Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1951-07-06
LOOKING
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BY GEORGE S. BENSON
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Searcy. Arksxsas
Look at the Label


A lot of persons, who like to think
that they think, are bandying about
a couple of terms that mean less
than whole lot to a whole lot OF
people. refer to the terms: lib
erar and "reactionary." May I
put in my two cents worth in hopes
that you may know these modern
labels better?
What I mean is that armchair
commentators and soapbox SPELL
binders throw these terms at you.
without any apology. Sure, you can
get their meaning, whether they
are for it or against it, by the way
their lips are curled and their
epithets hurled. But that's not
enough. We need to know what the
labels mean. A man can't think
straight unless he can know his
ideas as he picks them up.
The Real Test
Jesus said of false teachers: by
their fruits ye shall know Them"
That is still the best way to size
up man and his idea. 1t is even
possible to put that test to labels.
That way, man cannot call him.
self one thing and be another.
The word liberalism comes from
the same basic word that gave US
the term liberty. The ancestors of
this label, therefore, are of the best
blood. The term has the finest pos
sible background, for it implies all
sorts of freedoms and puts strong
stress upon human liberty. Then
how is it that those who claim lib
eralism as their doctrine are found
waving the banner for the very
worst enemies of all liberty!
State Supreme
We Americans declare that we
hold sacred the right to life, lib
erty, and the pursuit Of happiness.
We have said that man is to be as
free as possible, while also being
responsible. The nations founding
fathers clearly insisted that govern
ment must be set up to serve man.
and not man to serve the govern
ment.
But here and now we have the
sorry mess of the liberals today
wanting to change all this. They
propose to improve this arrange
ment by planning" us into either
a socialist. or a communist or a
fascist society in which all signs
of human freedoms must certainly
vanish. These planners and plot
!crs would have the society (gov-
eminent or State) to be supreme
N all things. Even God they would
replace by the State.
A New Serfdom
What need would we then have
to guarantee personal rights and
freedoms, if the state is to assume
ali the responsibility for every
Dody? No need. at all, if the State
IS supreme. These liberals Il am
now applying the label test to their
Works) care nothing for the Con-
stIiution. They are all totalitarians
at heart. Their aim is political pow
CT to suppress the personal liberty
that belongs to the individual. Here
we nave the strange spectacle Of
dangerous liberals"
What else is the explanation, when
those who love to call themselves
liberals denounce as "reactionary"
anybody who distrusts the police
state and would halt the trend 70
totalitarianism? A "reactionary,"
strictly speaking, is one who OBJ
jects to progress and desires to turn
back the clock. We must conclude
then, that the real reactionaries of
.oday are those liberals who would
return US to the slavery of the State.
They would make the coming cen
fury new Dark Age.
Have you head DR.. Benson and the
radio drama "Ipnd Of the Free"f Cheek
your local station for time.