Christian faith
does not allow such a spirit. Intol-
GRANGE, arrogance and assumption
are not only non-C Christian, but anti.
Christian. Political parties will ex
ist in a government like ours, but
they are not greater than, nor equal
to, the governments. . Taking oare of
a party is never the same thing as
taking care of the governments.
What may be deemed wise party
policies may be, and frequently are,
dangerous civics. No sincere citizen
can ally himself with a party that
fails to recognize itself to be the
means, not the end. of government.