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Show lllllllllllllll the-I- T ENTERPRISE .'t i '4 ,1 ; These remarks today were presented to a symposium , How Free Politically ?, at the Taft Institute of Government , University of Utah. Contemporary government bureaucracy constitutes the clear and present danger to our political liberty. 2400 years ago, Euripides observed, No man is wholly free. He is a slave to wealth, or to fortune, or the laws, or the people restrain him from acting according to his will alone. There is no need to supplement that evaluation. All freedom is subject to certain governmental and societal limitation. f ; j Americas political ideal never has been one of untrammeled individual discretion. It has been, however, that all inhibitions effectuated shall be in a representative, if not always in an initiative, sense imposed by the electorate. As Chief Justice Marshall wrote in McCulloch V. Maryland, The government of the union is emphatically and truly a government of the people. In form and in substance it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them and for their benefit. iMAfWAUA : prapatic dogmatics i v ; ' 'fir c. KIPS' On this premise of self-- discipline, we once elected officials and, in turn, permitted them to employ servants to help them wield the power we had delegated. If we disapproved of their collective performance, we fired the whole bunch. When President John Quincey Adams and his employees incurred disfavor, our forefathers displaced them with President Andrew Jackson and his agents. The system had a bad name, spoils, but it was respon- Bureaucracy and political liberty by Kent Shearer authoritative article in this months Harpers notes, (Washington) is Paper City, where paper problems are confronted, ultimately being provided with paper solutions. The more of these problems it can lay its hands on, the richer the city gets. Nor does the bureaucratic dead hand infest the central government alone, Whereas federal employment rose but 1.9 percent after 1958, state employment skyrocketed 182 percent in the same period. Here in Utah, where every tax outpaces inflation, we seemingly cannot construct public buildings rapidly enough to accomodate government employees. Our political freedom, then, is in grave peril. We do not control those who control us. Any free choice we retain is at the sufferance of a bureaucracy beyond the control of our franchise so that, in true measure, we have no guaranteed liberty at all. sive. ... Regrettably, Americans allowed themselves to be persuaded that spoils must go. In its stead was installed, and still reigns, a tenured, highly paid civil service which - by its very isolation from popular sentiment - can and does continue on its predetermined course whatever the populace may say and however the populace may vote. Such haughtiness transformed civil servants into bureaucrats. Every President from Eisenhower on has been frustrated by his inability to cause unelected bureaucrats to enunciate and impose administration policies. Presidents come and go, as do Congresses, but the bureaucracy carries on. .'.nd how it carries on! Tom Bethells swot? It Ml W55H-- . WIP fvixs PM T W6 IT -- MR lieKS S0H5RM&)T rUm tr IT but &- os.eomm KIPS THAT Ill&Al PRU& OSpS OP 6R0U) PCRWlAlO' m mOVT RESm 4-- 1 vs 6W6Rtmrr m oewev v tsm so ibe ess PKX BOR w laio. SO (CH75VOR MW CJROP WITH POISOD- - HIGH m BP APmWT Hrn. MKSb! SMC AfOMOJklOSMEUr FRpM W AM00CAO r&cco A PUBLIC IOCDSTRC. Q) 00 0 o o ConRepublicans will have a rare opportunity at their County vention on June 24, to prove themselves a party composed of real people. I have in mind the candidacy of Nicholas G. Morgan III for the office of Sheriff. One of the discouraging things I find with most Republican candidates is that they somehow lack human qualities. The Wilkinsons, Bennetts, Romneys, Hansens, Hatches and countless others on a national, state and local level must always cloak themselves with a sanctimonious aura that also has the effect of removing them from the ken of the common man. That is a major reason, in my mind, why the Democratic Party has filled the role of the party of the masses. The Republicans by contrast, have had difficulty identifying with minorities and working people who do not understand well the language of piety. Nick Morgan is different. A product of one of Utahs more prominent families, which accounts for his being Republican, he has also been able to maintain a touch and awareness with what is going on in the real world with the real people a sheriffs business is concerned with. Those are qualities without which it may be impossible for a chief law enforcement officer to t 'A co-own- f ) ! t. '1 i i i V4 : f'i. : function adequately. My acquaintance with Morgan goes back many years. My early exposure to the name was as a baseball fan of the old Salt Lake Bees, by Nick Morgan Jr. Nick Morgan III was but a young man then, shagging balls in the outfield. He has not lost touch with athletics, either as a participant or fan, and can still be found at Salt Palace sporting events or chucking a game of slow pitch in the county leagues. Such interests are not How about a sheriff who is human? ed unimportant for they form a common bond or bridge with the troubled youngsters a Sheriff must deal with. Nick, moreover, is qualified by his experience in formal police work. He has served in virtually every division of the department and has risen through the ranks to the office of Captain. The taverns of the County, one of his current responsibilities, have been policed evenhandedly and are not a source of problems. He has pursued the formal study of law to make himself a better deputy, and is now just a few hours short of a law degree. It would be difficult to find a more qualified person, or those all from the standpoint of training, experience important human qualities. There is another, very special and personal reason why I speak out for Nick Morgan. Readers of this column likely will not recall that a number of years ago it was Deputy Nick Morgan who almost single handedly broke up the efforts of two proven underworld agents to execute contracts on two local attorneys. It takes good police work to cope with that kind of organized threat to law and order. Morgans efforts led to arrests and convictions which marked Utah as a poor place for Godfather techniques. I know the incident well, as one of the victims. The office of Sheriff is an important one what touches the lives of common people as much as any other. Morgan has already paid his dues by helping make this the class community that it is. I do not mean to renounce support for the Democratic candidate, who is' also well qualified, but it would be a mistake if Republicans failed to recognize the opportunity they have to nominate one with Nicks qualities, who could humanize a party in bad need of such qualities. |