Nikola Tesla FBI Files - Page 246

The American Way of Life “Why Go to War to Keep Others From Having Their Way of Life," asks Adamic by LOUIS ADAMIC THE opening lines of the Progressive Party's platform read: "Three years after the end of the Second World War the drums are beating for a third. Civil liberties are being destroyed. Millions cry out for relief from unbearably high prices. The American Way of Life is in danger. T The American Way of Life has been the issue in any American election ever since 1776. Every voter who goes to the polls. votes-intelligently or mistakenly independently or under the spell of inveterate partisan. ship for one or another concept of the American Way of Life. Of course, various people. living in various circumstances, have vari ous ideas of what constitutes the American Way of Life. I propose to state my ideas of it; also I shall presume to fit those ideas within the frame of the new Progressive Party which must continue to grow from itbeginnings in 1943. As I see the American Way of Life. its principles were born of the American Revolution. They were won in struggle; nothing as fundamental and deep-reaching comes easy. They are stated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Our job now is to perceive what policies and meas. ures will safeguard the Way against decay and corruption. and will fur ther its growth and evolution to meet successfully the problem of changing times and new conditions. The principles of 1776 are as valid as ever, but life is different today from what it was then. Fortunately growth and change are of the very es sence of the American Way. The first principle of the American Way of Life is the right to life itself; and this must be safeguarded against war on the one hand, and on the other against poverty, which in recent decades has taken a far heavier toll than any war in which this nation has ever SO far been involvedthough the "next war," " if we permit it to be drummed up. will reverse the story. The second principle of the American Way is liberty it has al ways been our slogan and our pride. But we have long been cautioned that its price is eternal vigilance, and we know how to recognize those who have designs on it. The third principle of our Way is abundance. When migrants from Europe first began to settle here, this was a land rich in the gifts of nature; and for all that those gifts have been abused by ignorance and irresponsibility and particularly by exploiters and monopolists. Our resources are still great enough-if deforestation and erosion are checked in time, and if our mineral resources are properly conserved to afford abundance, the good life. to all the inhabitants of These States. And a fourth principle of the American Way is opportunity. THE Progressive Party promises to safeguard the right to life by avoiding war-always the saddest failure of morality and now the potenial destroyer of human society and the globe itself. Whether or not we can avoid World War III, I don't know; but 1 do know this that if we don't try to avoid it, nothing else is worth tryLOUIS ADAMIC noSlovenian American author and lecturer, a foremost authority on he tional groups, is a prolific writer. Among his works are My Native Land. Dinner at the White House, Two-Way Passage, Nation of Nations. My America. He also edits and pub. lishes a current affairs bulletin, Trends and Tides, issued from his home in Milford, New Jersey. ing to do nowadays. It is futile to wonder about the kind of curtains you'll hang up in your living-room futile to write or read books, to go to lectures or to school. . silly to worry about being called a Red or a Communist, or whatever, or about being hauled up before the fantastic Un-American Activities Committer futile to work at your job, whatever it may be.. . silly to worry about keeping on the good side of whoever can take that job away from you. War or peace? I don't know; but if we want any sort of future for this country, for the rest of the world, for ourselves and the Russians, for you and me personally, then we'd better work for peace. stand up for peace . . . stand up with our new political vehicle, the Progressive Party. The Progressive Party further pro. poses to safeguard the right to life by abolishing poverty. Cynics, pressti. tutes, and generally people without hope and vision say this can't be done. They say Henry Wallace is a starry-eyed visionary. We say it can be done if we will jealously maintain freedom, bear in mind the limitless capabilities of Americans, and keep the grip of monopoly from arrogating the resources that should serve all. and if we will insist upon the application of the ever more marvelous discoveries and techniques of science for the common good. The Progressive Party proposes to safeguard liberty not with more lip service, but by adhering fully to the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights and all subsequent amend. ments, in all their vitality and integ rity, and by reviving and enhancing the programs and formulations of Roosevelt's New Deal. The Progressive Party proposes to guard liberty (Continued on page 26) 5 246 1