Basic HTML Version
March,
1970
for e'erybod}'· Ha
'e
il
come by real
close
10
where ever}body lives, and
ohen enough day and night so nobody
would have to "ait, and t.hcy cou!d go
' 'here thcy want
w
whcn they want
w.
Thcy ougbt to force people to recog–
ni.~e
the necessity for birth control.
We ought
w
give thc United Nalions
more "teeth' '
so
we could quit quar–
reling about ideologies and get
10
work
on the real problems. We need econom–
ic freedom so there would be no
needs.
When the peasant rises up his cause
is right. We ougbt to help the rebels.
W'c've beco supporting tbe wroog
peoplc. We ought
10
give food ro the
hungry narions "ho need it and make
it available to them free. We ought
to forgcr farm subsidirs and Jet tbe
farmer produce as much as he cao.
Of course, it would cost a lot of money
and that's the thing - nobody wams
to
spend the money.
As far as rules for socia l restraint,
all
\\C
need are minimnl rules aod
mincH power tn batk it up. lt's all so
hypotheút-al. Rules are nor really
nccessary if people really tried acúvely
not to harm one another so the first
rule oughr to be "Actively avoid barm·
ing othcrs." 1 would like to
see
any
rcligion do what it should do. [ can't
really tcll you how to go from hcre
to
thcre but somebody's got ro do
something.
Evcryone has philosophized at one
time or another, whethcr in his own
living room with his friends or on a
bar stool with his buddics or in a bull
session with the boys at work or over
a bridge table wilh thc girls.
All mankind's problems have been
thoroughly examined and each goes
his
own way fully convinced
1f
he had his
way and had the power to cause other
people to do the things he saw neces·
sary, that the world wouldn't have any
problems anymorc.
lt's
getting other
peoplc to sce it the way you do that
seems to be the problcm.
Here, loosely summarized, are
some
of thc arguments of response to youth–
ful opinion from thc Establishment:
The Establishment Answers
The problem with gettin¡t everybody
a comfortable living \\age would be
first, to determine ho' ' mucb that
\\Ould be - pick thc figure
S10,000
a year for a family of four and every–
bod}' who earned less might agree that
that was a comforwble wagc. But all
those who carned that much or more
would be dissatisfied. And of course,
if those who were spendin¡:: effoct and
cncrgy to earn that much or more
realiLed you could gct th.H mu..h witb–
out doing ao) thing, the}' might sign
up and quit "orking - quit pa)·ing
their taxes. Thcn "here would the
money come from? Besides, the es·
scnce of the proposcd solution of the
problem is the belicf thar money can
Thc
PLAIN
l"RUTH
make you happy. l sn't t.hat the very
reas<m why most hate the Establish–
ment - becausc lm·e of and trust in
moncy seems
w
be their mono?
Outlawing autornobiles might sound
fine. But wben onc person out of
cvery five lost his job in the ore mines,
steel milis, tmnsportation industry,
automobile assembly plants, petroleum
produns producers, the gas sraúons on
the corner, etc., tJ1en they migbt be of
a different opinion. And wbat about
all of the problcms that might arise
if you
forced
pco¡,)e to ride in car
pools? How many pcople w<.mld wc
need wocking for ú1e governmcnt to
sce ro it that the ordinary
$50.00
to a
S
150.00
a month you spend on your
auromobilc now is dutifully scnt to
the goverrunent so a new accessible,
speedy, free public transit system could
be installed right clown the middle of
your
srreet?
lf
we give all our food tO the
hungry nations, who is ¡::oing ro decide
trhich
hungry nation gets
bozr
1111tCIJ
food? Wh() is going to man the ships
if you can get S
LO,OOO
a year for
doing nothing?
lf
you forget farm
subsidies and let the fanner produce
as mucb as he can, you may discover
an a" fui lot of farmers up-in-arms,
because even with farm subsidies the)•
have produced more than they can
sell! And it may be difficult to get
thc farmer to feel humnnitarian enough
to
work from dawn co dusk, to ship
wheat
to
people whose names he can–
out cvcn pronounce in a narion so far
away he's dubious as to its location
on the globe.
lf thc U. S.
~ivcs
the United Narions
more "teeth" wc may discovcr that
we'll be thc first
w
be
bittm
-
be–
cause ú1ere are more nations who are
of the "have-nots" occupying seats in
thc United Nations d1an there are
those who are blessed witb d1e
abunclance of \\hich we complain.
Surcly C\'eryone has a fertile enough
imagioaúon
tu
disco,er the unending
problems that would arise if we should
try
to
force
birth control on every
individual!
The power nccded to institute these
suggested reforms is so massive and be·
)•ond human imagination as to defy and
boggle the greatest mind. Tbe govern·
mental buream:mcy needed to execute
these reforms "ould soon find every·
body an emplo)·ee of the government.
The amount of monc:y needed
to
finance them would keep all the
printers in d1e United States busy da)'
and night grinding out new (wonh–
less) notes. The policc fMce required
to
force peoplc
10
ride in car pools
or public transportation and to give
the United Nations "teeth" would
mean that e\ery able-bodied person
fmm the
a~e
of
JO
to
1000
would
ha'e
t()
be consuiptcd!
Perhaps the best criticism of all these
ideas, whether by the Establishment or
by those that r<.:bcl against the Estab–
lishment is this: "Nobody can really
tell you how to go from here
to
therc"
Start Small
You didn't ask to be here, but you
tire
here.
43
Whate\'er the world does, whatever
happens
lo
the world, you have little
or no control over it. You can't change
thc government. You can't change
big business. You can't force people
to ride in car pools. You can't subsi–
dize everybody to the tune of S
L0,000
a year. Chances are, you can't even
get
anybody to listen to your problems.
much less Jo anything about them.
There is rcally only one person you
could havc any control over, and
that's vou! Sit back quietly and take
a look at all of the different sides of
society. Chances are you are disgusted
with them all! But you can't changc
lhem,
yet it scems that they are in–
exorably going to change
yo11!
What
you fear most will come upon you
and
JOII
wi/1 become the
ESTABLISH·
MENT! - with all of its hang-ups,
in just a few short years.
NOW,
before !ha/ happem, why
don'!
YOU
decide
YOU
are going lo
get some amll'ers lo the basic questiom
which nobod)
SEEMS
lo knotv the
ansu·er lo?
NOW THERE'S A NEW THING!
Instead of trying to change society,
other people and other institutions,
why don't you just try to change vou
the way you would like to see every–
body be? You say, "What good is
that going to do ?"
How are you going to know until
you ha
ve
tried?
You say, "That's an awfully small
beginning, and what good will it do
for society ?"
Of course it's
a
small beginning, but
it
ii
a beginning.'
You say, "l'm not important and
peo·
plc won't pay any attention to what
1 do!"
But you are important! You're peo–
ple, aren't you? Give it a try and
find
oNI
how much pcople pay attention.
Start with the First Rule
A good place to start is with that
properly phrascd first rule -
AC·
TIVELY AVOIO
001NG
OTHERS HARM.
Try that one on with everything you
do. You s.ty Mom and Dad won't
listen to you, they don't seem inter–
ested in your problems, they don't care