WE COULD USE A RADICAL
Crowe, Martin
We Could Use A Radical By MARTIN CROWE WE could use a radical now. We could use a guy who'd stand up and turn around and face the world and say, "Let's cut the pretense, boys. Let's have the truth...
...Because the world will always crucify a radical...
...With a kind of grin or something...
...He'd pick up a recent copy of Life Magazine and he'd see: "These people allowed themselves to fall so low in the eyes of the world that the world, seeing their suffering, finds it hard to feel sorry for them...
...We could use a guy who'd stand up there and say, "The choice is simple, friends...
...I am therefore different—and therefore dangerous...
...Communism sounded radical once because it preached the idea of brotherhood and that is a radical idea...
...I am a guy who doesn't kick my enemy when I have knocked him down...
...There it is, friends—laid on the line...
...And they never wiH...
...And the answer is no...
...I'm the original lefthander, I guess, I'm different...
...Now it means Stas-sen of Minnesota and Connally of Texas and Johnston of the Chamber of Commerce...
...It's a nice sounding word...
...Or look for a guy they're all threatening to crucify...
...You'll see the word, "Radical...
...And don't look among the boys with their fingers in the air testing the wind...
...But I'm a radical, admiral...
...The choice is up to you...
...WE could use a radical, all right...
...We could use a radical in a pulpH or two...
...Let's have the truth for a change...
...You be my brother-on my terms...
...A doctrine of love—or a doctrine of hate...
...You have given me cause to hate you...
...But I do not hate you...
...In fact, it's easy if you know how...
...Liberal" is a word that "went society...
...Say, maybe that's the way to find him...
...You join my family but I won't join yours...
...Here is my hand—friend...
...Let's have a nice duck dinner to celebrate...
...I'm supposed to cheer you, admiral...
...He who is not with Me is against Me...
...You expect me to be your enemy...
...I am something new under the sun...
...But mostly I am dangerous to myself...
...And he'd point to that smug, self-righteous statement and he'd say, "I feel sorry for the Germans and 1 -don't find it hard...
...And I don't like you, mister...
...And don't look for a radical among the "liberals...
...Get out your labels and slip 'em on...
...I show him a light in the darkness...
...We could use a radical in St...
...There's your man...
...The governor is cheering...
...I lift him up...
...Paul, Minn...
...Nor eould they put out the light He lit...
...A radical usually walks against the wind—into it...
...I am a soft touch...
...You bring the duck...
...But let me warn you not to be deceived by tags...
...I am not Cato, the Roman, at Carthage...
...You represent to me everything that America does not mean...
...You won't scare me out with sneers...
...We could use him in Germany for instance...
...I feed him...
...But they couldn't crucify what He did—nor what He stirred in the hearts of men...
...For instance, there are some who call the Communists radical...
...I am not a red avenger with instructions from Uncle Joe...
...It used to refer to a guy who wanted to raise the wages of Mexicans who picked sugar beets all day...
...I am different...
...But it's clear now what the Communists meant...
...You're a mighty good naval commander but you're not a good man...
...Nor even with Walter Winehell...
...He who gathereth not—scat-tereth...
...As they did the greatest One of them all...
...Christ on the Mount—or a sophisticated sage on the microphone...
...I am a radical...
...Look for the guy that's walking into the wind...
...And yet I'm supposed to cheer you, Admiral Halsey...
...We could use him because he'd come out with it and say it straight—"The question is not how many Germans are guilty— or how guilty the guilty are...
...Grocery clerks are cheering, clergymen, bankers, garage mechanics...
...This is, of course, absurd...
...The word is common...
...I ask him to be my friend...
...You're the gent who's been spreading your anti-Christian doctrine across the Pacific and over the pages of our newspapers for years now...
...And when somebody snarled "soft" at him like a curse, he'd say, "Call it that, brother...
...I am not Attila the Hun...
...We could use a guy who'd stand up in the Auditorium when Admiral Halsey began to speak and who'd say, "I remember you...
...Hot or cold...
...And then he'd add, "We can't let a people die just because vengeance is the key word of the moment among the sleek, well-fed, cocktail columnists—and because these pseudo-philosophers, between drinks, spurt hatred...
...The question is, can we let a people starve...
...He likes it...
...WE could use a radical in Germany to say to that lost and wandering people, "I am your friend...
...And I'll take the Chance...
...But I won't...
...I mean, it's a nice thing to call yourself...
...The mayor is cheering...
...You're the number one public hero to the hate-vendors of this world...
Vol. 9 • December 1945 • No. 52
