The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-24
Make Candidates Show Color

It is time for the citizens of the United States to realize they are approaching one of the most critical national elections in the history of cur nation. Basic prin- ciples are involved which affect the con- tinuation of our constitutional form of government They are in no way con- nected with Republican or Democratic partisan issues. The war our boys are lighting is non-partisan, for the purpose of enlarging liberty and opportunity for all the peoples of the world.
 For more than a decade, Republican and Democratic politicians here at home have been promoting so-called "emer- gency measures" which have bit by bit been restricting the individual in many phases of his daily life. The necessities of war have accelerated this movement, and now 1t is becoming more evident each day that many bureaucrats in both par ties, who have gained liking for gov ernment controls exercised over the indl- vidual, are processing" the people through publicity and propaganda and utopian proposals at government ex- pense, to extend centralized government control permanently or cs far as possible into the postwar era.
 Anyone who wants to read, can see a deadly parallel between this sugar-coated process and the one which engulfed European peoples and made them slaves to an official ariStocracy. How often do you hear a candidate for political office come out and unequivocally praise the United States, its constitutional form of government, the liberties it's people enjoy, the luxuries and necessities that have been delivered to them by our industries in . measure exceeding that enjoyed by any other nation? Too many candidates for public office assume that our philoso- phy of government and private enterprise have oitlived their usefulness; that they must be curbed, charged and controlled; that government must become the domi- nant factor in our daily lives and that we must ape the teachings of some for eign nation that has brought nothing but misery and disaster to its people.
 This process must be reversed The people must demand men in public office who are proud of the American system. Men who do not give 1t lip service one minute and in the next breath propose measures that would restrict individual opportunity. The United States was built on the principle of government being best which governs least; on the principle that public officials are the servants, not the masters of the people; on the principle that government confine itself to the functions of governing and not enter into activities which compete with the livelihood of the citizens which 1t taxes. These are basic ideals They are what our boys are fighting for. Labor loses its independence when government goes into business. The business man loses his independence. The boy in school loses his future opportunity. When the government becomes the master, the peo- pie become the slaves.
 These are fundamental issues on which every candidate for public office on any party ticket should be forced to express himself. Tn a hundred ways, warning lags are flying to arouse our people to lhe inroads that are being attempted on American liberty. AS war measures, we will accept any hardships and restric- tions necessary to bring victory. But now, as never before, we must safeguard our future by rejecting proposals and candidates that insidiously undermine the ground on which individual liberty and opportunity stand in this nation. You can't accept state socialism, even in small doses, and retain your inde- { pendence. Tn the coming postwar era, our people must be the master not the servants of our government. Never in ear history was this issue of such para mount importance as in the coming election.