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Show f 1 ' : The Paper That Dares To Take FREE CHINA IS POS- A r Stand r I . , September 23, 1976 The Utah Independent Page 5 PRES. EZRA TAFT BENSON Continued from page SPEAKS looting of rifles and grain stores by small handful of persons AT FREEMAN INSTITUTE Paoting (Ching Yuan region)." SIBLE 1 in The 5 April violent demonstration also caused Mao to appoint acting Premier, Hua Kuo-Fen- g, the Minister of Chinese Security (Secret police), as full Premier, according to Father de Jaegher. This appointment figures in the second possibility being forecast for China that Hua Feng will take over as Maos successor and follow his present policies. In addition to being Premier, Father de Jaegher points out, Hua Kuo-Fen- g is now the first vice- - Chairman of the Chinese Communist partys Central Committee, member of the partys Central Politbureau, and head of the State Council. The Minister of Public Security since January, 1975 Hua Kuo-Fen- g was selected by Mao to be his eyes and oppose all those who would try to build up a new China without Maos ideas after his death. Even with all these party positions, according to Father de Jaegher, it is not certain that Hua Kuo-Fen- g will be able to retain his become Maos succesand power sor for any length of time." MILITARY TAKE-OVE- R Father de Jaegher believes that some military leaders of Red China could take over and lead the mainland to a situation of greater Former Secretary of Agrigulture Ezra Taft Benson said that fiscal irresleads to a loss of self ponsibility Benson, who is government. Saturday currently President of the Council of Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Da- y Saints, spoke at the opening of the national headquarters of the Freemen Institute in Provo, Utah. TAXES Benson said a recent Ford Motor study concluded that there are more people being supported by taxes in the United States than there are people working in the private sector of the economy to pay the taxes. Benson said, almost one-thiof the average income goes for taxes for the operation of government at. one level or another. Put another way, you now work from January 1 to April 28 to pay for your federal, state, and local taxes. rd NEW YORK CITY Benson pointed to the fiscal irresponsibility that brought. on New York Citys financial crisis. The lesson of New York City should tell us that this same thing can happen here to us now. New York City is no longer governed by its elected officials. It is governed by a committee of and freedom eventual overseers appointed by the State of collaboration with the Republic of New York. New York City has Free China." lost its freedom. When Another possibility is that partially will we learn the lesson that fiscal Communist China would return to irresponsibility leads to a loss of its former friendship with Russia. Benson said. This would be very difficult, in the Asian experts opinion, because the POPULARITY VS. PRINCIPLE Soviet Union and mainland China Benson said elected officials are not natural allies and never will are facing a crisis of popularity vs. be. principle. The Chinese people have Men are often asked to always had a great distrust of the express an opinion on a myriad of Soviets, especially since World government proposals and proWar II, and because of the excesses jects. All too often, answers seem of the Soviet armies under Marshal to be based not upon solid prinMalinevski in northeast China, ciples, but upon the popularity of especially the Manchurian region," the specific government program concludes Father de Jaegher. in question. Seldom are men The possibility of Soviet to willing oppose a popular military intervention in China to program especially if they seek establish a friendly government or public office. Such an approach to for the takeover of that countrys vital political questions of the day atomic installations was not discan only lead to public confusion cussed in the de Jaegher paper. arid legislative chaos," Benson said. Lv7!lLWJYSILVER Benson continued by saying Y 1 Bars and Medallions that government officials are I TOP MARKET PRICES bound by the Constitution not to Continental Trading I exercise powers they do not 227 West 600 South 84101 1 possess. Salt Lake City. Utah 1 Phone (801)531-645- 7 The Constitution of the United States, an inspired document, is a solemn agreement between the citizens of this nation that every officer of government is PROFITABLE under a sacred duty to obey. The Constitution provides the great bulk of the legitimate activities of You is our business. government are to be carried out at it make to yours. the state or local level. This is the ought only way in which the principle of can be made effecWILLIAMS T. JOHN tive," Benson said. Benson said that human rights Advertising Manager THE UTAH do not come from government. If INDEPENDENT Americans should ever come to believe that their rights and freedoms are instituted by Avenue Oakland 57 East politicians and bureaucrats, then 84115 Utah Lake Salt City, they will no longer carry the proud 466-19Phone (801) inheritance oftheir forefathers, but will grovel before their masters . i o ADVERTISING O self-governm-ent O 13 seeking favors and dispensations, a throwback to the feudal system of the Dark Ages," Benson said. THE PROPER ROLE OF GOVERNMENT According to Benson, the role of government does not extend to social programs that redistribute wealth. He said that if government endorses such programs, Each class or special interest group competes with the others to throw the lever of governmental power in its favor, or at least immunize itself against the effects of a previous thrust. Labor gets a minimum wage. Agriculture gets a price support. Some consumers demand price controls. In the end, no one is much further ahead, and everyone suffers the burdens of a gigantic bureaucracy and a loss of personal freedom. Prosperity cannot be guaranteed by government, Benson said. He contrasted American free enterprise with governmental attempts in Russia to guarantee wealth, concluding, Why then, do Americans bake more bread, manufacture more shoes, and assemble more TV sets than Russians do? They do so precisely because our government does not guarantee these things. If it did, there- - would be so many actaxes, controls, companying regulations, and political manipulations that the productive genius that is Americas would soon be reduced to the floundering level of waste and inefficiency now found behind the Iron Curtain. TETQN DAM DISASTER Benson lauded victims of the recent Teton Dam disaster in Eastern Idaho for their faith and courage. Government officials, veterans to the secenes of national disasters, were amazed at the reactions of these people to this seeming tragedy. Though victims of this property loss, they are not victims of despair, despondency, and defeat. They collectively met in their Church meetings and thanked God for their lives, then they organized themselves and rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Even though welfare assistance' and government food stamps were made available, these victims, by and large, chose, the Because of route of this they will emerge from this catastrophe stronger and more faithful, Benson said. self-relian- ce. A SPIRITUAL CRISIS Benson concluded by saying that Americans face a spiritual crisis. Today we face a crisis situation in our beloved Republic: There is, first of all, a spiritual crisis among our people. In our quest for material things, we have forgotten God. There is a crisis for competent, honest, and moral leadership in government at all levels. There is an economic and political crisis, where our basic freedoms stand in jeopardy because of a departure from fundamental principles. We must return to these basic principles if our free Republic is to survive," Benson said. THE PARDON ISSUE Bv Washington: Paul Scott Former Treasury Secretary John Connally is urging President Ford to take the offensive on the controversial issue of his granting a pardon to former ' President Nixon. If the Democrats led mainly by Vice Presidential nominee Walter Mondale continue to raise the pardon issue". Con- nally has advised the President he shculd counter-attac- k by playing Texas former the what up Governor terms the blanket that Congress granted itself pardon at the height pf its own Watergate . so-call- ed inquiries. What Connally is referring to was the passage in 1974 of legislation changing the statute of from five years to three covering violations of federal campaign and election laws. The change was extremely im- portant since it has effectively outlawed any Justice Department prosecutions of members of who illegally and Congress, accepted campaign con- tributions from corporations or labor unions before 1973. At the time of the Watergate inquiries both in Congress and the Justice Department, a number of illegal campaign contribution cases involving the lawmakers under investigation by .the Special - Prosecutors involved instances that took place in the late 1960s and early 1 970s. While Justice Department at- tprneys have never publicly es- tima ted how many possible actions were wiped out by the change in the law, government insiders say privately that the number was over 20 and might have gone to more than double that total. In discussing the pardon issue" with members of President Fords campaign ad- visers, Connally outlined the vulnerability of the Democrats as so-call- ed follows: Id like to have a tape of the American people dont know this. and its one of the rankest actions that a Congress has taken in my lifetime, You gentlemen should be urging the President, as I have done, to take the offensive on this issue if the Democrats continue to raise it. The President can do this by playing up this blanket pardon that Congress has granted itself." THE COMING DEBATES In case either Democratic Presidential Nominee Jimmy Carter or his running-mat- e, Senator Mondale, raises the issue in the coming nationally televised debates, Connally has prepared a memorandum for the President and Senator Dole outlining the rs tion taken by the Democratic trolled Congress and how it should be used. Connally takes the position that it isnt good politics for the President just to defend the pardon to the former President but he should focus attention on the tion of Congress to take the spotlight off his own. NOTE: When it comes to the White House tapes, Connally still con-yea- hasnt He changed his mind. vigorously defends his recommen-th- e dation to former President Nixon that he should have destroyed those tapes of his conversations with aides once their existence had become publicly known, THE MAIL BAG Nguyen Chi Thank, of the Foreign Affairs Department of Free Vietnam forces, writes from Paris that we believe we have won the battle to keep the Danish government from sending 200 South Vietnamese Still orphans back to Saigon. undecided is whether the orphans will be permitted to come to France or the U.S. Father Robert P. Huff , director of Boys Town, Omaha, Nebr., has offered to help in the housing and care of the orphans.:..Following a trip to Rhodesia, Dick M. Brink of Hong Kong reports: I have just returned from Rhodesia three days ago and even though it would be foolish to say that all is peace and quiet, it is much safer to walk by night in Salisbury or Bulawayo than it is to walk in New York or any other jor city in America. There are about 250,000 whites in Rhodesia (latest estimate is 267,000), and 125,000 are women. That leaves 125,000 of which 60,000 arc children and babies, and 25,000 old and infirm. This leaves 40,000 able-bodimen. Does anyone really believe, that 5 million blacks if they wanted to could not eliminate the 40,000, even without arms?.. .The truth is, the majority of Rhodesian blacks are in proceedings congressional which Congress granted itself a pardon. And thats precisely what they did. And Im amused by Senator Mondale talking about President Ford and the pardon he gave to President Nixon when the truth of the matter is Senator Mon- voted to pardon himself and all his colleagues, because they, at the time when they were under pressure, when the prosecutor really should have turned to make it anything like a judicial proceeding, at the time, the prosecutor should have turned to the Democrats, the Democrats in Congress changed the statute of limitations from five to three years so that the prosecutor would be precluded from dealing with them on the basis that whatever they content with the present might have done was not barred by government and the progress it is the statute of limitations. And the making.... ma-da- le ed -- - one who loves and is willing to A Patriot die for his country." -- Clark Williams |