To the Finland Station

Despite the patently dubious purpose expressed in their title, (only pseudo-liberals, after all, would follow the soi-disant President in his current "crusade" for freedom in the world--for goodness knows just what he means by it), the Young Americans for Freedom are preeminently the only group of Junior Citizens (a current term, one believes) that this country dares send to Helsinki this summer to participate in the latest of one of those dangerous Youth Festivals sponsored by the other side.

For no one of any possible integrity could accuse these oh-so-Young Americans of being anything but compulsive in their dedication to that American whatever-it-is that so boldly distinguishes us from the other side. Any other group, we mean to say, could quickly and competently--even if quite unconsciously--be drawn into the value system of those people, much as an unthinking speck of muck can be unwittingly scooped into the maw of a Hoover suction machine. But not the YAF: their duty is clear-cut. They must go, in our name, to Helsinki, to watch, observe, calculate, devise, scheme--and perhaps (who can say?) even learn something about the realities of international politics.