A Message for Young Americans from The John Birch Society

A common question one hears during our Bicentennial celebration is: Will America be around to salute her Tercentennial? In offering answers and observations, Establishment journalists and editorialists point out that for America to survive for another one hundred years, hunger must be alleviated, the economy bettered, the environment cleaned, cooperation among nations increased, equal treatment for men, women, and children observed, and on and on with more drivel masquerading as true solutions.

As usual, such commentators are off target. And as usual we are not surprised. Those who are taking no part in the battle cannot be expected to have any understanding of what it takes to win. World conferences are held, consulting teams hired, programs initiated, money spent; they consider all possibilities but the one that really works. They never consider the restoration of morality.

Morality, we are told, is much too simplistic, much too impractical, and much too difficult. For it means making decisions based on the recognition of a right and a wrong. It requires us to control our passions and practice virtues. Morality urges us not to forsake our responsibilities to God, family, and country. It does not allow for socialism, pornography, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," abortion, or other crimes that call to Heaven for vengeance; for morality is a civilizing influence on man. It tames the savage and it can regenerate the cultured barbarian. It helps to make men docile, disposed to learn.

We are told again and again that morality is repressive, that it limits individual freedom. But this is simply not true. Morality increases and preserves freedom. It limits and denies us certain actions, yes, but only those actions that would cause a loss of freedom, that would cause nations to become jungles. Morality is not universal license. Freedom is not universal license. It is when we respect the rights of others that our rights are respected. It is only when immorality runs wild that liberty is threatened. Immorality and freedom cannot coexist. So for the American people to believe that the preservation of our country can be guaranteed by merely cleaning up the waterways and the air, or bettering the economy, or promoting cooperation among nations, or by following other such similar courses, is absolutely absurd. How in the world can a society have any freedom and progress in a climate of "anything goes"? Gold, power, and science can be at your fingertips, but without a sense of morality you will also have anarchy first, and then slavery.

It seems that the outstanding evil of our age is that society has lost the sense of sin. We do not mean to say that more immoral actions are being committed today than in the past, but that blindness to moral values and an indifference to the question of good and evil are among the signs of the times. This is what has caused so many Americans to approach the most horrible crimes as if these acts were simply the reflection of another viewpoint or the result of environmental pressures. In their rush to become acceptable members of society, to be modern and sophisticated, the majority of our citizens have justified and explained away some of the most nefarious and treasonous actions.

They have allowed the state to wrest children out of the parents' control through forced bussing; they have not interfered with the abortion mills sprouting up coast to coast; nor, as another example, have they protested the recruiting by homosexual organizations at colleges and high schools. They are either undisturbed by such activity because "those people have just as much right to their lifestyle as we do," or they don't want to cause controversy in the community.

Unfortunately, such tolerance and sloppy thinking has been largely responsible for the turmoil and suffering and disgraceful actions now taking place at all levels of our society. And the Communists couldn't be happier. Because they realize that a free and civilized society can exist only in an atmosphere of morality, where mores and traditions are observed and cherished. Sex scandals in government, perversion in the arts, widespread permissiveness, attacks on the family, dirty dress and speech, drugs, lack of manners, exotic and occult philosophies, these make up the kind of world we find ourselves in today. The Communists are partly responsible, but the American people must share a great deal of the blame.

For our moral vacuum today is simply due to the failure of Americans to think like Americans. They have stopped growing spiritually and intellectually; they no longer have any holy or scholarly desires; they have lost the ability to think clearly; and consequently America is losing its greatness. What is needed is a renaissance of men and women who want to think with the constructive thinkers of the past, who relish intellectual clarity and who want to practice the two concepts that have helped to make all great civilizations, contemplation and discipline. Thus, The John Birch Society seeks to recruit Americans who will not divorce spiritual ideals from the public life, but will weld them to the affairs of state, business, recreation, the arts, and education.

It has been said that The John Birch Society is constantly tearing down, always "anti," never "pro." But nothing could be further from the truth. What we are for is more important than what we are against. It is because of our spirited desire for less government and a better world that we are fighting the Communists so fiercely. We are named for Captain John Birch, who "personified everything that the Communists hate...He lived and worked and fought and died, always literally giving the best that was in him, to strengthen those principles and beliefs which had brought human evolution and spiritual progress to its high water mark in the America he had inherited."

The John Birch Society is not just another action group against the Communists. It is truly a movement to restore decency, with something to offer the American people that is solid and lasting. In imitation of its namesake, its members have a philosophy that promotes morality and sound thinking, builds character, and encourages noble deeds. We want 400,000 members who believe in exactly these qualities.

Even at our present size, we are stopping the enemy on many fronts, and one thousand members of the Society in each congressional district would surely shatter any hope they ever had of enslaving us all. This strength would give us the time to carry out the third part of our motto, and to build--with God's help always--a better world.

We know those 400,000 Americans are out there waiting. We know they would join us in a minute if they understood the nature of the battle we are waging. In the true Spirit of '76, let's create that understanding.