The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn 'What Do Liberals Really Want?' IN MY RECENT report on the Army-McCarthy conflict, I mentioned meeting two charming young ladies from Minneapolis who had...
...To this I wish to add two remarks...
...I feel that, if this Irish girl and I had the time and patience and could find the right words, we would discover that we believe practically the same things...
...Naturally, this cheerful process of give-and-take has not been allowed to lapse...
...What we have in mind is no set form like that of the Communists or that pictured by the philosophers of the Middle Ages...
...We are constantly being told how many people are hungry or ill-clothed or ill-housed...
...You would have said in advance that we had small grounds for friendship, but you would have been wrong...
...Here is a challenge...
...But if they are to be effective, the people who have achieved wisdom must have freedom to think, to learn, to speak, to organize, to operate...
...In the churches, the worship must be that which satisfies the individual...
...In industry, we must do our best to keep ourselves free from cartels and every other coercive form of organization...
...We have had a fine row of prophets in this country: Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, Lincoln...
...The basis of their thinking was the idea that, if people are free and have access to knowledge, they will gradually build a world closer to their hearts' desire...
...What I want to know is: What kind of world do the liberals really want...
...These men had a very clear picture of the world both as it was and as they wanted it to be...
...From the start, we had wonderful times, eager conversation, tumultuous give-and-take...
...Solomon is credited with saying that "wisdom is the principal thing...
...They really wanted to know what I thought, how it was that a man could be opposed to their shining hero...
...To begin with, however, the people must have freedom...
...The Catholic Tablet arrives the same day as The New Leader...
...This brings me at last to my point, which is a question contained in a letter that arrived this morning...
...After referring in a rather derogatory manner to some of our contributors, my correspondent says: "I do enjoy your articles, and I feel so fair reading both sides...
...In politics, there must be open and enlightened discussion so that the best men can get to the top and, having reached there, be free to legislate and administer for the public good...
...THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn 'What Do Liberals Really Want?' IN MY RECENT report on the Army-McCarthy conflict, I mentioned meeting two charming young ladies from Minneapolis who had hurriedly flown down to the hearings because they thought their hero, the junior Senator from Wisconsin, was not being fairly treated by the unsympathetic East...
...In The New Leader, I read and re-read sentences and then decide it's all over my Irish head...
...workers, managers and investors must be able to operate wherever and however they can get the best results...
...We picture, rather, a constantly improving setup going forward under the drive of its citizens...
...They felt that he needed support, and they came prepared to give it with hands, lungs and letters to the press...
...Generally, people don't try to express themselves clearly, and they don't listen carefully...
...It would be possible to make a wonderful Old Testament out of their sayings...
...And I was bent on discovering how two bright gals could join the procession behind a man like McCarthy...
...Much of their wisdom has been interpreted and condensed in our Constitution...
...I might begin by saying that we want for the people of this country—and of all countries, for that matter—enough good food, good shelter and clothing...
...I am going to spend the rest of this page trying to break through the wall by telling what we liberals "really want...
...He may not have been far off the mark...
...If we Americans are to go on as we have in the past, producing more and better goods, distributing them more and more equitably, encouraging learning and the arts, improving our country and having fun living together in it, the main thing is to keep it free in all the areas of work and play...
...It is because Senator McCarthy always seems to be pointed toward a coercive world rather than a free one that I am opposed to him...
...The young ladies read The New Leader, and now and then an exchange of letters keeps our discussion alive...
...I am afraid that it more eloquently expresses my convictions, and I can understand it so much better...
...Newspapers, radio, television and all other media of communication must be so conducted that the whole populace will have access to accurate information...
...In the schools, we must remain free to learn and teach...
...What we are after is a good life for everyone, and the things which make up a good life cannot be handed to people—they must be won by thought and work...
...But that would be starting at the wrong end...
...I am envious of the Catholic Tablet because my correspondent can understand it better than she can The New Leader...
...These are terrible facts that shame us, but we should constantly recall that freedom is the basis of a progressive civilization—more basic than a full belly or a warm body...
...So each remains stuck in his sect—and that is one of the things that is wrong with the world...
Vol. 37 • September 1954 • No. 36
