Show t Republican Party Is s Challenged i For Its Failure Fail re to Take a Stand The Republican party is doing a good deal of soul searching as an aftermath i l of the jolting defeat of its sure thing candidate by Harry Truman i Party readers leaders are busy trying to toI I analyze the returns and decide what I went ent wrong They are attempting to tomake tomake make up their minds where the party stands or should stand In a speech the other day Senator Taft said Republican defeats were due duer r primarily to the party's failure in presenting its principles to the people I He called for a reassertion of Republican can can belief in its conservative philosophy and called on th the p party to dedicate itI itself itself it- it I I self again to the principles for which it was founded Basically Senator Taft said the principle principle principle prin prin- ciple is firm faith in human liberty which means opposition to the totalitarian totalitarian totalitarian creed which dominates today the philosophy of the C CIO I 0 and andI I therefore of the Democratic party He said if this totalitarian creed prevails it must ultimately destroy liberty I here at home He warned of the chokI choking choking chok chok- I ing effect of an excessive tax burden I i on productive activity and said Nothing Nothing Nothing Noth ing can so quickly kill the incentive and the production of the people as to encourage encourage encourage en en- courage them to look to government as their benefactor and supporter An even more direct challenge to the Republican party was issued by the Omaha World Herald in an editorial titled God Hates a Coward which appeared in that newspaper during the i recent meeting of the G GOP 0 P national c committee in that city cily I The World Herald noted what it termed the swift trend toward the omnipotent state sweeping over the world It saw that trend evidenced in America Government in this country today it said is using the power to tax to destroy the peoples people's independence ence once and self It is converting free men into vassals and dependents It is devouring devouring- the substance of self- self supporting people to render them self- self supporting no longer and to establish a condition of of universal reliance upon the biased paternalism of a Great White Father Father Father-a a Father corrupted and corrupting corrupting corrupting cor cor- since great power does corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely The editorial then assailed the Republican Republican Republican Re Re- publican party for not daring to resist this tide through cowardice cowardice of of adopting adopting adopting adopt adopt- adopt ing a me too policy of simply promising promising promising prom prom- ising if to do the same things as the Democrats only somehow better Finally the World-Herald World concluded with this challenge The Republican party can keep on crawling along the dusty trail of an order it abhors but shrinks from challenging Or it can rise out of the dust of four merited defeats defeats defeats de de- de- de feats stand erect and unafraid proudly to take up the battle for all that free freemen men prize Whether we believe the Democratic party today is following a policy which leads to totalitarianism or paternalism it is unfortunately true that the Republican Republican Republican lican party in recent years has failed to take take a stand which adequately handles the the issue which the people find in their hearts the hearts the little matter of personal se se- se- se |