Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1940-08-01

VelOpoO only IOT Wal.
The vast chaotic struggle in which
the world finds itself is not then a
simple struggle between good and
evil. It is revolutionary upheaval
against an old order whose institu-
tons, though now decadent, have in
the past fostered the finest of human
ideals.
1t follows then that the only way
we can save those ideals is by dis
entangling them from the decadent
institutions, which are surely doomed.
We cannot win in this mortal COM
bat if we remain on the defensive.
We cannot win if we merely try to
save what we have of democracy.
For what we have of democracy has
shown itself inadequate. 1t is its own
failure which has risen against it in
the shape of Hitler and his fellow
dictators. We may be able to defend
these shores against invasion, though
even that is not certain. But unless
we give new health and vitality and
dynamism to democracy we shall see
it destroyed from within. In the long
run, only as we can gain the same
penetrative power as have the forces
of tyranny can we drive those forces
back and ultimately defeat them.
It is important then to realize the
full implications of our ideals. 1t is
not the ideals that are at fault, but
the failure to carry them through to
their logical conclusion.
The Democratic Ideal.
The democratic ideal stems from
and includes the Christian concept of
universal human brotherhood. Love
thy neighbor as myself" is another
way of saying "All men are created
equal" Yet the democracies have
perpetuated the hostilities of savage
tribes. They have enslaved and ex-
plotted the colored races. They have
considered that neighborliness stopped
at their political frontiers, and that
the alien was always potential enc
my. They have perpetuated the bar
barian's belief that to slaughter the
community's enemies was noble.
They have set up the national state
as a god for whom human sacrifice
was 1.-The last full measure of devo-
ton"
Only as individuals, humanely
moved to philanthropy, have we gen.
erously sent aid to the afflicted in
other lands. But as citizens organ
lied into a government we have al
ways held the alien outside the pale
of our concern.
We have written the worth and dig
nifty of the individual human being
into our basic law; yet we have left
millions to go hungry, we have con-
demned countless children to the
blighted lives of poverty, we have
looked the other way and denied
that we were our brothers keeper, all
under the banner of democracy.
The democratic idea, like the Chris
tan ethic from which it was derived,
is the most revolutionary idea in all
history. It may be suppressed but
it can never be wholly forgotten.
Some day-though it may be centuries
from now-it must rise again and
smash dictatorship. Can it not do so
now?
Not Universal.
The democratic idea fell short at
two points. First, it did not en-
brace all humankind. 1t was limited
to the national state. Even those ma
tional states where it developed
farthest built prisons for the demo-
cratic leaders of their subject peoples,
and great armies and navies to de-
fend their national interests" The
democracy, until believers in democ-
racy establish, however long it may
take, a world commonwealth, based
on the idea of the brotherhood of man.
Secondly, the democratic idea was
corrupted by the specious idea of the
individual pursuit of wealth, without
social direction and control-laissez-
faire. Gigantic dislocations of eco
nomic processes went unremedied.
When governments sought to deal
with them, those who had profited
in the grim struggle for wealth used
their vast power to obstruct reform
and to confuse the people as to the
nature of democracy. The planning
and organizing of economic activity
was left to those whose prime interest
was armed power.
The unemployed, the underpaid, the
share-cropper, the migrant-these are
our Fifth Column, these are the I'M
derminers, these represent the failure
of democracy. 1t was out of their
ranks that the demagogues rose in
their bitterness to become leaders of
the bitter, and finally to destroy
democracy. These provide the raw
material for revolution. In so far as
millions of our citizens are denied the
right to 'the pursuit of happiness"
to that extent our democracy is a
sham.
When a Hitler marches into a
peaceful country ignoring the cost in
shattered lives he differs from us only
in degree, not in kind; for our sense