Show THE ani PRICE E or OF LIBERTY A snort time ago joseph stalin dictator of communist russia RL issia was wab le elected to lo his seat on the moslow municipal soviet his majority was exactly per cent every vote vole was cast for or him according to the press dispatch h telling of this it was obvious that the most strenuous methods were used by officials to get out the largest possible vote those who have watched the technique 0 of f dictatorship c can a n judge ft what those methods were you support the man in the saddle or else and this little event while it make the headlines is a biting commentary on what happens when the pope people surrender their rights and liberties to ironclad iron clad political rule no one attempts to win over the opposition by argument as in a democratic nation after all machine guns exile and brutal persecution are temporarily more effective instruments for keeping in power the man who raises his voice in dissent gets short shrift indeed here in america we pride ourselves on the fact that we may still speak our minds that no man is master of our destinies that the forces of dictatorship have been kept firmly in leash but pride it in this is not enough it cannot too often be repeated that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance at home we can unconsciously surrender rights until the day we awake to realize too late that liberty is gone america watches events abroad with wonder and horror let america also learn from them |