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Show 'Utah Representative Should Know Better' ing men who believed in what they were doing to such an extent that they left an indeliable mark on history. his-tory. Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, and Eugene V. Debs are just a few of the countless Americans Ameri-cans who put obedience to some principle above the law, not just in personal ways but in an organized organ-ized and planned disobedience. One of the classic cases in American history of people who engaged in violence for a principle and who fought against the legitimate authority auth-ority is found right here in Utah. Though it happened over a hundred hun-dred years ago, I still find it hard to believe that a representative is so insensitive to the history of his own state. In 1857 the Mormons engaged in guerilla war against an invading army because they wanted - to be left alone. The Army in reality real-ity represented the very same legal authority that Mr. Burton tells us to obey unfailingly. Perhaps the best expression of a revolutionary philosophy is found in our own Declaration of Independence; Inde-pendence; "Whenever any government govern-ment becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of people to alter or abolish it." Though by no means did everyone at that time agree, this philosophy prevailed and I fully believe that it will again today. Richard Sherlock Editor: I would like to take this opportunity oppor-tunity to reply to what I feel is one ef the most bigoted, narrow statements state-ments ever issued by a senator or representative from the state of Utah. I refer to the statement of Laurence Burton in the May 8 Chronicle. Mr. Burton is completely oblivious obliv-ious to even the rudiments of American Am-erican history. Even an elementary study will reveal that this nation does not have a history of obedience obedi-ence to law. It was built by men and women who, when they decided the cause was just, took the law into their own hands. Mr. Burton's lament that we, "have gotten the idea that violence is protest's working work-ing partner" is an unfounded complaint. com-plaint. This notion is as old as the nation itself. What does he think happened during the American revolution? rev-olution? Washington wasn't out for a good time. He was out to systematically system-atically destroy the lawful authority. author-ity. He was not negotiating with the legal authority, that process had already broken down. The point is that the men of the American Revolution would not stand by when the law said no. They went ahead and got results. Without them, Mr. Burton, you might not have a job. The idea expressed by Mr. Burton Bur-ton that the thing to do is "to employ em-ploy physical force in whatever amount necessary" is the same idea expressed by the British in the Revolution. The idea is that revolutions revo-lutions should be suppressed. It isn't that easy, however. Nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come and in many instances in-stances the putting of the idea into practice requires that a revolutionary revolution-ary situation be engendered. The idea of violence is part and parcel of the American spirit. It has been seen at Yorktown, at Chacelors-ville Chacelors-ville and at the pullman factory in Chicago. It has had in its follow |