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Show UTAH FARM BUREAU Page 5 NEWS April 1970 these ' are overworked and oversimplified terms, and most of us are a mixture of them. Another thing which might be called a cliche (though it is a habit of thought rather than a word) is our insistence upon thinking in "either or terms - - right or wrong, black or white, good or bad, free world or everybody else. It would be far better, it has long seemed to me, if we could think in terms of polari-ties- : that is, in terms of a flexible scale between two extremes, with ab- solute right (or black, or good, or freedom) at one end and absolute wrong (or white, or bad, or lack of freedom) at the other, and all shades of variation in between. If we visulaize this flexible scale, and then go back to our "liberals" and and "radicals", it "conservatives" looks like this: At the far ends are die radical extremes - - at one end the radical right, advocating strict authority and control, the ultimate form of which is dictatorship; at the other end the radical left, advocating individualism and defiance of authority, and. ultimate form of which is anrchy. In between these extremes, distributed along the scale, are all shades of real and sincere conservatives (whose interest is in preserving and perpetuating the enduring values of our society) and all shades of real and sincere liberals (whose interest is in improving the society through intelligent change). Both of these groups 'are'' needed, as we said before. Liberalism alone could result in chaos, conservatism along could result in . address given by Mrs. Calvin L. Rampton, at the Utah Farm Bureau Womens Workshop March 13, 1970. An Pleasure to be here with you ladies today. I should like to talk, if I may, about America and Americans - - today - - in the 1970's and beyond. This is a sober time for Americans - - we are seeing ourselves more nearly as we really are than we have ever done before, and this unromanticized clarity is sobering. You know, one of die newspaper columnists a while ago wrote a column about how each historical period develops its own vocabulary of "in words which are worked and overworked until they become the cliches of the day. We have a sizable collection of such words today, this is land of freedom and opportunity for only part of our people; and that it is a land of desperately angry people driven by despair to contempt for existing law. This is her dark side. I teach the Cultural Refinement lessons for the night group of the I think that America today is in the midst of a confrontation with herself. "Know thyself," Socrates said - -to be die bebelieving wisdom. of America, and ginning Americans with her, is coming to know herself. We know - - after two "No American citizen, declares Dan'l, "may be forced into the service of a foreign prince. and one of them is "confrontation." self-knowled- Stone. "Foreign? said the stranger. "And ge . World Federal Heights Ward Relief Society, and the principal selection in our last lesson was Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Devil and Daniel Webster." At one point in that ddight-fu- l and wise story, Dan'l Webster is arguing with Mr. Scratch (as the devil elects to call himself for the occasion) about whether the devil has any jurisdiction over Jabez Wars and Korea and Vietnam, after decades of trying to remake and police the world unilaterally, and especially after the decade just ended ( a decade marred by three major assassinations, by the seeming endlessness of Vietnam, by burning cities and riotous campuses and speed freaks ) - - we know that America has a somber side. Herman Melville, years ago when such a viewpoint was unpopular, wrote a group of sketches about the Galapagos Islands, which he called "The Encantadas." The second of these sketches is called "Two Sides to a Tortoise," and is about the giant tortoises which are the most impressive inhabitants of the Galapagos. He observed that the tortoises, which when seen from above are as gloomy and dark as the islands in which they live, have a bright side- - - their undersides have a golden tinge, and if the creatures are turned on their backs their bright sides are exposed. "But after you have done this, Melville wrote, you should not swear that the tortoise has no dark side. Enjoy the bright, keep it turned up perpetually if you can, but be honest, and don't deny the black . . . The tortoise is both black and bright . . . " (p. 236) What we saw during the 60's - -with great clarity and as if for the first time (though it had. been there all along) - - was the dark side of who calls me a foreigner? . "Well, I never yet heard of the dev-- - of your claiming American citizenship," said Dan'l Webster with One test, I feel, of the value of any program, idea, or point of view is basically constructive or destructive whether (whether it be liberal or conservative) is whether it originates in fear or in faith. An individual might ask herself for example; "As a conservative, do I oppose - - . fear-or-fai- th boiling kettle, or are we, because we have faith in ourselves and in our country, seeking order through more equitable, and then better enforced, laws - - because we believe in the American dream of "liberty and justice for all"? In Robert Bolt's great play, Man For All Seasons," there is a wonder-fu- l and paradoxical scene. Richard Rich, the potential infomer who later on does, through his treachery, undo Sir Thomas More, is leaving More's house - - and More and his future William Roper, are whether Rich (who has done nothing wrong as yet) should behalt-ed- . son-in-la- dis-sussi- ng w, ALICE: While you talk, he's gone! MORE: And go he should, if he was the Devil himself, until he broke the law! ROPE: So now you's give the Devil benefit of law! MORE: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? ROPER: I'd cut down every law in England to do that! MORE: (Roused and excited) Oh? (Advances Roper) And when the "And who with better right?" said the stranger with one of his terrible smiles. "When the First wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on her deck . . . "Tis true the North claims me for a Southerner and the South for a Northerner, but I am neither. I am merely an honest American like yourself to tell the truth, Mr. Webster, . . . my name is older in this country than yours." (p. 140) ... How are we to see ourselves, we Americans, during this sober time? How do we confront ourselves, honestly, but without hysteria and with a heed thy amount of optimism and belief in ourselves? This country, I believe, is entering a conservative period. Such periods are necessary and helpful, if they are properly utilized. We are all familiar with the metaphor of the Ship ofState, for which liberalism is the sail and conservatism the anchor. All this means is that periods which are dominated by liberal thought and action are characterized by change and innovation, while periods which are dominated by conservative thought and action are characterized by stabilization. Both are necessary to sound, responsible, enduring, and yet developing, societies. What matters is the use we make of each period as it comes along. The present conservative time can be used, for example, either for honest or for evasion of the such scrutiny would reproblems veal. We know, now, when we are being honest, that America is still a land of spacious skies, of freedom and opportunity, of friendGod fearing ly warm-hearteThis is her people. bright side. We also know that the spacious skies and the clear streams and the good earth are being poisoned by low-keye-d, d, the wastes of our technology; that stagnation. fear-or-fai- th surprise. "... America. en to set up its own machinery for the defense and the control of the society. The radical left sees the society as totally undesirable, and seeks to destroy it without having anything to put in its place Either extreme, if allow'ed to have its way, would destroy the America we hold dear. Because this is a conservative time, the best examples of evaluations of which 1 could think involve conservative positions. We hear, for example, a great deal about "law and order today. This comes as an understandable result of the unrest which has plagued the country - - the riots, the protest demonstrations, the rising crime rate. The question here is, "Are we are afraid, endeavwe, because oring simply to slam the lid on the self-scruti- ny . We are running into more of our cliches , here. What is a "liberal," "do I oppose change because I am genuinely convinced that things of importance never really change, or is it because I fear it will make my life less safe and comfortable? ' 4 change because I am genuinely convinced that things of importance never really change, or is it because I fear it will make my own life less safe or comfortable?" Or, "As a liberal, do I seek change because I believe responsible change leads to improvement, or is it because I am fed up and think that anything would be better than what we have now?" Both thf radical extremes on our scale arp destructive in their methods and thenpurposes. The radical right fears and mistrusts all three branches of government, and seeks last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you - - where would you hide; Roper, the laws all being flat? . . . d'you realty think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? (Quietly) Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake. Another example is the matter of censorship - - of the news media, or of speakers on a campus. We must realize; of course, when we begin to censor, that there are at least two sides to every question. In fairness the censorship fear-or-fai- th |