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Show t Page 6 UTAH FARM BUREAU may apply to those with whom we agree as well as to those with whom we disagree. But what each of us must ask herself is, "Do I want this commentator hushed up or this speaker excluded because I am afraid of what he and his ideas represent? If so, what then has become of my faith in our democratic process of open and vigorous debate of issues and ideas, and in the free agency of each individual to form his own judgments and reach his own "God-fearin- ware that some will succeed and some will fail); we must keep trying (knowing that successful solutions create their own new problems). All of this we must do not stridently and irresponsibly, but as rational, civilized, responsible human beings. This last is one of the hardest parts of the whole business. These are not only sober but gravely disturbed times, with namecalling and vituperation encouraged by the' national administration itself, with violence a part of the daily national and international scenes, with fear and suspicion and hatred (the dark emotions) stirring all around us with us. We need to exert ourselves The wise - - Type C-- patriot says, "Here is fills country of mine, which I deeply love, and it has gone in for some types of behavior which just will not do. I believe in this it is fine, strong, vigorcountry ous country with great ideals and a great potential for realizing them; - but it is going to ruin itself if something isn't done about that bitter racial hatred and those rotting urban slums, about that air and water pollution and that fearful concentration upon national defense, and about all that crime. (You have talked of many of these problems during this workshop). How can I help my country get straightened out?" conclusions?" Even in this matter of fear and faith, we need our flexible scale rather than our rigid either or. Law enforcement people tell us that a certain amount of fear of the law is necessary in a society, and certainly is a term in good standWe need to ing in our churches. determine for ourselves, and as a society, where along that particular scale of fear to faith we feel best at any given time. To get back, now, to the business of America's confrontation ofherself and Americans' conrontation of themselves. How do we go about it? And what will constitutegenuinepat-riotisand love of country for the remainder of this century? A month ago my husband and I were asked to be the speakers at a program at Lehi High School which was billed, in the letter of in- April 1970 NEWS g" " a rip-snorti- ng stand-up-and-holl-er patriotic program." I was petrified - - I'd never make a Fourth of July orator. And I was profoundly concerned then, as I still am, by the depth and the complexity having been made, democracy has done less harm, and more good, than any other form of government. Vail deductions of American problems and by, if I may put it this way, our tarnished image in our own How on earth could 1 give eyes. a patriotic speech? I found a way to manage it, and I'll try it out on you. I suggested that we look at America as parents - - three different types of parents - - might look at their children. One type of parent - - Type A-- sees her children as little angels, beautiful and without faults. How could they be anything else, considering their splendid parents? This parent, when Jimmy throws a rock through the window of the new school, says to the arresting officer, "How dare you! Jimmy is a good boy - he wouldn't do a thing "rip-snortin- g" Another parent - - type B - - sees a misbehaving child as a little devil - a throwback to some reprobate of an ancestor on the other side of. the family. This overly punitive parent is so outraged by Jimmy's throwing of the rock and so humiliated personally that he condemns not only the behavior but the child as well: "How could you do this to me? They ought to throw you in jail! don't want any little juvenile -- delinquents in this family!" The wise parent - - Type C remembers his own mischievous youth, faces the fact that Jimmy is perfectly capable of vandalism, and is skillful and understanding enough to let Jimmy know that he loves him but that this type of behavior simply will not do. TTiis parent cooperates quietly but firmly with the policeman in seeing that Jimmy pays the required penalty and therby learns a valuable lesson. If we apply these same approaches to our country, we call ourselves patriots instead of parents and again have three different types. The first - the Type A Patriot - --- will say ""My country - - right or wrong! and will call any person who patriots, are overdrawn and overly simple; but I believe they make the . humorous, compassion concerned for constructive ately purposes, possessed of strong but controlled convictions, willing to grant others their own equally strong convictions, determined to preserve the spirited but responsible exchange rational, point How can we help our country solve - her problems - alter her behavior? "The best way out," said Robert Frost, "is always through." We shall not confront ourselves nor solve our problems by rationalizing, by papering over, by putting off until tomorrow, by destructive upheaval, by strong armed suppression, by Utopian dreaming, by dropping out by ridicule and vilification. We must face up to them honestly, we must admit that nobody yet knows how to solve them; we must strive to find solutions (debating vigorously the many sure to be proposed); we must implement the possible solutions (a-- of diverse beliefs taproot of the It is all most demanding and difficult and it requires all the faith we can muster - - in ourselves, in each other , and most of all in God. st Patman ceived by farmers rose 29 points, from 248 in 1965 to 277 in 1969. In the same period the index of prices paid, interest, taxes, and wage rates rose 52 points, from 321 to 373. We will confine our comments cctions of the Economic Report which deal with agricul-th- e ture inflation, (D.) of Texas, chairman of the Farm Bureau members are in- terested in the Economic Report because economic conditions and the economic policies followed by federal government affect farm costs, farm prices, taxes, , Agriculture and the purchasing power of We are disappointed with the farmers dottan as well as the . Economic Reports treatment of employment, income, and pur-- - agriculture. This section of the chasing power of nonfarm people. Report is deficient in that it indi- -. FDR EXAMPLE, the inflation cates a lack of understanding of -- is "Democracy," say Will and Ariel Durant in "The Lessons of History, is the most difficult of all forms of government since it requires the widest spread of intelligence, and we forgot to make oursleves intelligent when we made ourselves sovereign The American Farm Bureau Federation has expressed disappointment with the treatment of agriculture in the President's Economic Report. But the nations largest general farm organization has commended the Report's recognition that inflation is the most important economic problem facing the nation at this time. The FB comments are contained in a statement filed with the Joint Congressional Economic Committee by W. E. Hamilton, of recent yean has contributed to director of AFBFs research divi- - a farm price-cosqueeze by mission. Hamilton's statement was ing farm costs faster than farm filed in response to a request of prices. The index of prices Wright which self-governm- Farm Bureau files comment on U.S. Economic Report of the FB dares to criticize his country disloyal, of not downright treasonous. The extreme of this approach to patriotism is the police state. The second - - Type B - - patriot condemns the society along with its misbehavior. He says, "The whole rotten Establishment has got to go!" and he walks out on the country or tries to overthrow his government The extreme of this approach to patriotism.is anarchy. to the utmost to stay humane - - These types, both of parents and of self-satisfi-ed like that!" But they continue: (p. 77-8- ) "All deductions having been made, democracy has done less harm, and more good, than any other form of government" In order not only to preserve but to strengthen our democracy, we need to be both conservative and liberal On the conservative side, each of us needs to examine the values which are being questioned and challenged in America today. We certainly should not reject them out of hand just because they are being challenged. We must reour goals, examine and our standards, our priorities - - and then must stand stoutly by those which wefind worth preserving. Honte est convictions, stoutly defended, are an essential part of the democratic dialogue. On the liberal side, we must listen to the questions being asked and the demands being made by the restless and the disenchanted - even though they may offend us. It is our children, principally, who are asking Do we always have to have war? Is the accumulation of money and of material possessions the most important goal in life? Is this really the land of the free, or is that the statement of an unrealized ideal rather than of an accomplished fact? Why must the poor be trapped in our decaying inner cities? Does our present educational system equip us for life in the world of the future? Why citizens are black people second-clas- s in this country? Our children are young, idealistic, and inexperienced - - but they see with new, fresh, and critical eyes the world which we take for granted. -- m vitation, as . . . " Let me, who am a liberal, close with a conservative statement for a conservative time, this, again, is from theDurants' "The Lessons of History: So the conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it - - perhaps as much more valuable as roots are more vital than grafts. It is good that new ideas should be heard, for the sake of the few that can be used; but it is also good that new ideas should be compelled to go through the mill of objection, opposition, and contumely; this is the trial heat which innovations must survive before being allowed to enter the human race. It is good that the old should resist the young, and that the young should prod the old; out of this tension . . . comes a creative tensile strength, a stimulated development, a secret and basic unity and movement of the whole." (p.36) Thank you. the urgent need for a fundamental change in the direction of agricultural policy. On page 104 the Economic Report refers to agriculture as an important sector of the economy where regulation has been used in an attempt to make market performance more satisfactory. A more accurate statement would be that agriculture is an outstanding example of an industry where the government has intervened to prevent the market system from functioning. Under past and. present farm programs the federal government has at various times fixed prices by establishing commodity loan rates without regard to the market, restricted acreage on the basis of past history, dumped stocks to hold government-owne- d down prices in years of short crops, subsidized exports, imposed quotas on imports, paid farmers for not producing, and used income payments to offset the adverse effects of government actions on market prices. TOE ECONOMIC REPORT quite property says that "Fortn policies on field crops should give greater emphasis to market forces and thus reduce direct governin the mental participation " It however, fails, marketplace to recognize that government payments interfere with the operation of market forces. On the contrary, it argues that direct income payments, properly applied, offer a more efficient way to support farm income than high price supports." The issue is not direct payment versus high price supports. The issue is: What can and should the government do to improve opportunity for farmers with due consideration for the Interests of consumers and taxpayers?" The disadvantages of high price supports are well known. High price supports encourage excessive production; this leads to surpluses, export subsidies, import controls, acreage restrictions, and a capitalization of program benefits which forces new producers to buy the right to participate in the program. (Continued on page 7) |