THE MORAL OBLIGATIONS OF CITIZENSHIP
In presenting Saint-Gaudens’ statue of Abraham Lincoln to the British people in London in 1920, the American statesman Elihu Root said: “Politics is the practical exercise of the art of self-government, and somebody must attend to it if we are to have self-government; somebody must study it, and learn the art, and exercise the patience and sympathy and skill to bring the multitude of opinions and wishes of self-governing people into such order that some prevailing opinion may be expressed and peaceably accepted. Otherwise, confusion will result either in dictatorship or anarchy. The principle ground of reproach against any American citizen should be that he is not a politician. Everyone ought to be as Lincoln was.”
Today it is more important than ever before for American citizens to engage in politics. The secret Communist document by the top Czechoslovakian Communist Jan Kozak, published for Americans under the title AND NOT A SHOT WAS FIRED, describes how the Communists plan to take over a democratic country by political rather than military means. Khrushchev revealed his confidence in this technique when he boasted in Bucharest, Romania on July 19, 1962: “I am convinced that tomorrow the Red Flag will fly over the United States. But we will not fly the flag. The American people will hoist it themselves.”
Pope Leo XIII’s admonition is particularly timely today: “The Church approves of every one devoting his services to the common good, and doing all that he can for the defense, preservation, and prosperity of civilization of his country.” If Western civilization is to survive the Communist onslaught, if we are to continue to enjoy self-government in America and “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”, then good Americans must accept their moral obligation to participate in the political life of our country.
Pope Pius XII made it clear that this moral duty obliges women, as well as men, when he strongly exhorted: “Your day is here, Catholic women and girls. Public life needs you. To each one of you might be said your destiny is at stake.” In this address “on the practical activation of woman’s social and political life”, Pope Plus XII added: “The electoral ballot in the hands of Catholic woman is an important means toward the fulfillment of her strict duty in conscience”.
Americans have developed many ingenious excuses to rationalize refusal to engage in politics. Some say, “I have just one vote. What does one vote matter?” Many close elections prove Pope Pius XII’s words: “There is a heavy responsibility on everyone, man or woman, who has the right to vote.” Rutherford B. Hayes was elected President by just one vote in the electoral college. His election was contested, and it was referred to an electoral commission, where again Hayes won by a single vote. The man who cast that deciding vote for President Hayes was a Congressman from Indiana, who was himself elected by just one vote. That one vote was cast by a friend who got up from his sickbed to go to the polls. Just 575 votes in New York elected Grover Cleveland to the Presidency. Only 1,904 votes in California elected President Woodrow Wilson. ln 1960 the Presidency was won by less than one vote per precinct over our entire nation. Only one vote gave statehood to California, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Washington. The Draft Act of World War II passed the House of Representatives by only one vote.
But just voting is not enough. If you are content merely to vote on election day, you are only a part-time citizen; you have disfranchised yourself from your right to determine most of the major decisions that confront our country today. The history of American government for the last 30 years shows that the major national and international issues have been decided within each of the two major parties, rather than between them. Only when you are active in the political party of your choice can you exercise your full privileges as an American citizen. Only then can you help choose public officials from a wide field of qualified candidates in the primaries, instead of just between the two who appear on the ballot on election day. Only then can you have a voice in determining the character of the party organization, the platform on which the candidates run, and the making of appointments and other decisions that come after the election.
Don’t be intimidated by the smear words “political” and “controversial”. These are clever slogans designed to paralyze the will of good Americans. Nearly every man and woman in history who accomplished anything was controversial at the time: St. Peter, St. Paul, Joan of Arc, Christopher Columbus, Louis Pasteur, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the women suffragettes.
No matter who or where you are, you live in one of the 145,723 election districts or precincts in the United States. These divisions are kept small so that individuals such as yourself can participate in the running of your government. You can be a precinct committeeman or woman, or a member of the precinct team that gets out the vote. You can be an election judge or poll watcher to ensure honest elections. You can be active in a woman’s club, finance committee, or other auxiliary to the regular organization. You can distribute the voting records of your Senators and Congressmen, and otherwise spread political education among the electorate. You can organize citizens groups in support of the candidate of your choice. You can work to improve election laws. You can plan now to run for office: precinct committeeman, county chairman or other party office, Delegate to the National Nominating Conventions, county, state or national offices. All over the United States, candidates are being selected now who will appear on the ballot a year hence and hold positions of power during the succeeding two or four years. Either you run the government, or the government will run you.
Shortly after the U.S. Constitution was signed in Philadelphia in 1787, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, “What have we got, Dr. Franklin?” “Madam,” he replied, “We have a Republic — if we can keep it.” We can keep it only if American citizens dedicated to the victory of freedom over Communism accept their full responsibilities of citizenship. We should remember the warning issued by Plato 2,400 years ago: “The punishment of wise men who refuse to take part in the affairs of government is to live under the government of unwise men.”
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The Moral Obligation of Citizenship, by Phyllis Schlafly, published in The Mindszenty Report, Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation, October 15, 1963
