Is it too late?

Our society has bent so far in granting rights to minority groups that we have seen an ominous and insidious danger growing in our midst. This danger resides in the destructive power focalized in the hands of a radical and dedicated minority which is committed to the destruction of America.

Thirty years ago from China, L. Nelson Bell wrote the following to a friend in America. He said, “One other cause of pessimism is the character of the average student in the schools, the class from which naturally the national leaders will come in time. Communistic teaching and propaganda has been going on among these boys and girls for three or four years and is still rampant. The result is a group of young people who fear neither God nor man and whose minds are filled with an insane desire to tear down the existing social order, even if their own parents go in the fall. I have personally come in contact with the results of the new freedom which, as in Russia, has declared freedom between the sexes, with all restraints removed.” (Quoted from the January 1970 issue of Christianity Today).

Even a cursory knowledge of the situation in Communist China today under Peking sees the bitterly tragic result of what was observed then. A people has lost its most precious possession, personal freedom.

The point which must be seen and taken seriously is that we have at work in our midst similar forces embodied in the minds and aspirations of student activists. We, of course, must grant that such activists are not all to be subsumed under the same category as hard core destructionists. There are the unwitting idealist who do not see the long-range implications of the rebellion in which they are involved. Yet, we must confront the reality that today in our universities we are dealing with revolutionairs; those who seek to bring down the governmental and political-social system of our country.

What can be done to stop the movement of events toward the demise of democracy in the West which is seen in a precursory way in the progression of Chinese history? First, we must restore “law” to its rightful place and re-establish a sound and resolute system of jurisprudence. We look aghast upon those who threaten to burn down our cities and even take human life if demands are not met. University administrators stand eye to eye with those who invade and assume illegal control until the mind of the militant minority establishes the order of the day. What is infinitely worse is the pathetic reticence to bring law and its enforcement agents to bear upon such crimes against society (be they localized or general). It is being said but not heard that such a yielding to the methods of an extremist minority can lead only to an interim period of anarchy followed by dictatorship.

Our ideological background as a people given to the principles of Judaism and Christianity has rendered our society a fertile seed-bed for those who desire to sow insurrection. We are generally the champion of the “underdog:” we cannot stand to see the few being trampled by the many (to wit: the Vietnamese conflict) we assume a person’s innocence, when accused of a crime, until proved guilty (with exception such as “trial by press”).

Thus, we, in our gullibility, are duped into taking seriously the false claims and unfounded demands of small groups. (An example of this would be the recent upheaval at MIT which, according to Bruce Schwartz as quoted in the Washington Post:, “was not a week of antiwar protests, they are indeed revolutionaries, Socialist-Communist revolutionaries, dedicated to the overthrow of the government and the political-social system of the United States.” Here the few denied the right of a university to engage in research and development of offensive and defensive systems. It should be noted with encouragement that this incident was dealt with swiftly and effectively by law enforcement agents.)

This “upheaval” does not refer to the past week’s incident.

Our general desire to be reasonable, patient and fair has caused us to temporize. We have become easy on those who defy law; especially the laws regarding the possession of property and freedom from molestation. This attitude of permissiveness brings only encouragement to those who would play the despicable game of political-social guerilla warfare while being protected by the very governmental system which they seek to destroy.

We MUST permit the lessons of history to be focused through the present into the future. Hitler was not empowered by a majority movement. He rose to power on the shoulders of a small fanatical group of dedicated activists. China was brought to bondage as the minds of the young were enflamed with a dream which has become a nightmare. What will happen in our land in the next decade? Is it too late to divert the onward rush of history? No! A valid law unenforced, upon being broken, perpetrates a greater crime against a people. We must stop being permissive and assume a stance which says, ‘Our system is the best the world has ever known.” It’s not too late!

The Rev. Mr. Smith is minister of South Congregational Church