Fraternity-Testvériség, 1961 (39. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1961-02-01 / 2. szám
FRATERNITY 7 “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” These words of St. Paul sketch the rock-like base on which the whole development and miracle of Western civilization was built. The man or woman who does not know this is not educated and is not equipped to be a free citizen. Similarly, we are in danger of losing the force of the great achievement of the United States in relation to the problem of power. The architects of our Constitutional system knew that government was not a luxury but a necessity. They knew that power must be exercised. They also knew that it was a demon that cannot be trusted and must be held in check. From this viewpoint the success of the American governmental system is unprecedented and has lessons to teach which are exactly what the emerging nations must learn if they are to build healthy societies. What is needed is Americans who know this system against a broad background and who are enthusiasts for it, with the ability to be interpreters in an age that is big with political destiny. To produce such Americans is the foremost job at the present time of American society and the American educational system. The third thing that every young American must know is the nature of the world adversary. He must be acquainted thoroughly and maturely with the facts about Communism and Totalitarianism. This requires much more than propaganda or superficial indoctrination. It means hard study, honest research, rigorous analysis and unsparing candor in the drawing of conclusions. The ideal framework for the study of Communism is that of a detailed comparison of social and ideological systems. Such an approach to the imperative task of imparting basic knowledge of Communist totalitarianism to the rising generation might well result in a quickened appreciation of our American heritage and a renewed and profound concern for the moral foundations without which life is not livable for man. In any case, the outstanding fact of this century is the sensational rise and continuing menace of Totalitarianism. Totalitarianism, of which Communism was the earliest and proved to be the strongest expression, means that the individual falls, the state rises. It is more than the negation of democracy. It means that man as man ceases to count. The state becomes god and master. Every young American must know, above all, that this is the enemy and that this is the real creed of the new barbarian hammering now at our gates. We must meet, vanquish or convert him; otherwise the darkness continues to fall and the night blots out for an indefinite period the holy light of Freedom. FRASCO
