Lipscomb University - Backlog Yearbook (Nashville, TN)

Page 9 text:

“Democracy is not self-executing. We have to make it work, and to make it work we have to understand it. Sober thought and fearless criticism are impossible without critical thinkers and thinking critics. Such persons must be given the opportunity to come together, to see new facts in the light of old principles, to evaluate old principles in the light of new facts, and by deliberation, debate, and dialogue to hammer out the consensus that makes democracy possible. And this, as We all know well, though some of us forget from time to time, requires intellectual independence, impenitent speculation, and freedom from political pressure.” — Adlai Stevenson “Party is the madness of the many for the gain of the few.” — Jonathan Swift Prologue 5

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Or cana year be remembered merely for its hope? Election year 1976: How long will that be a focal point in our memories of a year? As Jimmy Carter of Georgia systematically excluded other contenders to wrap up ano longer heated Demo- cratic race, as President Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan locked horns ina struggle between ideologies, a nation rolled its sleepy eyes. The long Democratic procession of Jackson, Harris, Bentsen, Udall, Wallace, Bayh, Sanford, Shriver, Schapp, Church, Brown, and the notable absence of Humphrey and Kennedy, bored the nation, and the repetitious rhetoric of the Republican contenders did little but improve Carter’s lead in the polls. Is that all there is to a year? 4 Prologue

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Should the year be remembered as the Bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of In- dependence? Certainly that was foremost in the minds of a large portion of America’s 215 million citizens as the year progressed. But after it has passed, is that all that will be said of 1976? That it provided a year-long birthday party ? Or will we remember only the glitter and the hype, the fireworks and kitsch? Will we remember the Minuteman drills, the battle re-enactments, the newly-cemented flagpoles? Will we remember the Bicentennial mugs and ashtrays, the plaster and plastic replicas of George Wash- ington and the Liberty Bell, the specially-minted commemorative medals and coins ? “Man, proud man! drest ina little brief authority . .. plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make the angels weep.” — William Shakespeare Measure for Measure “Guard against the postures of pretended patriotism.” 6 Prologue — George Washington