St Thomas More High School - Utopian Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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POLl'l'lU A D PATRIUTI M OW THAT the smoke of the recent presi- dential campaign is dissolved, we can see whether it has left any scars that might disfigure the future of national progress. The people heard each of the candidates give his reasons why he believed he should be elected, and, as always, the people had the last say. Yes, the people spoke, and a record vote was cast. They elected Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States. They gave their approval for the transference of the government into the hands of the Republican Party for the next four years. Certainly, all arguments and accusations, which are so characteristic of American cam- paigns, should have ended on the night of the election. Those who voted for the Democratic nominee, Governor Adlai Stevenson, should be resigned to the will of the majority of the people. Freedom to elect public officials is one of our great heritages. If we do not support and go along with the party in power, but op- pose it merely for the sake of opposition, not for the good that will benefit our country, we are cheapening this priceless heritage. The result of furthering such an attitude is had govern- ment, for this evil can affect the members of Congress, who, although they owe particular allegiance to their constituents, have the more special duty to protect the interests of all the people. If opposition members of Congress challenge the party in power just for the sake of opposition, thereby hoping to please dis- gruntled constituents, then we cannot expect to have an efficient government. Both people and Country suffer as a consequence. Politics has a two-fold purpose: one is to conduct an efficient government, the other, to inspire a greater love of Country and to strength- en the principles on which our Country was founded. Political parties are the means by which elected representatives of the people can carry out these two purposes in their name. In Communist countries, however, only one polit- 60 . BY RICHARD O'MALLEY, '53 ical party is in power, the Communist Party. When the people in these countries go to vote, they may cast a vote for one unopposed candi- date, or possibly several of the same party, for each ofiice. Yet the Communist governments insist that they have free elections, and that their leaders have been elected by a unanimous vote of the people. It is hardly necessary to say that they fail to mention that the people had no choice, that they were compelled to vote as directed. The Communists' vocabulary does not include the word choice. Choice means the best or preferable part, the word part, with reference to choice, postulates the existence of another-part. Communism ad- mits but one party, therefore, it automatically rules out any idea of choice, Where there is no choice, there can be no-freedom of selection. The advantage in having a two-party system, such as ours, is that if one party sees a mistake that the other party is making, it brings this fact to the attention of the peopleg and the people, in turn, can judge the mistake for what it is worth and decide in the next election whether that party should remain in power. In this way, free people have a system that com- mands a more efiicient government, a govern- ment that is truly -- of the people, by the people, and for the peopleng in a word, a gov- ernment by choice, and, therefore, a free government. In the recent presidential campaign, each major party made various accusations, some of which were true and some of which, doubtless, were false. Each of the presidential candidates was new in the field of national politics. Thus, General Eisenhower was entirely new to poli- tics, and Governor Stevenson had been elected to public office only once before, as Governor of the State of Illinois. Either candidate might have lost the campaign because of the record of his party. Each record was brought before the people for them to decide upon, each record was reviewed and exposed to public scrutiny. . THE CHELSEA REVIEW

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Illustration by MR. GERARD McCAULEY main-stay, of my spiritual life. The Bible is the first history book of the world and the biography of the greatest Man Who ever lived, a Man Who also was God. It is the key to the mysteries of our Catholic Faith. It is our family tree traced back to our original ancestors, Adam and Eve. It is the foundation for all the laws ever passed before totalitarian- ism, as we know of it today, was ever thought of. It is the greatest Book ever written and the most important document of all time. It is our Divine Constitution, assuring us, guiding us, enlighten- ing us. M The Bible can and should be read from day to day, just by reading a chapter or two at a time. We can improve our lives so much by reading a section of it each day and by trying sincerely to live up to it. One of my favorite Bible stories is the one concerning the wisdom Solomon displayed for the first time. Two women, the mothers of two children, one of whom had died and the other who still lived, asked Solomon to judge who was the rightful mother. After much wrangling back and forth between the women concerned, he asked a servant to bring him a sword to cut the living baby in two, so that half of the child might be given to each. One of the women screamed in horror and asked him to let the second woman have it, but she, the mother of the dead child, a victim of frustrated envy, coldly agreed to the murder of the baby. Solomon then gave the baby to the woman who had shown her motherly love in her desire to sacrifice her baby rather than see him destroyed. Could any treatment on prudence and justice be more instructfully beautiful? The Bible in our home is a new edition. The Old Testament is the Douay version, but the New Testament is the Archconfraternity of Christian Doctrine version. The cover is of black leather with the title, The Holy Bible, emblazoned in gold lettering. The black print is fairly large and easy to read. It contains, too, THE CHELSEA REVIEW' . an address by the Pope on the importance of spiritual reading. It is not an expensive book, yet it contains a wealth incalcuable in words and stories of Divine Revelation. I like to feel that its presence in our home is God's seal of good housekeeping on the efforts of my parents to establish a home, dedicated to the principles of Christian living. This year of our Lord 1952, we celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of the first printed Bible. It commemorates one of the greatest contributions to the world of all time -the printing press. It wasn't strange that the Catholic, John Gutenberg, chose the Bible as the first product of his amazing machine since, in his time, the Bible was the most popular book among the people. In many ways it was their life. Thus, before the invention of the printing press, there were not enough books in all Europe to fill a modern library. The world, therefore, owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to John Gutenberg. Catholics in particular owe this debt of gratitude to him even more so, be- cause he is a shining example of what the indi- vidual Catholic can do for God and for his Faith. John Gutenberg glorified his Faith in using his God-given intelligence for the honor and glory of his Creator. I said in the beginning of my treatise on the most sacred of all books that the fact that the Bible is called the best seller of all time' amuses me. God forbid that I should say this derisively. Rather, I said it resentfullyg resent- fully, because I think that you and I both know that such a surprisingly large number of Cath- olics do not own a Bible. Could the main reason for this be that they do not realize, even in these troubled times when Karl Marx's Das Kapital and Communist Manifesto seek to supplant the Old and New Testaments, the importance of having this book, and do not dream of the immense spiritual strength that can be had from reading the Bible? I find this difficult to under- stand. How about you? ..59

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On this basis and on the basis of the capacity of each candidate, the people voted. Many things may be said during a campaign which are ques- tionable, but the people finally have the oppor- tunity to evaluate any issue involved and express their opinion on it by selecting the candidate of their particular choice. It is this primarily that makes America the land of freedom that it is. One important fact that helped to heal the temporary split made during the campaign was the way both candidates pledged themselves to do all in their power to help to make America a better country, without regard to political alliliations. Governor Stevenson, in his conced- ing speech, made the people of the United States realize that America still has a great statesman on whom she may later depend to serve her. General Eisenhower likewise showed the nation that being the victor is almost asdistressing a job as being the vanquished. He realized acutely the difficult road ahead of him, and his fore- most desire was to unite the difference of opin- ion between both political parties on domestic issues in order that he might pursue a united program on international issues for the good of the United States as a member of the family of nations. Two other important considerations stood out prominently in the election campaign of 1952. The first was the variety of trustworthy political leaders throughout the country who supported either candidate, the second was the matter of governmental transition that would take place should the Republican Party be given the reins of government. Would these leaders join hands and support the new admin- istration? How would the change of adminis- tration affect the national political economy? Concerning the political leaders, it is for them to decide which must come first-the good of their party or the good of the Country as a whole. That the national good must come first was evidenced by the way in which the second consideration-the transition of governmental change-was treated. To make the transfer of government more effective, the incumbent Dem- ocratic Administration, led by former President Truman, did all in its power to make it the most orderly change, many believe, that ever took THE CHELSEA REVIEW . place in our history. But it had to be so! It had to be in order that we, as a nation, might stand united, in the eyes of a questioning and watchful world, against the ever-present threat of the increasing danger of Communist tyranny. For it is clear beyond doubt, that Divine Providence has cloaked over the broad shoulders of our Country the toga of leadership. It is our re- sponsibility as a nation, therefore, to prove our- selves worthy of that awesome dignity. Thus we must stand united, Americans all. No patriotic American, conscious of our en- forced position in world alfairs, can afford to have an anti feeling, especially at this crucial moment in our Nationis history, against the new party in control, at least, not until it has had the opportunity to prove itself to be the worthy guardian of the rights of the people at home and abroad. lf it does not, then we shall be able eventually to censure the party in power in the approved American way, and go on, united nonetheless as before. No thinking citizen can close his eyes to the fact that thc main obstacle in the troublesome days ahead is the evil of Communism, which threatens the very survival of the human race. Communism has no regard for the freedoms that we hold dear, nor does it have any regard for the Chris- tian concept that the state is the servant of the people, instead, it holds that freedom belongs only to the state, and that people, in turn, exist only for the state. We all hope sincerely that the new administration will continue to further the ends of the Christian concept of democratic freedom. It can and it will, but only with the full and intelligent support of a people who are determined never to accept anything less than complete freedom, no matter how great the responsibilities of such freedom are. The saying: United we stand, divided we fall,', may have all the earmarks of a cliche to the modern mind. But cliche or not, the fact is that united we must stand, lest in division we contribute to the fall of the most highly dedi- cated nation the world has ever known, a nation that has dedicated herself to the ideal of ma- turing a free people-free to live, free to speak, free to worship, with a dignity and purpose that reHects the Divine Intelligence working in us all. .61