A Race Against Time
Ezra Taft Benson
BYU Devotional
December 10, 1963
To address you this morning is a signal honor, a very great pleasure and a challenging responsibility. My gratitude for this opportunity is increased by the realization that it may be several months-possibly years-before I come to this campus again.
I am grateful for the call which has come to me to again preside over the European Mission, even though I leave my beloved country this time with greater anxiety for its future than ever before.
Because of the nature of the message I bring to you, I have committed most of it to writing. I shall speak to you frankly and honestly. Some of you may not agree fully with everything I say. Thank God in this blessed land we can still speak our convictions without fear. I have been in nations where this blessed privilege is no longer enjoyed.
What I shall say are my personal convictions borne out of an active life which has taken me into forty-five nations and brought me close to the insidious forces which would destroy our way of life in this choice land. I express these convictions and warnings today because of my love for you, the true Church of Christ, and our beloved country.
I am not here to tickle your ears-to entertain you. I will talk to you as one who loves this great nation. The message I bring is not a happy one but it is the truth, and time is always on the side of truth. "Truth must be repeated again and again because error is constantly being preached round about." (Goethe, 1749-1832, quoted in The Freeman, July, 1958.)
This morning I will dispense with the usual amusing story so often told at the beginning of a speech. I do this because time is so rapidly running out that I feel I must have your ears during every moment of the time allotted to me. I do not mean that the hour is late today. I do mean that the hour is very late indeed, on the time table of national survival. As Ernst Tillich stated in his testimony as an expert witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities several years ago: "On the clock of survival the time is now five minutes before midnight. We have but this brief interval to choose between survival or extinction."
The events which have taken place since Mr. Tillich testified have fully supported this grave warning. We have been plunging headlong down the primrose path toward the inevitable destruction of our great country. It is quite true that while the Socialist Communist Conspiracy, of itself, does not have, as yet, the power necessary to do the job, it is nevertheless receiving vital aid and comfort from the Fabian Socialists, fellow travelers, dupes and liberals, to such a degree that the communists are jubilant at the course of events.
In less than half a century this evil system has gained control over one-third of mankind, and it is steadily pursuing its vicious goal of control over all the rest of the world. Since World War II people have been brought under the communist yoke at the rate of more that 6,000 per hour, 144,000 per day, 52,000,000 per year. Truly the Fabian Socialists in this country are rolling out the red carpet, which will, without a doubt, unless we arouse ourselves, eventually result in a complete Communist take-over of America. This is their hope, their plan and their bold prediction.
This is not to say that all those lending their support to the Fabian Socialist camp are consciously helping the Communists. Undoubtedly there are many well-meaning people who have been misled or confused. However, it makes little difference who pulls the trigger of a gun aimed at your heart. The end result is the same.
There are real dangers ahead. Why do I have anxiety and fear for the future?
I fear for the future when I realize that for some thirty years our once-free institutions, political, economic, educational and social, have been drifting into the hands of those who favor the Welfare State, and who would "centralize all power in the hands of the political apparatus in Washington. This enhancement of political power at the expense of individual rights, so often disguised as 'democracy' or 'freedom' or 'civil rights,' is 'socialism,' no matter what name tag it bears.
"Here we should recall the warning of the late Dean Inge: 'History seems to show that the powers of evil have won their greatest triumphs by capturing the organizations which were formed to defeat them, and that when the devil has thus changed the contents of the bottles, he never alters the labels. The fort may have been captured by the enemy, but it still flies the flag of its defenders.'" (Admiral Ben Moreell, November 22, 1963.)
I fear for the future when the Central Government now owns more than one-third of the total land area within the boundaries of the fifty states.
I fear for the future when the Central Government owns and operates more than 3,000 businesses and commercial activities in competition with its own private tax-paying citizens.
I fear for the future when I realize that the functions of the Federal Government are carried on by some 2,000 major operating units.
I fear for the future when the Federal Government directly lends $1 for every $5 loaned by private banks and that much of the federal funds loaned are at rates below the cost of the money to the government.
I fear for the future when in 1913-15 a couple making $10,000, paid in federal taxes $60, but in 1956 a couple earning $10,000 paid $1,590 in federal income tax.
I fear for the future when I realize that twenty-five years ago the Federal Government received one-fourth of all taxes collected in the United States. Today the Federal Government collects not one-quarter but 68 per cent of all our taxes.
I fear for the future when foreign governments have used and are using American tax money to pay for socialism.
I fear for the future because twenty-five years ago all taxes, federal, state and local, took 14 per cent of our national income. Today taxes take 35 per cent.
I fear for the future when I see our federal debt soar well above 300 billion dollars-over $7,000 per family of four-sixteen times the combined debt of the fifty states and at the same time see no evidence that this dangerous trend will be curtailed.
I fear for the future when I see an affluent but complacent citizenry paying little or no attention to these and many other socialistic trends in America.
Dr. V. Orval Watts, noted political economist, has described this socialist system which I fear-and I have but suggested a very few evidences. Here are his words:
"Socialism... is the theory and practice of coercive collectivism. It is the evil fruit of greed for other men's possessions and greed for control over other men's labor.
"This greed for goods and power is as old as man and as widespread as the human race. It goes by many names, disguised in many forms, as men think up many excuses for robbing and ruling their fellows.
"Socialist theory is a modern excuse, an elaborate rationalization for this greed and for the organized looting and despotism it seeks to achieve. But its materialism, its collectivist point of view, its reliance on violence and coercion, even most of its economics, are as old and as common as sin.
"It holds out to men the hope that they may reap where they have not sown. It teaches that man is the creature of his environment, and that he may be happy and good if he gets enough wealth, regardless of how or where. All that is needed, says the Socialist Tempter, is to bow down and worship the Socialist State, turning over to it authority and power to take wealth where it finds it and to direct labor as it wills. Just a little class hatred, a little lying propaganda, a little violence on the picket lines, a little suppression of adverse critics, and a few generations of compulsory education in Socialistic thought, then surely we shall see the bright new day of equality, peace, brotherhood, and freedom! So says the Socialist."
In 1878, the great Southern statesman, Benjamin Hill of Georgia, warned us of these dangers on the floor of the United States Senate, in these prophetic words:
"I dread nothing so much as the exercise of ungranted and doubtful powers by this Government. It is, in my opinion, the danger of dangers to the future of this country. Let us be sure that we keep it always within its limits.
"If this great, ambitious, ever-growing corporation becomes aggressive, who shall check it? If it becomes wayward, who shall control it? If it becomes unjust, who shall trust it? As sentinels of the country's watchtower, I beseech you to watch and guard with sleepless dread that corporation which can make all property and rights, all states and people, and all liberty and hope, its playthings in an hour, and its victims forever."
Admiral Ben Moreell, who has spoken here, has wisely declared:
"We do not place our trust in government mechanisms, formulas, affirmations or men. Our faith is in God and in the capacity of free men and women to govern themselves. There is a proper function for government in a free society. But that function does not include the power to order citizens how to live their lives. Our government was not designed to administer the affairs of men; it was devised to administer justice among men, who would administer their own affairs."
That great and wise American, Thomas Jefferson, warned us of the danger of conferring unwarranted power upon our government administrators in these sobering words:
"It would be a dangerous delusion, were a confidence in the men of our choice, to silence our fears for the safety of our rights. Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism. Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence. It is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power; our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go... In questions of power, then, let not more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."
We are now-this very day-at war with the Socialist-Communist Conspiracy. This is a point that a lot of people do not seem to realize. They think that just because we are not shooting at each other with bullets that it isn't a real war. But, we are really at war and we must win this war if we expect to survive as a free people. The following quotations by J. Edgar Hoover point this out clearly:
"We are at war with the communists and the sooner every red-blooded American realizes this the safer we will be. . . . We are living in an age of uncertainty-an age of awesome national peril-an age when the struggle between freedom and totalitarian enslavement is drawing toward a climax." (J. Edgar Hoover, Address, December 7, 1961.)
"The Communist Party, USA, has been and is engaged in an all-out war against American freedom. Its tactics of confusion, retreat, advance, infiltration, and hypocrisy are in full play. The attack is both legal and illegal, offensive and defensive, open and concealed.
"Above the surface a gigantic propaganda and agitation campaign is in progress, a campaign that depends for success upon the support of non-communists." (Hoover, Masters of Deceit, p. 195.)
"Communists are committed to the destruction of our way of life and dedicated to the establishment of a world Communist society. This conflict with communism is not a struggle of our choosing. But, even though we did not start it, we cannot ignore it. We must win the struggle if freedom is to survive." (Hoover, A Study of Communism, p. 18.)
Yes, "We are at war with this sinister conspiracy! Every communist today must be considered an enemy, wherever he may be, at home or abroad! A 'soft' approach toward the menace of communism can lead only to national disaster! . . ."
The communists are winning the war and building their empire largely with the help of non-communists-fellow travelers, sympathizers, dupes, liberals, etc.
Some people foolishly believe that the communists are changing, that they are "mellowing." This is not true.
"Today's headlines," says Hoover, "remind us there has been no basic change in Communist imperialism. The danger which world communism presents to the free nations has not abated. If anything, it has increased." (Hoover, A Study of Communism, Foreword.)
"In our quest for peace, we must never lose sight of the well-documented fact that every Red leader from Marx and Engels through Khrushchev, Mao and the American communist spokesman Gus Hall is dedicated to an ideology which upholds world conquest as its ultimate goal.
"The communists have never deviated from this objective." (Hoover, Address, November 16, 1963.)
The intellectuals, liberals and dupes are so obsessed with the idea of "academic freedom" that they encourage the use of communist speakers in our colleges, at youth conventions and even high schools. This is perversion of the true meaning of academic freedom.
Again J. Edgar Hoover warns us and expresses his fear in these words:
"I do fear so long as school boards and parents tolerate conditions whereby communists and fellow travelers under the guise of academic freedom can teach our youth a way of life that eventually will destroy the sanctity of the home, that undermines faith in God, that causes them to scorn respect for constituted authority and sabotage our revered Constitution." (Hoover, Menace of Communism, p. 11.)
"Today, the communists are engaged in an intensive campaign to control the minds and win the allegiance of American youth. . . . During the past two years, communist spokesmen have appeared on nearly 100 campuses from coast to coast. Their purpose: To create confusion, raise questions and spread doubt among our young people concerning the American way of life. . . . "They are setting a trap for the nation's youth.
In a masterful address, "Keys to Freedom," before the Catholic Youth Organization last month, J. Edgar Hoover issued shocking and timely warnings to complacent Americans.
"Today," he declared, "the communists are engaged in an intensive campaign to control the minds and win the allegiance of American youth. Toward this end, a National Youth Commission has been established within the Communist Party, USA; special publications have been issued; front groups have been organized; and an ambitious speech program has been directed against our colleges and universities.
"It is indeed ironic that Communist Party speakers-whose minds and thoughts and actions are in no manner free-should demand the opportunity to parrot the Moscow line to young Americans under the guise of academic freedom!
"Academic freedom is not an instrument for the perpetuation of conspiratorial ideologies. Nor is it an agent of self-destruction-a freedom to destroy freedom. As a free-flowing channel of truth and knowledge, academic freedom is not obligated to carry along the silted tributaries of lies and distortions of known communists.
"The communists look upon students as potential sympathizers, supporters and contributors to the Party's cause. Nor are they unmindful of the rich opportunity for infiltration presented by unwary racial and nationality groups.
"This is especially true of the intense civil rights movement within the United States-for America's 20 million Negroes and the countless other citizens who share their objectives in the current struggle are a priority target for communist propaganda and exploitation. Every organization engaged in this struggle must constantly remain alert to this vital fact, for, once under communist domination, all freedoms and rights are lost."
One of the dangerous present-day fallacies is the idea that we can continue with a policy of "Peaceful Coexistence."
Here again Hoover warns us as follows:
"Key to the new Soviet strategy is the so-called 'peaceful coexistence' policy. It is a broad, psychological tactic cleverly devised by Khrushchev to serve a number of objectives. It is another powerful weapon in the Communist arsenal of deception, a weapon concealed behind an alluring campaign designed to provide a cover for the goal of attaining a world-wide communist society through revolutionary means.
"Through the weapon of peaceful coexistence, Soviet Communists are seeking to lull the free world-particularly the United States-into a false sense of security. It is a means of means of buying time through which they can consolidate past gains while probing for soft spots in the non-Communist world which present opportunities for future expansion." (Hoover, A Study of Communism, p. 149.)
More is needed than merely to say that we oppose communism. We must aggressively take action to defeat it:
"It is the duty of all Americans to fully understand the true import of this threat to our heritage, to expose it, and to combat it with every weapon at our command." (Hoover, Communist Target-Youth, p. 11.)
"It is not enough to be against communism. We must shed our complacency and aggressively meet this challenge." (Hoover, Address, February 22, 1962.)
As the Ward Teaching Message, July, 1961, stated:
"It is the duty of freedom loving people to oppose and resist this evil with all the strength God has given us. If we do not, we stand to lose all we and our forebears have gained through the centuries."
What is needed is more patriotism-more real "super patriots" if you will.
"A free society," says Hoover, "depends for its vitality and strength upon the vigor and patriotism of its individual citizens." (Hoover, A Study of Communism, Foreword.)
"Today, perhaps as never before, America has need for doers of extraordinary deeds, men and women with the moral strength and courage of our forefathers. The smoldering embers of patriotism should be fanned into a flaming spirit of loyalty so that the whole world will know Americans will stand, fight, and die for the dignity of man." (F.B.I., Law Enforcement Bulletin, July, 1962.)
The real threat is here at home.
The seriousness of the insidious "internal" threat cannot be over-emphasized.
Again Mr. Hoover warns:
"The communist threat from without must not blind us to the communist threat from within. The latter is reaching into the very heart of America through its espionage agents and a cunning, defiant, and lawless Communist Party, which is fanatically dedicated to the Marxist cause of world enslavement and destruction of the foundations of our Republic.
"The Communist Party in this country has attempted to infiltrate and subvert every segment of our society." (Hoover, Address, December 7, 1961.)
Unjust criticism of the anti-communists/anti-socialists helps the Conspiracy and is dangerous to our future.
In April, 1962, President David O. McKay, in his closing remarks at General Conference, quoted J. Edgar Hoover as follows:
"There is no place here in America for part-time patriots. This nation is face to face with the greatest danger ever to confront it, a sinister and deadly conspiracy which can be conquered only by an alert, informed citizenry. It is indeed appalling that some members of our society continue to deplore and criticize those who stress the communist danger. Public indifference to this threat is tantamount to national suicide. Lethargy leads only to disaster." (F.B.I., Law Enforcement Bulletin, March, 1960.)
Yes, J. Edgar Hoover, probably the best informed man in America on the threatening Conspiracy, has repeatedly warned us that the gravest danger we face today comes from the Socialist-Communist Conspiracy-and from within.
Many people cannot see how this statement by Mr. Hoover can be true, since there are supposedly only about 10,000 or so Party members in this country. Those who doubt Mr. Hoover overlook the fact that for every member of the Communist Conspiracy there are at least ten others willing and eager to do their bidding. In addition to this, the Communists and their fellow travelers move toward key positions by which they can influence many others, just as iron filings move toward a magnet. Also, the Communists, at this stage, do not themselves intend to do much of the actual close-in fighting. Instead, they make use of non-Communists to serve their purposes. Their method of operation is to confuse the issues, divide one group against the other, and thus to conquer.
The Communist method of confusing the issues is to use pseudo-idealistic and pseudo-moral words and phrases in order to trap the unwary into following their designs. The fisherman knows that he cannot entice a fish to bite upon a raw, steel hook, so he dresses it up with a nice, juicy worm and the poor fish bites. In the same way, the pseudo-moral and pseudo-idealistic expressions trap many innocents so that they will follow out the aims of the Communist Conspirators, for example, the false appeals made by the Communists in the name of "peace" and the "brotherhood of man." They know full well that Communism has nothing in common with these expressions as we understand them. Yet, they deliberately misuse them in order to deceive.
This has been the means by which the Communists, throughout the world, have been able to set class against class, religion against religion, race against race and group against group. The Conspiracy so enflames people against one another that they fight among themselves and thus bring about mutual destruction. The Communists then come in and take over.
The present strength of the Communist Conspiracy by itself would be insufficient to accomplish their aims in this country. However, they are being given a tremendous push and able assistance by the Fabian Socialists, their fellow travelers, dupes, liberals, etc. The name, Fabian, is derived from that of a Roman general who always avoided clear-cut contact with the enemy. Instead, he would whittle down the antagonist little by little, until the latter was so weakened that he would succumb.
The communists are eager to capitalize upon all areas of misunderstanding and unrest. Their cause is the cause of Soviet Russia, for the Communist Party, USA, is an inseparable part of the sinister international conspiracy which is financed and directed by the Kremlin. No amount of lies and duplicity can conceal this carefully documented fact.
If you want the terrifying facts about the Communist use of the Negroes, I recommend Manning Johnson's book, Color, Communism and Common Sense, a reprint by American Opinion Magazine (Belmont 78, Massachusetts). The author, a Negro, was a Communist for ten years and served on the National Committee for the Communist Party here in America and assisted in planning the Conspiracy against his own race.
Let me pause a moment to point out some Pro-communist propaganda which has been widely circulated. It is frequently stated that Communism is on the extreme left and Fascism is on the extreme right. This is absolutely false. It is true that Communism is on the extreme left, but Nazism and Fascism are so closely allied with Communism that J. Edgar Hoover has called Communism, Red Fascism and Nazism, Black Fascism. They are all forms of Socialism. And, as has been pointed out by well-informed people in the West, they are all forms of "GOVERNMENTISM" where the government becomes lord and master and we become serfs and slaves.
The extreme right wing is composed of the anarchists who believe that people are so good at heart that no government at all is needed. Our forefathers knew that, while most people try to do the right thing, there are a few who run amuck. They, therefore, established our great constitutional Republic-a government of limited powers. They believed that we must have some government but it must be bound down by the chains of our Constitution, so that it will not slip farther and farther over into the realm of "GOVERNMENTISM" whether it be Communism, Nazism, Fascism, Welfare-Statism or some other form of Socialism.
Please note the words of George Washington, who stated:
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master!" And, at a later date, Woodrow Wilson said that "the history of liberty is the history of limitations of government power, not the increase of it." And at a still later day, that great spiritual leader and patriot, President David O. McKay, said this: "During the first half of the twentieth century we have traveled far into the soul-destroying land of socialism." (Deseret News Church News Section, March 14, 1953.)
Now I want to point out just a few of the ways in which America is tripping down the primrose path. Anyone who is interested and who would care to make a careful study of the subject, will be both amazed and shocked at the progress made by the Marxian Socialists. Their tremendous influence and power can be grasped if we will read the carefully documented book by Dan Smoot, a former F.B.I. administrative supervisor and assistant to J. Edgar Hoover, entitled The Invisible Government. This book shows how the Fabians, operating through many influential organizations, have reached out their tentacles and are throttling free enterprise at the same time they are pyramiding and concentrating immense power in the Federal Government. In this way the advance of Communism is being comforted, aided and abetted by those who are not members of the Communist Conspiracy but who adhere to the same principles.
Dr. Carew Hunt, a world-wide authority on communist strategy, states: "Yet, where the ends they seek are concerned, Socialism and Communism are virtually interchangeable terms, as anyone who consults the 'Oxford English Dictionary' or any standard textbook will discover... Indeed, Lenin's party continued to call itself 'Social Democrat' until the seventh Party Congress of March, 1918, when it substituted the term 'Bolshevik' as a protest against the non-revolutionary attitude of the socialist parties of the West."
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., expressed his conviction on this point in these significant words:
"The paths we are following, if we move forward thereon will inevitably lead us to Socialism or Communism, and these two are as like as two peas in a pod in their ultimate effect upon our liberties.
"And never forget for one moment that Communism and Socialism are state slavery. World conquest has been, is now, and ever will be its ultimate goal."
The communists and fellow travelers have never deviated from this objective. Despite the high-pressure campaign they have insidiously directed behind Khrushchev's phrase of "peaceful coexistence," the communists know that this is simply a propaganda slogan. It is devised to further their own ends by stirring the hopes and emotions of those who seek an end to the turmoil, fear and sorrow that world communism itself created.
Actions continue to speak louder than words, and certainly the communists have shown no indication of a sincere quest for peace. Here are a few examples. There are many.
The take-over of Cuba and the establishment of a Communist base and island fortress in America; the ever-constant infiltration of Red Fascists into countries of Central and South America to create a Sovietized Latin America; the increase of espionage activities by Soviet and satellite agents in our country, particularly those who strive to penetrate our government processes from the protection afforded them by diplomatic assignments in New York in the United Nations and in Washington; the frantic efforts of the Communist Party, USA, to subvert our youth; and the intense drive of the Communists operating from concealed positions to wrest control of the movement for Negro rights-does all this indicate a real and sincere desire to live in "peaceful coexistence"?
To the Socialist-Communist Conspiracy there is no such thing as "peaceful coexistence" except as a tool for further conquest. Their stated objective is to "bury" us.
Since about the time of Woodrow Wilson, Fabian Socialists have been able to cuddle close to key people in our government and those who exercise influence. I will not take the time to trace their activities through the various administrations since Wilson's time. I will be content to give you two or three examples approximating that of the Fabian Socialists.
It may shock you to learn that the first communist cell in government, so far as we know, was organized in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1930's. John Abt was there. It was John Abt whom Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy, requested for his attorney. Harry Dexter White was there. Lee Pressman was there. And Alger Hiss, who was advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Yalta and Tehran and who was the principal architect and first Secretary General of the United Nations organizing meetings was there also.
Today, Walt Whitman Rostow, who is the chief planner for the State Department, has expressed a dangerous point of view somewhat like this: We must do everything in our power to avoid irritating and antagonizing the Communists. They are, after all, merely rough and crude Socialists and we must avoid doing anything that would escalate into a war. In fact, what we should do is to help them to develop so that they will mature and outgrow their violent impulses. In this way the Communists will move somewhat over in our direction. At the same time we must move our country over toward the left with more and more socialism until, ultimately, the two will merge. Each country will then give up its armaments and armed forces and place them in the hands of a One-World Government. (See the book, A Proposal: Key to an Effective Foreign Policy, by Wait W. Rostow and Max F. Millikan, Harper, New York, 1957. An outgrowth of the Dartmouth Conference in the fall of 1960 and the Crimea Conference of May, 1961, was the pamphlet, Freedom from War, the United States Program for General and Complete Disarmament in a Peaceful World, U.S. State Department Publication No. 7277, Disarmament Series 5, released September, 1961, U.S. Government Printing Office.)
And Arthur Schlessinger, Jr., former professor of history at Harvard and now high in the councils of government, has said: "There seems no inherent obstacle to the gradual advance of socialism in the U.S. through a series of New Deals," and, that socialism appears quite practical as a long time proposition.
In either case the whole tendency is toward more and more GOVERNMENTISM, more and more centralization and less and less individual responsibility and freedom.
An interesting example of the socialist mind at work is the present so-called Civil Rights Bill of 1963. I am going to quote, in part, from a talk made by John C Satterfield, past president of the American Bar Association, over the Manion Forum, weekly broadcast No. 468, September 15, 1963:
"It is clothed in the name of civil rights and is called the Civil Rights Act of 1963. As a matter of fact, it is 10 per cent civil rights and it is 90 per cent extension of Federal executive power at the expense of individuals, states and municipalities-in fact, at the expense of everyone . . .
"Do you borrow money from a bank that is in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation system or the Federal Reserve system? Have you an FHA or VA loan? Have you a Small Business Administration loan? Are you a realtor, developer, home owner? Are you interested in schools and colleges? Are you a farmer who has anything to do with the Farm Credit Administration, Commodity Credit Corporation, Soil Conservation Service, Federal Crop Insurance, REA, Agricultural Research?
"If you are any of these, or participate in any of these, then under this Act the Federal Fair Employment Practices Commission will dictate to you whom you may hire, whom you may fire, whom you promote, whom you demote, and how you may handle your employees . . .
"Not only that, but it brings in almost every profession and every business-lawyers, realtors, doctors, small establishments, restaurants, gasoline stations, theaters, hotels, motels and lodging houses-and the Federal control will never end . . .
"Under the provisions of this Act, combining them all, the United States Commissioner of Education could come into a school and force the transfer of children from one school to another until there was either racial balance or religious balance . . .
"Not only that, but the next step to a complete and uncontrolled dictatorship of any government is the control of the voting and of the electoral machinery and transfer from the states to the Federal Government the right to fix qualifications for voters, contrary to the provision of the Constitution of the United States. It would also transfer, under the circumstances stated in the Act, the right of registration of voters from the state and local officers to Federal referees . . .
"You should think about this legislation because it destroys everything that we have heretofore felt protects us from a complete and absolute power of a central government. It is something that strikes home to every businessman, every home owner, and every worker in the United States . . ."
In other words, we may say that the states would be reduced to little more than subdivisions within the central government and largely subject to its control. It would be almost certain to result in an all-powerful national government with authority to intervene in the private affairs of individual citizens. It would, furthermore, control and adjust relationships between men in accordance with the dictates of those in charge.
It has been truly said by our former Chief Executive, Dwight D. Eisenhower, that, "The federal government did not create the states of this Republic. The states created the federal government. . . . If the states lose their meaning, our entire system of government loses its meaning and the next step is the rise of the centralized national state in which the seeds of autocracy can take root and grow."
Those are strong but true words.
Never forget that history is filled with examples of men who mean to be good rulers but who nevertheless mean to rule.
With reference to the United Nations and spurious appendages, I would like to quote the Internal Security Annual Report for 1956, p. 213, as made by the Senate Internal Security Sub-Committee, as follows: "What appears, on the surface at least, to be by far the worst danger spot, from the standpoint of disloyalty and subversive activity among Americans employed by international organizations, is UNESCO-the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Among less than ninety Americans employed by UNESCO the International Organizations Employees Loyalty Board found fourteen cases of doubtful loyalty." Then, in the footnote, we see this: "Information in the possession of the sub-committee, indicating a great deal of evidence not yet publicly adduced, points to the possibility that the parent body, the U.N., may be the worst 'spot' of all." There is no indication that there has been the slightest improvement in the United Nations or its satellites since that time.
I have in my possession a copy of an unpublished manuscript on the United Nations Charter prepared in 1945 and given to me by that eminent international lawyer and former Under Secretary of State J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
President Clark's declarations on this, as on other subjects, emphasize more and more with the passing of time his vision and statesmanship.
Commenting on the United Nations Charter and the "travesty on exhaustive consideration" as the charter was hastily approved by the Congress, under urging from the State Department, he continues with a devastating analysis and a sober warning to the American people that there will be a day of reckoning. I believe that day is near at hand. The hopes and the aspirations of the people have been betrayed. I hope this scholarly, unpublished memorandum by President Clark with its penetrating analysis will someday soon be available in full. Meantime, I urge all to read the solid volume, Stand Fast by the Constitution, which embodies much of J. Reuben Clark's timely instruction. Meantime let us have no further blind devotion to the communist-dominated United Nations.
Today it is becoming an increasing handicap, it seems, to one's career in government for a man or woman to take seriously his pledge of allegiance to our Constitution. Witness the firing of Mr. Otto F. Otepka, because he believed in a higher service-that service to our nation comes above service to any particular department of government.
The open and covert management of the news in this country is another case, frightening in its implications. One high government official has made the appalling statement to the effect that it is all right for the government to lie to the people if it serves the government's purpose to lie. Certainly lies can take place by omission as well as by commission.
At this point I quote a statement by Virgil Jordan: "In these days of fear and confusion, let us remember that the endless repetition of a lie, or the multiplication of an empty promise does not make a truth. Truth is something more than the greatest common denominator of mass ignorance and greed. It is never determined or demonstrated by majorities or pluralities or popular error and appetite. Ultimately, with God's aid, it always emerges and finally prevails, supreme in its power over the destiny of mankind, and terrible in its retribution for those who deny, defy, or betray it."
Constantine Brown, in an article in a recent issue of the Congressional Record, told of prominent people who had defected from Communism who now fear they have joined the losing side.
They gave two reasons:
1. Communism will win because western leaders (particularly in the United States) do not want to believe that the Soviets are planning to conquer the world.
2. Khrushchev knows that the United States will offer only token opposition to the Soviets' plan to conquer in Latin America.
Now the question arises-what can we do to preserve our Constitution, and how can we avoid being misled into doing those things that would actually help to destroy it? During last October Conference I spoke on the subject "Be not Deceived." I said there were three keys one could use to avoid deception: first, the scriptures; second, the words of prophets, especially the President of the Church (particularly the living one); and third, the Holy Ghost.
The scriptures tell us about the war in heaven over free agency-similar to the war we are going through now, where the devil's program was guaranteed security as opposed to the Lord's program of letting each choose for himself even if he makes the wrong choice. Once you understand these scriptures you will understand why the Presidents of the Church have opposed Communism, Socialism, and the Welfare State and you will see why you must oppose them, too, if you are in harmony with the word of the Lord.
The scriptures also tell about our inspired Constitution. If you accept these scriptures you will automatically reject the counsel of men like Senator Fulbright and others who depreciate our Constitution. If you use the scriptures as a guide you know what the Book of Mormon has to say regarding murderous conspiracies in the last day and how we are to awake to our awful situation today. I find certain elements in the Church do not like to see the Book of Mormon and D&C so much-it has too much to say about freedom.
The second criteria is the prophets, especially the living President. Do you realize what President McKay has said about some recent decisions of our Supreme Court? Do you realize that he has called Communism the greatest threat to the Church today and has said that this country has traveled far into the soul-destroying land of Socialism? He has opposed programs of federal aid to education; he has supported right-to-work laws. Are you in harmony with the prophet's declarations? If you accept the scriptures and the prophets, then you will automatically separate yourself from the philosophy of some Mormons and you will have to part with a number of our national leaders and their programs.
The last criteria is the Holy Ghost-the test of the spirit. You cannot use this test unless you have the spirit of the Lord with you and that only comes through righteous living-which means being in harmony with Church doctrine in addition to simply being active in Church work and attending meetings.
These are the three main keys-apply them and you will avoid pitfalls and traps which even members of the Church and some teachers may set for you. President Joseph F. Smith said that one of the three things that plagued the Church within was false educational ideas-and I am sure you will be introduced to some of these ideas somewhere along your path. Using the scriptures and the prophets and the spirit as a guide, we can eliminate a lot of the deceptions and false philosophies and cure-alls of men and discern between the wheat and the chaff.
Thus, with the scriptures and the words of the prophets for a guide line, it is easier to select our reading-for we need information out of the best books to help us in this fight for our freedom. And when it comes to the writings of men, in addition to the tests we have suggested, it is helpful to select the men who have proved most accurate over the years. On this basis may I give to you my own personal recommendation of some reading which will help you in the fight to save our Constitution.
First, for a number of years President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., served on the board of trustees of the Foundation for Economic Education while he was a member of the First Presidency. President Clark, as you probably know, was an Under Secretary of State and Ambassador to Mexico. He wrote the famous memorandum on the Monroe Doctrine. In 1923 in the Salt Lake Tabernacle he warned us of the Communist-Socialist menace and what it was going to do-and he was right. No one in the Church has shown greater insight regarding our Constitution and the Socialist-Communist threat to it. The Foundation for Economic Education with which he served puts out some of the most enlightening freedom literature available. They also put out a free monthly magazine, entitled The Freeman, which is excellent. They will be happy to send you a free catalog of their literature. May I mention some of the books which they distribute: The Federalist, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison, three of our inspired rounding fathers, explaining why the need of a constitution; The Constitution of the United States, by Mussatti; The Clich of Socialism; The Mainspring of Human Progress, by Weaver; Economics in One Lesson, by Hazlitt; and The Admiral's Log, by Admiral Ben Moreell, which book is also on the M.I.A. reading list. The address for the Foundation for Economic Education is simply Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.
These books and others will show you what America stands for-our free enterprise system-our Constitutional Republic-how we became the world's greatest power. For For first you need to know what America stands for before you can realize what could be a threat to it. For as President McKay has said, the fostering of full economic freedom lies at the base of all our liberties.
The next thing we must know about is the major enemy to our way of life-Socialistic Communism. In October Conference, 1959, President McKay admonished us to read what he called an excellent book, The Naked Communist. I agree with the President of the Church. Probably no man in America knows the internal Communist threat better than J. Edgar Hoover-his two books on Communism should be must reading. They are Masters of Deceit, and A Study of Communism. You Can Trust the Communists, by Dr. Fred Schwarz, whom President McKay called a true friend of freedom, is also an enlightening book. The House Committee on Un-American Activities and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee have both put out instructive information. A list of their publications is available free of charge from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C.
Once you get the facts about our American Constitutional Republic and the threats to it-then you are going to want to do something. Certainly those who are organized and have a plan and are dedicated, though they be few, will always defeat the many who are not organized and have no plan or dedication. The Communists have proved this and the fighters for freedom must realize it too. If, then, you want to have impact through an organization, make sure that organization squares with the scriptures and the prophets and the spirit. Then move forward and use your free agency to accomplish that which is virtuous and praiseworthy and let the devil and his agents and dupes howl.
Yes, the Fabian Socialists are as busy as bees rolling out the red carpet which leads inevitably to Communism. Faced with this situation our first duty is that of education. Starting with ourselves we must become familiar with the broad outlines of our movement toward destruction. We must, as President McKay has urged, become alerted and informed. After becoming informed ourselves, we must carry the word to all within hearing or seeing range, so that they, too, can become awakened. Take every opportunity to pass sound literature and books around so that your neighbors and their neighbors will awaken before it is too late. We are literally in a race against time and we must take every opportunity to spread the word.
We must not become confused over side issues. Our enemy is not the Catholic, not the Protestant, not the Negro, not the white man, not the Jew, not the Gentile, not employers, not employees, not the wealthy, not the poor, not the worker, and not the employer. Our mortal enemies are the Satanic Communists and those who prepare the path for them.
It is not, however, enough to be acquainted with the grave dangers facing these United States. We must also instruct ourselves, and others, in the great spiritual values underlying our Divinely inspired Constitution and our American free-enterprise system. One of the many sure ways of defeating our enemy is to instruct the people about the eternal verities of our own country. A mind, so enlightened, will reject Marxian Socialism whether it be in the form of Communism, Nazism, Fascism, Welfare-Statism or some other man-made monstrosity.
In this time of deadly peril we must choose men and women to represent us in our government who have attained an inner atunement of mind, heart and soul with God. Only these people have anchors firmly rooted and strong enough to withstand the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. They, only, have the inner sense of direction, stability of spirit and firmness of character essential to our survival.
We must not place in positions of trust cheap opportunists who will sell their souls for a mess of pottage. Rather we should place in public office men and women who place the love of God first in their lives and who, as a consequence, can serve their fellow men with true wisdom.
Not cheap politicians but statesmen are needed today. Not opportunists but men and women of principle must be demanded by the people. In this time of great stress and danger we must place only those dedicated to the preservation of our Constitution, our American Republic, and responsible freedom under God. "Oh God, give us men with a mandate higher than the ballot box."
In closing let me quote Bishop Exeter:
Give us men
Strong and stalwart ones;
Men whom highest hope inspires
Men whom purest honor fires,
Men who trample Self beneath them,
Men who made their country wreath them
As her noble sons,
Men who never shame their mothers,
Men who never fail their brothers
True, however false are others:
Give us men-I say again
Give us Men!
Give us Men!
Men who, when the tempest gathers,
Grasp the standards of their fathers
In the thickest fight:
Men who strike for home and altar,
(Let the coward cringe and falter)
God defend the right:
True as truth though lorn and lonely
Tender, as the brave are only:
Men who tread where saints have trod,
Men for Country,-Home-and God:
Give us Men: I say again again-
Give us such Men!
God bless you, my brothers and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.