The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-07-04
Liberal Viewpoint
BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

WE fervently celebrate the Fourth of July
w from Maine to California, from the Rio
Grande to Lake Superior. Patriotic speakers
even grass rooters"-risk high blood pressure
invoking the spirit of the fathers who won our
independence. CannOnS boom, rockets glare and
1recrackers sputter. A hundred are blinded for
life. scores die from lockjaw and many more are
manned in ostensiby doing honor to Tom Paine.
Thomas Jefferson and the Liberty Bell
Suppose, however, We put away for moment
the hum of motor cars and motor boats, oratory,
noise and buster and get down to the real prin-
ciples of rs. How much do we know about them
and how much do we really honor theml Are
they as dead as the paintings of the fathers OH
our walls?
The great representative thinkers of 1776
were Paine and jefferson. Paine's Common
Sense" was the foremost revolutionary tract.
Jefferson'S Declaration of independence YVES the
outstanding political document of the day.
The patriots of 1776 were small group of
desperately harried men who adopted the Dec
laration of independence, in part, as an effort
to obtain French aid and to prevent the success
Of the British plan of conciliating the colonistS.
THE principles of '76 are summarized in JET
i ferson's famous paragraph;
We hold these truths to be Self-evident:
That all men are created equal; that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalien-
the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these
rights. governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent Of
the governed; that, whenever any form of gov
eminent becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and
to institute a new government
In short the fathers stood for revolution;
human equality before opportunity and the law
abolition of special privileges; natural rights;
dominion of the people; and reduction of the
tIoo
patibe with social well-being
How does 1916 fare in 1885?
Paine is either forgotten or held III disrepute
by respectable persons Theodore Roosevelt
called him "a dirty little atheist" He would be
backliSted by the D. A. R. and assailed by our
patrioteers if alive today.
Jefferson has come through a little better as
legendary founder of a still eXtant political
party. But persons are in prison in this country
for repeating Jeffersons doctrines, and thousands
have been deported for holding similar views.
Angelo HerendOn is in a chain gang for possess
sing books which advocated Jeferson's doctrines.
VXTHAT about equality before the law and
w equality of opportunity? On the one hand
we have the due process clause of the Fourteenth
amendment. the greatest juriStlc bulWark of spe-
cial privilege ever constructed by human inge-
nuity. On the other we find injunction and con-
tempt proceedings against labor and the Su-
{
fuses to take cognizance Of Herendons plight.
There is a disparity in ordinary justice between
the man who can hire a crafty lawyer and the
poor defendant who must accept a green or
reluctant attorney appointed by the court.
Equality of opportunity is a sham in a coun-
! try where on one hand we lind many men with
annual incomes of more than million dollars.
and on the other some 1900 900 men out of work
altogether with more millions of dependents on
public relief.
Revolution is outlawed. No less than 80 states
make its advocacy a felony. Even a liberal Fed
eral judge has Upheld the barring OF a reputable
magazine from the mails because it uses reyolu-
tionary phrases The reactlonary press hOwls for
the scalp Of courageous educators, ministers and
editors Bitter attacks are made on the Pres
ident for even mild liberalism and elementary
decency.
Special privilege is rampant in tariffs, util-
tiles tax favors. injunctions. due process deci-
/ sions. and the like. Popular sovereignty is a
mere form when small cliqueS of men nominate
our rulers and engineer the passage Of oppressive
/ amendments and laws. Life. liberty and the pur-
/ suit OF happiness mean little when a man can
not get a Job. or speak o., fearlessly in the
I language Of tho men who once made this coun-
/ sry a free lanH.
1t is the privilege of any one to prefer the
spirit of 1885 TO the spirit of 1776. But let hin
not imagine that they are one and the same
thing or that We have preserved the heritage
of the fathers. II the price of liberty is eter-
nal vigilance. We have slept at the post Of duty