http://www.latterdayconservative.com/downloadables/ezra-taft-benson/Ezra-Taft-Benson-A-Race-Against-Time.mp3
To address you this morning is a signal honor, a very great pleasure
and a challenging responsibility. My gratitude for this opportunity is
increased by the realization that it may be several months-possibly
years-before I come to this campus again.
I am grateful for the call which has come to me to again preside over
the European Mission, even though I leave my beloved country this time
with greater anxiety for its future than ever before.
Because of the nature of the message I bring to you, I have committed
most of it to writing. I shall speak to you frankly and honestly. Some
of you may not agree fully with everything I say. Thank God in this
blessed land we can still speak our convictions without fear. I have
been in nations where this blessed privilege is no longer enjoyed.
What I shall say are my personal convictions borne out of an active
life which has taken me into forty-five nations and brought me close to
the insidious forces which would destroy our way of life in this choice
land. I express these convictions and warnings today because of my love
for you, the true Church of Christ, and our beloved country.
I am not here to tickle your ears-to entertain you. I will talk to
you as one who loves this great nation. The message I bring is not a
happy one but it is the truth, and time is always on the side of truth.
“Truth must be repeated again and again because error is constantly
being preached round about.” (Goethe, 1749-1832, quoted in The Freeman,
July, 1958.)
This morning I will dispense with the usual amusing story so often
told at the beginning of a speech. I do this because time is so rapidly
running out that I feel I must have your ears during every moment of the
time allotted to me. I do not mean that the hour is late today. I do
mean that the hour is very late indeed, on the time table of national
survival. As Ernst Tillich stated in his testimony as an expert witness
before the House Committee on Un-American Activities several years ago:
“On the clock of survival the time is now five minutes before midnight.
We have but this brief interval to choose between survival or
extinction.”
The events which have taken place since Mr. Tillich testified have
fully supported this grave warning. We have been plunging headlong down
the primrose path toward the inevitable destruction of our great
country. It is quite true that while the Socialist Communist Conspiracy,
of itself, does not have, as yet, the power necessary to do the job, it
is nevertheless receiving vital aid and comfort from the Fabian
Socialists, fellow travelers, dupes and liberals, to such a degree that
the communists are jubilant at the course of events.
In less than half a century this evil system has gained control over
one-third of mankind, and it is steadily pursuing its vicious goal of
control over all the rest of the world. Since World War II people have
been brought under the communist yoke at the rate of more that 6,000 per
hour, 144,000 per day, 52,000,000 per year. Truly the Fabian Socialists
in this country are rolling out the red carpet, which will, without a
doubt, unless we arouse ourselves, eventually result in a complete
Communist take-over of America. This is their hope, their plan and their
bold prediction.
This is not to say that all those lending their support to the Fabian
Socialist camp are consciously helping the Communists. Undoubtedly
there are many well-meaning people who have been misled or confused.
However, it makes little difference who pulls the trigger of a gun aimed
at your heart. The end result is the same.
There are real dangers ahead. Why do I have anxiety and fear for the future?
I fear for the future when I realize that for some thirty years our
once-free institutions, political, economic, educational and social,
have been drifting into the hands of those who favor the Welfare State,
and who would “centralize all power in the hands of the political
apparatus in Washington. This enhancement of political power at the
expense of individual rights, so often disguised as ‘democracy’ or
‘freedom’ or ‘civil rights,’ is ‘socialism,’ no matter what name tag it
bears.
“Here we should recall the warning of the late Dean Inge: ‘History
seems to show that the powers of evil have won their greatest triumphs
by capturing the organizations which were formed to defeat them, and
that when the devil has thus changed the contents of the bottles, he
never alters the labels. The fort may have been captured by the enemy,
but it still flies the flag of its defenders.’” (Admiral Ben Moreell,
November 22, 1963.)
I fear for the future when the Central Government now owns more than
one-third of the total land area within the boundaries of the fifty
states.
I fear for the future when the Central Government owns and operates
more than 3,000 businesses and commercial activities in competition with
its own private tax-paying citizens.
I fear for the future when I realize that the functions of the
Federal Government are carried on by some 2,000 major operating units.
I fear for the future when the Federal Government directly lends $1
for every $5 loaned by private banks and that much of the federal funds
loaned are at rates below the cost of the money to the government.
I fear for the future when in 1913-15 a couple making $10,000, paid
in federal taxes $60, but in 1956 a couple earning $10,000 paid $1,590
in federal income tax.
I fear for the future when I realize that twenty-five years ago the
Federal Government received one-fourth of all taxes collected in the
United States. Today the Federal Government collects not one-quarter but
68 per cent of all our taxes.
I fear for the future when foreign governments have used and are using American tax money to pay for socialism.
I fear for the future because twenty-five years ago all taxes,
federal, state and local, took 14 per cent of our national income. Today
taxes take 35 per cent.
I fear for the future when I see our federal debt soar well above 300
billion dollars-over $7,000 per family of four-sixteen times the
combined debt of the fifty states and at the same time see no evidence
that this dangerous trend will be curtailed.
I fear for the future when I see an affluent but complacent citizenry
paying little or no attention to these and many other socialistic
trends in America.
Dr. V. Orval Watts, noted political economist, has described this
socialist system which I fear-and I have but suggested a very few
evidences. Here are his words:
“Socialism… is the theory and practice of coercive collectivism. It
is the evil fruit of greed for other men’s possessions and greed for
control over other men’s labor.
“This greed for goods and power is as old as man and as widespread as
the human race. It goes by many names, disguised in many forms, as men
think up many excuses for robbing and ruling their fellows.
“Socialist theory is a modern excuse, an elaborate rationalization
for this greed and for the organized looting and despotism it seeks to
achieve. But its materialism, its collectivist point of view, its
reliance on violence and coercion, even most of its economics, are as
old and as common as sin.
“It holds out to men the hope that they may reap where they have not
sown. It teaches that man is the creature of his environment, and that
he may be happy and good if he gets enough wealth, regardless of how or
where. All that is needed, says the Socialist Tempter, is to bow down
and worship the Socialist State, turning over to it authority and power
to take wealth where it finds it and to direct labor as it wills. Just a
little class hatred, a little lying propaganda, a little violence on
the picket lines, a little suppression of adverse critics, and a few
generations of compulsory education in Socialistic thought, then surely
we shall see the bright new day of equality, peace, brotherhood, and
freedom! So says the Socialist.”
In 1878, the great Southern statesman, Benjamin Hill of Georgia,
warned us of these dangers on the floor of the United States Senate, in
these prophetic words:
“I dread nothing so much as the exercise of ungranted and doubtful
powers by this Government. It is, in my opinion, the danger of dangers
to the future of this country. Let us be sure that we keep it always
within its limits.
“If this great, ambitious, ever-growing corporation becomes
aggressive, who shall check it? If it becomes wayward, who shall control
it? If it becomes unjust, who shall trust it? As sentinels of the
country’s watchtower, I beseech you to watch and guard with sleepless
dread that corporation which can make all property and rights, all
states and people, and all liberty and hope, its playthings in an hour,
and its victims forever.”
Admiral Ben Moreell, who has spoken here, has wisely declared:
“We do not place our trust in government mechanisms, formulas,
affirmations or men. Our faith is in God and in the capacity of free men
and women to govern themselves. There is a proper function for
government in a free society. But that function does not include the
power to order citizens how to live their lives. Our government was not
designed to administer the affairs of men; it was devised to administer
justice among men, who would administer their own affairs.”
That great and wise American, Thomas Jefferson, warned us of the
danger of conferring unwarranted power upon our government
administrators in these sobering words:
“It would be a dangerous delusion, were a confidence in the men of
our choice, to silence our fears for the safety of our rights.
Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism. Free government is
founded in jealousy, and not in confidence. It is jealousy and not
confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those
whom we are obliged to trust with power; our Constitution has
accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence
may go… In questions of power, then, let not more be heard of confidence
in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the
Constitution.”
We are now-this very day-at war with the Socialist-Communist
Conspiracy. This is a point that a lot of people do not seem to realize.
They think that just because we are not shooting at each other with
bullets that it isn’t a real war. But, we are really at war and we must
win this war if we expect to survive as a free people. The following
quotations by J. Edgar Hoover point this out clearly:
“We are at war with the communists and the sooner every red-blooded
American realizes this the safer we will be. . . . We are living in an
age of uncertainty-an age of awesome national peril-an age when the
struggle between freedom and totalitarian enslavement is drawing toward a
climax.” (J. Edgar Hoover, Address, December 7, 1961.)
“The Communist Party, USA, has been and is engaged in an all-out war
against American freedom. Its tactics of confusion, retreat, advance,
infiltration, and hypocrisy are in full play. The attack is both legal
and illegal, offensive and defensive, open and concealed.
“Above the surface a gigantic propaganda and agitation campaign is in
progress, a campaign that depends for success upon the support of
non-communists.” (Hoover, Masters of Deceit, p. 195.)
“Communists are committed to the destruction of our way of life and
dedicated to the establishment of a world Communist society. This
conflict with communism is not a struggle of our choosing. But, even
though we did not start it, we cannot ignore it. We must win the
struggle if freedom is to survive.” (Hoover, A Study of Communism, p.
18.)
Yes, “We are at war with this sinister conspiracy! Every communist
today must be considered an enemy, wherever he may be, at home or
abroad! A ‘soft’ approach toward the menace of communism can lead only
to national disaster! . . .”
The communists are winning the war and building their empire largely
with the help of non-communists-fellow travelers, sympathizers, dupes,
liberals, etc.
Some people foolishly believe that the communists are changing, that they are “mellowing.” This is not true.
“Today’s headlines,” says Hoover, “remind us there has been no basic
change in Communist imperialism. The danger which world communism
presents to the free nations has not abated. If anything, it has
increased.” (Hoover, A Study of Communism, Foreword.)
“In our quest for peace, we must never lose sight of the
well-documented fact that every Red leader from Marx and Engels through
Khrushchev, Mao and the American communist spokesman Gus Hall is
dedicated to an ideology which upholds world conquest as its ultimate
goal.
“The communists have never deviated from this objective.” (Hoover, Address, November 16, 1963.)
The intellectuals, liberals and dupes are so obsessed with the idea
of “academic freedom” that they encourage the use of communist speakers
in our colleges, at youth conventions and even high schools. This is
perversion of the true meaning of academic freedom.
Again J. Edgar Hoover warns us and expresses his fear in these words:
“I do fear so long as school boards and parents tolerate conditions
whereby communists and fellow travelers under the guise of academic
freedom can teach our youth a way of life that eventually will destroy
the sanctity of the home, that undermines faith in God, that causes them
to scorn respect for constituted authority and sabotage our revered
Constitution.” (Hoover, Menace of Communism, p. 11.)
“Today, the communists are engaged in an intensive campaign to
control the minds and win the allegiance of American youth. . . . During
the past two years, communist spokesmen have appeared on nearly 100
campuses from coast to coast. Their purpose: To create confusion, raise
questions and spread doubt among our young people concerning the
American way of life. . . . “They are setting a trap for the nation’s
youth.
In a masterful address, “Keys to Freedom,” before the Catholic Youth
Organization last month, J. Edgar Hoover issued shocking and timely
warnings to complacent Americans.
“Today,” he declared, “the communists are engaged in an intensive
campaign to control the minds and win the allegiance of American youth.
Toward this end, a National Youth Commission has been established within
the Communist Party, USA; special publications have been issued; front
groups have been organized; and an ambitious speech program has been
directed against our colleges and universities.
“It is indeed ironic that Communist Party speakers-whose minds and
thoughts and actions are in no manner free-should demand the opportunity
to parrot the Moscow line to young Americans under the guise of
academic freedom!
“Academic freedom is not an instrument for the perpetuation of
conspiratorial ideologies. Nor is it an agent of self-destruction-a
freedom to destroy freedom. As a free-flowing channel of truth and
knowledge, academic freedom is not obligated to carry along the silted
tributaries of lies and distortions of known communists.
“The communists look upon students as potential sympathizers,
supporters and contributors to the Party’s cause. Nor are they unmindful
of the rich opportunity for infiltration presented by unwary racial and
nationality groups.
“This is especially true of the intense civil rights movement within
the United States-for America’s 20 million Negroes and the countless
other citizens who share their objectives in the current struggle are a
priority target for communist propaganda and exploitation. Every
organization engaged in this struggle must constantly remain alert to
this vital fact, for, once under communist domination, all freedoms and
rights are lost.”
One of the dangerous present-day fallacies is the idea that we can continue with a policy of “Peaceful Coexistence.”
Here again Hoover warns us as follows:
“Key to the new Soviet strategy is the so-called ‘peaceful
coexistence’ policy. It is a broad, psychological tactic cleverly
devised by Khrushchev to serve a number of objectives. It is another
powerful weapon in the Communist arsenal of deception, a weapon
concealed behind an alluring campaign designed to provide a cover for
the goal of attaining a world-wide communist society through
revolutionary means.
“Through the weapon of peaceful coexistence, Soviet Communists are
seeking to lull the free world-particularly the United States-into a
false sense of security. It is a means of means of buying time through
which they can consolidate past gains while probing for soft spots in
the non-Communist world which present opportunities for future
expansion.” (Hoover, A Study of Communism, p. 149.)
More is needed than merely to say that we oppose communism. We must aggressively take action to defeat it:
“It is the duty of all Americans to fully understand the true import
of this threat to our heritage, to expose it, and to combat it with
every weapon at our command.” (Hoover, Communist Target-Youth, p. 11.)
“It is not enough to be against communism. We must shed our
complacency and aggressively meet this challenge.” (Hoover, Address,
February 22, 1962.)
As the Ward Teaching Message, July, 1961, stated:
“It is the duty of freedom loving people to oppose and resist this
evil with all the strength God has given us. If we do not, we stand to
lose all we and our forebears have gained through the centuries.”
What is needed is more patriotism-more real “super patriots” if you will.
“A free society,” says Hoover, “depends for its vitality and strength
upon the vigor and patriotism of its individual citizens.” (Hoover, A
Study of Communism, Foreword.)
“Today, perhaps as never before, America has need for doers of
extraordinary deeds, men and women with the moral strength and courage
of our forefathers. The smoldering embers of patriotism should be fanned
into a flaming spirit of loyalty so that the whole world will know
Americans will stand, fight, and die for the dignity of man.” (F.B.I.,
Law Enforcement Bulletin, July, 1962.)
The real threat is here at home.
The seriousness of the insidious “internal” threat cannot be over-emphasized.
Again Mr. Hoover warns:
“The communist threat from without must not blind us to the communist
threat from within. The latter is reaching into the very heart of
America through its espionage agents and a cunning, defiant, and lawless
Communist Party, which is fanatically dedicated to the Marxist cause of
world enslavement and destruction of the foundations of our Republic.
“The Communist Party in this country has attempted to infiltrate and
subvert every segment of our society.” (Hoover, Address, December 7,
1961.)
Unjust criticism of the anti-communists/anti-socialists helps the Conspiracy and is dangerous to our future.
In April, 1962, President David O. McKay, in his closing remarks at General Conference, quoted J. Edgar Hoover as follows:
“There is no place here in America for part-time patriots. This
nation is face to face with the greatest danger ever to confront it, a
sinister and deadly conspiracy which can be conquered only by an alert,
informed citizenry. It is indeed appalling that some members of our
society continue to deplore and criticize those who stress the communist
danger. Public indifference to this threat is tantamount to national
suicide. Lethargy leads only to disaster.” (F.B.I., Law Enforcement
Bulletin, March, 1960.)
Yes, J. Edgar Hoover, probably the best informed man in America on
the threatening Conspiracy, has repeatedly warned us that the gravest
danger we face today comes from the Socialist-Communist Conspiracy-and
from within.
Many people cannot see how this statement by Mr. Hoover can be true,
since there are supposedly only about 10,000 or so Party members in this
country. Those who doubt Mr. Hoover overlook the fact that for every
member of the Communist Conspiracy there are at least ten others willing
and eager to do their bidding. In addition to this, the Communists and
their fellow travelers move toward key positions by which they can
influence many others, just as iron filings move toward a magnet. Also,
the Communists, at this stage, do not themselves intend to do much of
the actual close-in fighting. Instead, they make use of non-Communists
to serve their purposes. Their method of operation is to confuse the
issues, divide one group against the other, and thus to conquer.
The Communist method of confusing the issues is to use
pseudo-idealistic and pseudo-moral words and phrases in order to trap
the unwary into following their designs. The fisherman knows that he
cannot entice a fish to bite upon a raw, steel hook, so he dresses it up
with a nice, juicy worm and the poor fish bites. In the same way, the
pseudo-moral and pseudo-idealistic expressions trap many innocents so
that they will follow out the aims of the Communist Conspirators, for
example, the false appeals made by the Communists in the name of “peace”
and the “brotherhood of man.” They know full well that Communism has
nothing in common with these expressions as we understand them. Yet,
they deliberately misuse them in order to deceive.
This has been the means by which the Communists, throughout the
world, have been able to set class against class, religion against
religion, race against race and group against group. The Conspiracy so
enflames people against one another that they fight among themselves and
thus bring about mutual destruction. The Communists then come in and
take over.
The present strength of the Communist Conspiracy by itself would be
insufficient to accomplish their aims in this country. However, they are
being given a tremendous push and able assistance by the Fabian
Socialists, their fellow travelers, dupes, liberals, etc. The name,
Fabian, is derived from that of a Roman general who always avoided
clear-cut contact with the enemy. Instead, he would whittle down the
antagonist little by little, until the latter was so weakened that he
would succumb.
The communists are eager to capitalize upon all areas of
misunderstanding and unrest. Their cause is the cause of Soviet Russia,
for the Communist Party, USA, is an inseparable part of the sinister
international conspiracy which is financed and directed by the Kremlin.
No amount of lies and duplicity can conceal this carefully documented
fact.
If you want the terrifying facts about the Communist use of the
Negroes, I recommend Manning Johnson’s book, Color, Communism and Common
Sense, a reprint by American Opinion Magazine (Belmont 78,
Massachusetts). The author, a Negro, was a Communist for ten years and
served on the National Committee for the Communist Party here in America
and assisted in planning the Conspiracy against his own race.
Let me pause a moment to point out some Pro-communist propaganda
which has been widely circulated. It is frequently stated that Communism
is on the extreme left and Fascism is on the extreme right. This is
absolutely false. It is true that Communism is on the extreme left, but
Nazism and Fascism are so closely allied with Communism that J. Edgar
Hoover has called Communism, Red Fascism and Nazism, Black Fascism. They
are all forms of Socialism. And, as has been pointed out by
well-informed people in the West, they are all forms of “GOVERNMENTISM”
where the government becomes lord and master and we become serfs and
slaves.
The extreme right wing is composed of the anarchists who believe that
people are so good at heart that no government at all is needed. Our
forefathers knew that, while most people try to do the right thing,
there are a few who run amuck. They, therefore, established our great
constitutional Republic-a government of limited powers. They believed
that we must have some government but it must be bound down by the
chains of our Constitution, so that it will not slip farther and farther
over into the realm of “GOVERNMENTISM” whether it be Communism, Nazism,
Fascism, Welfare-Statism or some other form of Socialism.
Please note the words of George Washington, who stated:
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is force! Like
fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master!” And, at a later
date, Woodrow Wilson said that “the history of liberty is the history of
limitations of government power, not the increase of it.” And at a
still later day, that great spiritual leader and patriot, President
David O. McKay, said this: “During the first half of the twentieth
century we have traveled far into the soul-destroying land of
socialism.” (Deseret News Church News Section, March 14, 1953.)
Now I want to point out just a few of the ways in which America is
tripping down the primrose path. Anyone who is interested and who would
care to make a careful study of the subject, will be both amazed and
shocked at the progress made by the Marxian Socialists. Their tremendous
influence and power can be grasped if we will read the carefully
documented book by Dan Smoot, a former F.B.I. administrative supervisor
and assistant to J. Edgar Hoover, entitled The Invisible Government.
This book shows how the Fabians, operating through many influential
organizations, have reached out their tentacles and are throttling free
enterprise at the same time they are pyramiding and concentrating
immense power in the Federal Government. In this way the advance of
Communism is being comforted, aided and abetted by those who are not
members of the Communist Conspiracy but who adhere to the same
principles.
Dr. Carew Hunt, a world-wide authority on communist strategy, states:
“Yet, where the ends they seek are concerned, Socialism and Communism
are virtually interchangeable terms, as anyone who consults the ‘Oxford
English Dictionary’ or any standard textbook will discover… Indeed,
Lenin’s party continued to call itself ‘Social Democrat’ until the
seventh Party Congress of March, 1918, when it substituted the term
‘Bolshevik’ as a protest against the non-revolutionary attitude of the
socialist parties of the West.”
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., expressed his conviction on this point in these significant words:
“The paths we are following, if we move forward thereon will
inevitably lead us to Socialism or Communism, and these two are as like
as two peas in a pod in their ultimate effect upon our liberties.
“And never forget for one moment that Communism and Socialism are
state slavery. World conquest has been, is now, and ever will be its
ultimate goal.”
The communists and fellow travelers have never deviated from this
objective. Despite the high-pressure campaign they have insidiously
directed behind Khrushchev’s phrase of “peaceful coexistence,” the
communists know that this is simply a propaganda slogan. It is devised
to further their own ends by stirring the hopes and emotions of those
who seek an end to the turmoil, fear and sorrow that world communism
itself created.
Actions continue to speak louder than words, and certainly the
communists have shown no indication of a sincere quest for peace. Here
are a few examples. There are many.
The take-over of Cuba and the establishment of a Communist base and
island fortress in America; the ever-constant infiltration of Red
Fascists into countries of Central and South America to create a
Sovietized Latin America; the increase of espionage activities by Soviet
and satellite agents in our country, particularly those who strive to
penetrate our government processes from the protection afforded them by
diplomatic assignments in New York in the United Nations and in
Washington; the frantic efforts of the Communist Party, USA, to subvert
our youth; and the intense drive of the Communists operating from
concealed positions to wrest control of the movement for Negro
rights-does all this indicate a real and sincere desire to live in
“peaceful coexistence”?
To the Socialist-Communist Conspiracy there is no such thing as
“peaceful coexistence” except as a tool for further conquest. Their
stated objective is to “bury” us.
Since about the time of Woodrow Wilson, Fabian Socialists have been
able to cuddle close to key people in our government and those who
exercise influence. I will not take the time to trace their activities
through the various administrations since Wilson’s time. I will be
content to give you two or three examples approximating that of the
Fabian Socialists.
It may shock you to learn that the first communist cell in
government, so far as we know, was organized in the U.S. Department of
Agriculture in the 1930′s. John Abt was there. It was John Abt whom
Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy, requested for his
attorney. Harry Dexter White was there. Lee Pressman was there. And
Alger Hiss, who was advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Yalta
and Tehran and who was the principal architect and first Secretary
General of the United Nations organizing meetings was there also.
Today, Walt Whitman Rostow, who is the chief planner for the State
Department, has expressed a dangerous point of view somewhat like this:
We must do everything in our power to avoid irritating and antagonizing
the Communists. They are, after all, merely rough and crude Socialists
and we must avoid doing anything that would escalate into a war. In
fact, what we should do is to help them to develop so that they will
mature and outgrow their violent impulses. In this way the Communists
will move somewhat over in our direction. At the same time we must move
our country over toward the left with more and more socialism until,
ultimately, the two will merge. Each country will then give up its
armaments and armed forces and place them in the hands of a One-World
Government. (See the book, A Proposal: Key to an Effective Foreign
Policy, by Wait W. Rostow and Max F. Millikan, Harper, New York, 1957.
An outgrowth of the Dartmouth Conference in the fall of 1960 and the
Crimea Conference of May, 1961, was the pamphlet, Freedom from War, the
United States Program for General and Complete Disarmament in a Peaceful
World, U.S. State Department Publication No. 7277, Disarmament Series
5, released September, 1961, U.S. Government Printing Office.)
And Arthur Schlessinger, Jr., former professor of history at Harvard
and now high in the councils of government, has said: “There seems no
inherent obstacle to the gradual advance of socialism in the U.S.
through a series of New Deals,” and, that socialism appears quite
practical as a long time proposition.
In either case the whole tendency is toward more and more
GOVERNMENTISM, more and more centralization and less and less individual
responsibility and freedom.
An interesting example of the socialist mind at work is the present
so-called Civil Rights Bill of 1963. I am going to quote, in part, from a
talk made by John C Satterfield, past president of the American Bar
Association, over the Manion Forum, weekly broadcast No. 468, September
15, 1963:
“It is clothed in the name of civil rights and is called the Civil
Rights Act of 1963. As a matter of fact, it is 10 per cent civil rights
and it is 90 per cent extension of Federal executive power at the
expense of individuals, states and municipalities-in fact, at the
expense of everyone . . .
“Do you borrow money from a bank that is in the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation system or the Federal Reserve system? Have you an
FHA or VA loan? Have you a Small Business Administration loan? Are you a
realtor, developer, home owner? Are you interested in schools and
colleges? Are you a farmer who has anything to do with the Farm Credit
Administration, Commodity Credit Corporation, Soil Conservation Service,
Federal Crop Insurance, REA, Agricultural Research?
“If you are any of these, or participate in any of these, then under
this Act the Federal Fair Employment Practices Commission will dictate
to you whom you may hire, whom you may fire, whom you promote, whom you
demote, and how you may handle your employees . . .
“Not only that, but it brings in almost every profession and every
business-lawyers, realtors, doctors, small establishments, restaurants,
gasoline stations, theaters, hotels, motels and lodging houses-and the
Federal control will never end . . .
“Under the provisions of this Act, combining them all, the United
States Commissioner of Education could come into a school and force the
transfer of children from one school to another until there was either
racial balance or religious balance . . .
“Not only that, but the next step to a complete and uncontrolled
dictatorship of any government is the control of the voting and of the
electoral machinery and transfer from the states to the Federal
Government the right to fix qualifications for voters, contrary to the
provision of the Constitution of the United States. It would also
transfer, under the circumstances stated in the Act, the right of
registration of voters from the state and local officers to Federal
referees . . .
“You should think about this legislation because it destroys
everything that we have heretofore felt protects us from a complete and
absolute power of a central government. It is something that strikes
home to every businessman, every home owner, and every worker in the
United States . . .”
In other words, we may say that the states would be reduced to little
more than subdivisions within the central government and largely
subject to its control. It would be almost certain to result in an
all-powerful national government with authority to intervene in the
private affairs of individual citizens. It would, furthermore, control
and adjust relationships between men in accordance with the dictates of
those in charge.
It has been truly said by our former Chief Executive, Dwight D.
Eisenhower, that, “The federal government did not create the states of
this Republic. The states created the federal government. . . . If the
states lose their meaning, our entire system of government loses its
meaning and the next step is the rise of the centralized national state
in which the seeds of autocracy can take root and grow.”
Those are strong but true words.
Never forget that history is filled with examples of men who mean to be good rulers but who nevertheless mean to rule.
With reference to the United Nations and spurious appendages, I would
like to quote the Internal Security Annual Report for 1956, p. 213, as
made by the Senate Internal Security Sub-Committee, as follows: “What
appears, on the surface at least, to be by far the worst danger spot,
from the standpoint of disloyalty and subversive activity among
Americans employed by international organizations, is UNESCO-the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Among less
than ninety Americans employed by UNESCO the International Organizations
Employees Loyalty Board found fourteen cases of doubtful loyalty.”
Then, in the footnote, we see this: “Information in the possession of
the sub-committee, indicating a great deal of evidence not yet publicly
adduced, points to the possibility that the parent body, the U.N., may
be the worst ‘spot’ of all.” There is no indication that there has been
the slightest improvement in the United Nations or its satellites since
that time.
I have in my possession a copy of an unpublished manuscript on the
United Nations Charter prepared in 1945 and given to me by that eminent
international lawyer and former Under Secretary of State J. Reuben
Clark, Jr.
President Clark’s declarations on this, as on other subjects,
emphasize more and more with the passing of time his vision and
statesmanship.
Commenting on the United Nations Charter and the “travesty on
exhaustive consideration” as the charter was hastily approved by the
Congress, under urging from the State Department, he continues with a
devastating analysis and a sober warning to the American people that
there will be a day of reckoning. I believe that day is near at hand.
The hopes and the aspirations of the people have been betrayed. I hope
this scholarly, unpublished memorandum by President Clark with its
penetrating analysis will someday soon be available in full. Meantime, I
urge all to read the solid volume, Stand Fast by the Constitution,
which embodies much of J. Reuben Clark’s timely instruction. Meantime
let us have no further blind devotion to the communist-dominated United
Nations.
Today it is becoming an increasing handicap, it seems, to one’s
career in government for a man or woman to take seriously his pledge of
allegiance to our Constitution. Witness the firing of Mr. Otto F.
Otepka, because he believed in a higher service-that service to our
nation comes above service to any particular department of government.
The open and covert management of the news in this country is another
case, frightening in its implications. One high government official has
made the appalling statement to the effect that it is all right for the
government to lie to the people if it serves the government’s purpose
to lie. Certainly lies can take place by omission as well as by
commission.
At this point I quote a statement by Virgil Jordan: “In these days of
fear and confusion, let us remember that the endless repetition of a
lie, or the multiplication of an empty promise does not make a truth.
Truth is something more than the greatest common denominator of mass
ignorance and greed. It is never determined or demonstrated by
majorities or pluralities or popular error and appetite. Ultimately,
with God’s aid, it always emerges and finally prevails, supreme in its
power over the destiny of mankind, and terrible in its retribution for
those who deny, defy, or betray it.”
Constantine Brown, in an article in a recent issue of the
Congressional Record, told of prominent people who had defected from
Communism who now fear they have joined the losing side.
They gave two reasons:
1. Communism will win because western leaders (particularly in the
United States) do not want to believe that the Soviets are planning to
conquer the world.
2. Khrushchev knows that the United States will offer only token opposition to the Soviets’ plan to conquer in Latin America.
Now the question arises-what can we do to preserve our Constitution,
and how can we avoid being misled into doing those things that would
actually help to destroy it? During last October Conference I spoke on
the subject “Be not Deceived.” I said there were three keys one could
use to avoid deception: first, the scriptures; second, the words of
prophets, especially the President of the Church (particularly the
living one); and third, the Holy Ghost.
The scriptures tell us about the war in heaven over free
agency-similar to the war we are going through now, where the devil’s
program was guaranteed security as opposed to the Lord’s program of
letting each choose for himself even if he makes the wrong choice. Once
you understand these scriptures you will understand why the Presidents
of the Church have opposed Communism, Socialism, and the Welfare State
and you will see why you must oppose them, too, if you are in harmony
with the word of the Lord.
The scriptures also tell about our inspired Constitution. If you
accept these scriptures you will automatically reject the counsel of men
like Senator Fulbright and others who depreciate our Constitution. If
you use the scriptures as a guide you know what the Book of Mormon has
to say regarding murderous conspiracies in the last day and how we are
to awake to our awful situation today. I find certain elements in the
Church do not like to see the Book of Mormon and D&C so much-it has
too much to say about freedom.
The second criteria is the prophets, especially the living President.
Do you realize what President McKay has said about some recent
decisions of our Supreme Court? Do you realize that he has called
Communism the greatest threat to the Church today and has said that this
country has traveled far into the soul-destroying land of Socialism? He
has opposed programs of federal aid to education; he has supported
right-to-work laws. Are you in harmony with the prophet’s declarations?
If you accept the scriptures and the prophets, then you will
automatically separate yourself from the philosophy of some Mormons and
you will have to part with a number of our national leaders and their
programs.
The last criteria is the Holy Ghost-the test of the spirit. You
cannot use this test unless you have the spirit of the Lord with you and
that only comes through righteous living-which means being in harmony
with Church doctrine in addition to simply being active in Church work
and attending meetings.
These are the three main keys-apply them and you will avoid pitfalls
and traps which even members of the Church and some teachers may set for
you. President Joseph F. Smith said that one of the three things that
plagued the Church within was false educational ideas-and I am sure you
will be introduced to some of these ideas somewhere along your path.
Using the scriptures and the prophets and the spirit as a guide, we can
eliminate a lot of the deceptions and false philosophies and cure-alls
of men and discern between the wheat and the chaff.
Thus, with the scriptures and the words of the prophets for a guide
line, it is easier to select our reading-for we need information out of
the best books to help us in this fight for our freedom. And when it
comes to the writings of men, in addition to the tests we have
suggested, it is helpful to select the men who have proved most accurate
over the years. On this basis may I give to you my own personal
recommendation of some reading which will help you in the fight to save
our Constitution.
First, for a number of years President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., served
on the board of trustees of the Foundation for Economic Education while
he was a member of the First Presidency. President Clark, as you
probably know, was an Under Secretary of State and Ambassador to Mexico.
He wrote the famous memorandum on the Monroe Doctrine. In 1923 in the
Salt Lake Tabernacle he warned us of the Communist-Socialist menace and
what it was going to do-and he was right. No one in the Church has shown
greater insight regarding our Constitution and the Socialist-Communist
threat to it. The Foundation for Economic Education with which he served
puts out some of the most enlightening freedom literature available.
They also put out a free monthly magazine, entitled The Freeman, which
is excellent. They will be happy to send you a free catalog of their
literature. May I mention some of the books which they distribute: The
Federalist, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison,
three of our inspired rounding fathers, explaining why the need of a
constitution; The Constitution of the United States, by Mussatti; The
Clich of Socialism; The Mainspring of Human Progress, by Weaver;
Economics in One Lesson, by Hazlitt; and The Admiral’s Log, by Admiral
Ben Moreell, which book is also on the M.I.A. reading list. The address
for the Foundation for Economic Education is simply Irvington-on-Hudson,
New York.
These books and others will show you what America stands for-our free
enterprise system-our Constitutional Republic-how we became the world’s
greatest power. For For first you need to know what America stands for
before you can realize what could be a threat to it. For as President
McKay has said, the fostering of full economic freedom lies at the base
of all our liberties.
The next thing we must know about is the major enemy to our way of
life-Socialistic Communism. In October Conference, 1959, President McKay
admonished us to read what he called an excellent book, The Naked
Communist. I agree with the President of the Church. Probably no man in
America knows the internal Communist threat better than J. Edgar
Hoover-his two books on Communism should be must reading. They are
Masters of Deceit, and A Study of Communism. You Can Trust the
Communists, by Dr. Fred Schwarz, whom President McKay called a true
friend of freedom, is also an enlightening book. The House Committee on
Un-American Activities and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
have both put out instructive information. A list of their publications
is available free of charge from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents,
Washington 25, D.C.
Once you get the facts about our American Constitutional Republic and
the threats to it-then you are going to want to do something. Certainly
those who are organized and have a plan and are dedicated, though they
be few, will always defeat the many who are not organized and have no
plan or dedication. The Communists have proved this and the fighters for
freedom must realize it too. If, then, you want to have impact through
an organization, make sure that organization squares with the scriptures
and the prophets and the spirit. Then move forward and use your free
agency to accomplish that which is virtuous and praiseworthy and let the
devil and his agents and dupes howl.
Yes, the Fabian Socialists are as busy as bees rolling out the red
carpet which leads inevitably to Communism. Faced with this situation
our first duty is that of education. Starting with ourselves we must
become familiar with the broad outlines of our movement toward
destruction. We must, as President McKay has urged, become alerted and
informed. After becoming informed ourselves, we must carry the word to
all within hearing or seeing range, so that they, too, can become
awakened. Take every opportunity to pass sound literature and books
around so that your neighbors and their neighbors will awaken before it
is too late. We are literally in a race against time and we must take
every opportunity to spread the word.
We must not become confused over side issues. Our enemy is not the
Catholic, not the Protestant, not the Negro, not the white man, not the
Jew, not the Gentile, not employers, not employees, not the wealthy, not
the poor, not the worker, and not the employer. Our mortal enemies are
the Satanic Communists and those who prepare the path for them.
It is not, however, enough to be acquainted with the grave dangers
facing these United States. We must also instruct ourselves, and others,
in the great spiritual values underlying our Divinely inspired
Constitution and our American free-enterprise system. One of the many
sure ways of defeating our enemy is to instruct the people about the
eternal verities of our own country. A mind, so enlightened, will reject
Marxian Socialism whether it be in the form of Communism, Nazism,
Fascism, Welfare-Statism or some other man-made monstrosity.
In this time of deadly peril we must choose men and women to
represent us in our government who have attained an inner atunement of
mind, heart and soul with God. Only these people have anchors firmly
rooted and strong enough to withstand the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune. They, only, have the inner sense of direction,
stability of spirit and firmness of character essential to our survival.
We must not place in positions of trust cheap opportunists who will
sell their souls for a mess of pottage. Rather we should place in public
office men and women who place the love of God first in their lives and
who, as a consequence, can serve their fellow men with true wisdom.
Not cheap politicians but statesmen are needed today. Not
opportunists but men and women of principle must be demanded by the
people. In this time of great stress and danger we must place only those
dedicated to the preservation of our Constitution, our American
Republic, and responsible freedom under God. “Oh God, give us men with a
mandate higher than the ballot box.”
In closing let me quote Bishop Exeter:
Give us men
Strong and stalwart ones;
Men whom highest hope inspires
Men whom purest honor fires,
Men who trample Self beneath them,
Men who made their country wreath them
As her noble sons,
Men who never shame their mothers,
Men who never fail their brothers
True, however false are others:
Give us men-I say again
Give us Men!
Give us Men!
Men who, when the tempest gathers,
Grasp the standards of their fathers
In the thickest fight:
Men who strike for home and altar,
(Let the coward cringe and falter)
God defend the right:
True as truth though lorn and lonely
Tender, as the brave are only:
Men who tread where saints have trod,
Men for Country,-Home-and God:
Give us Men: I say again again-
Give us such Men!
God bless you, my brothers and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.