The Lone Star Catholic (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 49, No. 10, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 3, 1960 Page: 3 of 24
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CITIZENSHIP IS NOT
A CLUB
JOSEPH A. BREIG
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In the colossal crisis of civilization through
which mankind is passing, American government
of necessity has become far-flung and complex in
its operations. It is enormously important that we
select as our governors men and women of the
highest integrity, dedication and capability. It is
enormously important also that we place reason-
able trust in them, and allow them to discharge
their duties without being harassed by pressure
•groups threatening to have their political hides.
There is one example of what I mean which
will, I think, strike home for most readers of
Our Sunday Visitor. It is not a matter of world-
shaking import, but it is pointedly illustrative of
what I mean. I refer to the fact that the govern-
ment in Washington has desired, for some years,
to establish some kind of diplomatic relations
with the Holy See, and has been prevented from
doing so because of the highly emotional reaction
of a section of the American people.
Here we have a telling example of the kind
of hindrance to good government that can result
from the type of voter activity that is described
as “pressure group” action.
I don’t think most Catholics are very much
concerned, as Catholics, over the question of rep-
resentation at Vatican City. I know I am not. As
Americans, however, we can see that America
and the world might well be benefitted by such
representation.'
If the authorities in Washington feel that
good could be accomplished for our country and
for peace on earth by establishment of relations
at the Vatican, then it is too bad that they are
prevented from following their best judgment. It
-seems clear that most of the American people
have no objections—but there is a highly vocal
group which does object, and gets its way through
pressure and publicity.
Both my experience in observing govern-
ment operations, and my good sense, tell me that
“striking terror into the hearts of politicians” by
letter-writing campaigns threatening defeat at
the next election is seldom a proper exercise of
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occasionally and judging on the basis of scanty re-
ports, must necessarily know more about this
issue or that issue than do the public officials
who are dealing with the matter first-hand, and
are devoting many hours each day to the busi-
ness of government.
It is also, I suspect, in some sense a theo-
logical error because it overlooks the fact that
God gives a special grace for wise governance to
those who are placed in seats of authority and
responsibility..
This divine action through government,
which I might call “the grace of office,” needs
emphasizing at the present time in our country, it
seems to me. The United States has become the
most powerful nation on earth, and upon us has
fallen the chief responsibility for defending, in
the political order, the concept of human beings
as creatures and children of God, against the
godless notion of them as mere slaves of the all-
powerful state.
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(Continued on page 15)
OUR SUNDAY VISITOR 3
Independence Day thoughts
on people’s responsibility
to help our leaders
achieve good government
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I remember, for example, a conversation
with a president of a City Council who told me
in confidence why he had made up his mind to
risk his political future by insisting that a certain
step be taken. If I could have published in my
newspaper the story he told me, the voters would
have acclaimed him unanimously. Because I
couldn’t publish it, one of the most dedicated and
competent public servants I have ever known
was nearly thrown out of office at the next elec-
tion.
Another time, as editor of a smaller news-
paper, I waged a furious campaign against pri-
vate caucuses of a public school board. I insist-
ed that a reporter be present for all discussions,
of whatever nature. I was a wiser man, with much
more knowledge of government, after a school
board member finally decided to trust me with
the real reasons for certain decisions which I had
bitterly criticized. The reasons were unpublish-
able—but they were compelling.
Where it seems to me that many of us go
wrong in this field is at the point where we over-
look the vital factor of reasonable trust in the
integrity and good sense of public officials.
I remember a citizens’ meeting I once attend-
ed, at which one of the finest, most sincere and
idealistic gentlemen I have ever known made 'an
impassioned speech in which he said, “We send
these men to Washington, and it’s their business
to vote the way we tell them to vote.”
The man’s face was a study in astonishment
and dawning comprehension when I took the
floor and replied, “Not if we tell them to vote
wrong. We send them to Washington, yes; but
once elected, their duty is to vote right, according
to their best judgment, in the light of the facts
“ they have before them. And most of the time
they have a hundred times more facts than we
have.”
It seems to me that there is a basic error in
the kind of excited approach to public affairs
which is taken by some writers and citizens. It is
an error in the practical order because it assumes
that clusters of citizens here and there, meeting
My 35 years as a newspaperman include
10 years during which I covered the legislative,
executive, judicial and police affairs of a town of
15,000 population, plus three years as City Hall
reporter and “politics columnist” in one of Ameri-
ca’s largest cities.
I saw government from the inside as well as
the outside, and I had the confidence of a great
many public officials. I learned a profoundly
important truth about government which is
overlooked far too often by great numbers of
voters, and by many writers.
The truth to which I refer is this: Govern-
ment cannot operate rightly for the general wel-
fare of the people if those who govern are ever-
lastingly pushed and pulled violently this way
and that way by pressure groups which cannot
possibly know all the facts, which have no over-
all view of the common good, and which are pre-
occupied with one or another special interest.
I remember vividly a couple of hours I spent
one day with a dedicated doctor who for many
years had headed one of the bureaus in the De-
partment of Public Health in the big city where
I covered City Hall. He laid records before me,
and told me one of the most touching and absorb-
ing stories about government I have ever heard-.
The records showed that when he was first
appointed to head the bureau—and for some years
thereafter—thousands of children in that city died
each year of diphtheria. The records showed fur-
ther that finally diphtheria was wiped out.
The doctor told me about the hard struggle
he had waged in the intervening time, with the
support of the city’s authorities, to establish com-
pulsory ' immunization of children, which was all
that was necessary to conquer the disease. In that
period, he was bitterly opposed by very vocal and .
active groups of citizens who mistakenly imagin-
ed that they were defending freedom and indi-
. vidual rights by campaigning against immuniza-
tion.
Any one who knows very much about gov-
ernment could multiply examples of the same
sort. The point is this: Good government requires
that voters carefully select candidates who are
fitted by intelligence, experience and integrity to
govern, and then allow them to govern without
excessive harassment.
It is a grave mistake—and I think it is moral- ’
ly wrong—to talk and act as if men in public
office are not to be trusted at all, and as if they
must certainly be foolish if they are not rascals.
o . '
My own experience taught me that by far
the largest number of men and women in gov-
ernment are capable, reliable and devoted. Ex-
perience taught me also that sometimes they must
rise to a kind of heroism when they see that
something unpopular—or at least bitterly oppos-
ed by a section of the people—must be done, and
that some of the reasons it must be done cannot
be made public.
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Francis, Dale. The Lone Star Catholic (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 49, No. 10, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 3, 1960, newspaper, July 3, 1960; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1528573/m1/3/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting St. Edward’s University.