Evening star., 1944-05-31
Letters to The Star
See 'Maenalitis' as Explanation
Of American Blind Spot

To the Editor of The Star:
I was greatly interested in the edi-
torial on the American Blind Spot"
printed in The Star of May 18. Why
Is it that John Doe, an Army man. is
ready to risk his life in defense of his
country, while Richard Roe, the civilian
at home, thinks of his own petty in
terests first and is ready to quit his
job even If he thereby may endanger
the lives of his fellow Americans on
the battlefelds?
The explanation, 1t seems to me, is
to be found in an old American failing
which properly may be called mag
nalitis," delusion of greatness from
the Latin magnalis, greab. We are the
greatest people on earth. There is no
such animal as an average American
all Americans are above the average.
We know everything by instinct. Any
deserving Democrat or Republican can
I'LL any office without training. We do
not need an Army, for we are so power
full that no sane people will dare attack
us, and should some nisinformed ma
ton make war on us. million men will
Jump to the defense of the country
overnight, as the late William Jennings
Bryan assured u.s. We even are sup
posed to enjoy special protection of
the Lord.
This magnalitis of ours has led us to
a serious misconception of certain hard
realities. First, we have no adequate
idea of the war. For the second time
in generation we are fighting global
conflict, fighting to save not only our
freedom our American way of life, but
our very existence against savage, para
mold barbarians who would impose
slavery on us and our children. And
yet many of our people imagine that
we are lighting not to save ourselves
but to save England and Russia,
America is fighting the battles of other
nations; we want President who will
look after this country" the Kentucky
State chairman told the Republican
convention. The plain implication is
that Mr.. Roosevelt has forced us into
an unnecessary war in the interest of
other nations. In his speech of MAY 27
Senator Moore referred in q similar
vein to a philosophy that has led us
into the holocaust of war by an admin
istration that is now unable to tell us
for what we fight"
The Germans have committed I'M
speakable atrocities in all countries in
vaded by them, but many of our people
Will not believe it. Some people prob
ably still imagine that there is no real
war going on-they have seen no Ger
man or Japanese bombers over their
cities as yet. To be sure, they have
lost some of the comforts of life and
cannot drive their cars all over the
country any more, but that is not due
to the war. That Is due to the bungline
OF the bureaucrats in Washington.
Second: With the war at safe dis
tance from us, we have been harpinp
constantly on our rights, giving no
thought to our duties. And yet a citi-
zen's duty to the Nation always is
superior to his right. Every citizen has
the right of free access to the seat Of
the Government. to the ports, land
offices and courts of the United states,
the right to migrate from State to
State. etc. But an these rights disap-
pear temporarily when the citizen is
called to serve on a jury, or drafted
into the Army, or put in jail.
The. power of Congress to provide for
our common defense is not limited by
the Constitution, 1t Is limited only by
nature. That means that. Tor purposes
OF defense, Congress has right to con-
script every man. woman and child in
the country. When Congress exempts
the so-called conscientious obiectors, it
permits them to put their private opin-
ions above the Constitution and grants
them an illegal privilege, not a legal
right. When we are at war, as now,
the entire Nation is at war, civilians as
well as soldiers. 1t Is the duty of the
civilians, whether conscripted or not,
to work for the victory of our armed
forces, not to endanger the victory by
Sinking their duties. Still we are harp
ing on our rights and forgetting our
duties. That, too, is one of the un-
toward results of our magnalitis.
J. J. KRAL.