The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-04-14
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Washington scene and muddled
things up fairly well.
The President aroused the coun-
try and the country backed him to
such an extent that he landed back
in the White House.
But he landed with a party none
too solid at best. And into this
semi-divided party the said Mr..
Muddle Fingers has found himself
a happy hunting ground.
Southern Democrats and North
ern Democrats don't pull together
at all-unless and until they have
a common enemy.
Civil Rights is NOT a common
enemy! So, we get division.
The Republicans get some divis-
ion, too, but not quite as much.
Of course we get this freakish
division of parties because there
are certain basic issues that are no
longer either Democratic or Re
publican. At least not when you
spell democratic with a capital
"D".
y = y
European aid is another issue on
which there is no party unity,
simply because the issue is NOT d
party partisan issue. 1t isn't Re
publican or Democratic.
So you find Senators Taft and
Vandenburg opposing each other
both being Republicans, with equal
authority to speak as such.
You'll find similar division also
on the Taft-Hartley law. President
Truman made it his issue, champ
Joining labor's viewpoint, but only
to that extent is the issue a par
tisan issue as between Republican:
and Democrats. 1t would be much
more to the point to call it an issue
of NAM versus labor.
So, Washington becomes a happy
hunting ground for old Mr.. Muddle
Fingers.
So, every now and then the old
boy throws a cocktail party, add
ing merriment to the muddlement
thereby increasing the muddle-
ment.
Instead of being Republican OF
Democratic issues many of them
are issues between seeing facts
and dealing honestly with them
or seeing fantasies and dealing
selfshly with them.
Distortion is part Of the busi-
ness of increasing muddlement.
:. :. 4
Now the President gets quite
belligerent when his aides are
criticized.
But it would seem an obvious
fact that somewhere among the
hordes of aides and volunteer adj
lvisors there must be some of the
agents of muddlement.
Otherwise could there be such
muddlement between the White
House and "the Hill"?
1t seems wholly unlikely.
Now in all of this there are two
factors that never got their sights
off the target. One is labor; the
other is Big Business.
These two forces have definite
aims and they have reasons for
those aims.
They don't get muddled. They
know what direction they want and
their compass is always in working
order.
But that is but added reason for
! the energetic efforts of Mr.. Middle
Fingers to create muddlement
among officials, elected and /or ap-
pointed.
\ :. !.
What it all seems to add up to
is this: Unless there is a marked
change Of direction it will take an
other election-and perhaps still
another-to really settle some of
the paramount issues upon which
we thought we voted conclusively
in the election recently passed.
Too many things seem not to
have been spelled out in words Of
one syllable; too many politicians
could double talk themselves into
office and then double talk them
selves out of their campaign
pledges.
Mr.. Middle Fingers is always
around to help when such charact-
ers need assistance in creating
muddlement.
But there's another factor that
helps in muddlement. Facing issues
so great, many brains actually get
tired, and being tired they seek
surcease in a cessation of think