For a Moral Revolution; S. Braden

This assertion repeatedly is confirmed by history. The Hammurabi Code, promulgated earlier· than 2000 B.C., by imposing controls over wages, prices, production, con sumption, and all the rest of the economy, wrecked Baby lonia. Governmental extravagance and a bloated bureauc racy killed individual initiative and led to the fall of an cient Greece. A planned economy of ~tate maintenance for the slothful-plus excessive taxation - brought the col lapse of the later Roman Empire and the regression of a civilized society into the Dark Ages. The welfare state of the Incas became so debilitated as to become easy prey for Pizarro and his CCConquistadores."In its turn, the great Spanish Empire broke when the throne so regimented every activity that no one could earn a living except by [290 ] being a public employee, a priest, or a sailor. For the same reasons the British Empire is now dissolving before our eyes.

You are all too sadly acquainted with how low the eth ical standards of a few public servants have sunk. Equally bad and even worse occurrences have been uncovered in many of our state and municipal governments. Almost everywhere politicians and ·"do-gooders," by camouflaging ill-considered or bad enactments as welfare or defense measures, are enticing their peoples down the path of dalliance into systems of state interventionism. They are leading them to eventual destruction. They are concentrating power in Washington under a bureaucracy already expanded beyond manageable dimensions and which increasingly resorts to uncontrolled extravagance and extravagant controls. They are murdering the nation. Can there be greater treason? Too many laws create confusion, unwise laws corrup tion. Together they nurture absolutism and criminality. There are, for example, many enterprises which could not operate profitably were they to obey, to the letter, a complexity of laws and regulations, which sometimes al most seem to have been enacted with malice aforethought.

As a result, these businessmen are easy prey for gangsters and crooked officials,both high and low, who exact tribute for what they call "protection." In these cases the quickest prophylactic would be to do away with the unwise laws and regulations. Jefferson once remarked that a revolution every so often is a good thing. This country desperately needs a moral [291 ] revolution right now. I pray that it comes soon, before it is too late. I pray that it will be brought on by an outraged public opinion, resulting from each individual reassuming his personal responsibilities and then joining with others to make their voices heard. I pray that it will re-implant the Decalogue and the Golden Rule as the ethical code of the American people. I pray that under its impact the love and old-fashioned discipline exercised within the families of this nation will again be exerted against im morality and crime, corruption and venality.

Such a revolution will return the United States to moral ity and straight thinking, and thereby resolve the crisis . which now confronts us. Then, we may hope the rest of the world may emulate the salutary results obtained here. [292 ] ABOUT THE AUTHORS MAXWELL ANDERSON is the well-known playwright. The Guaranteed Life was first written as a preface to Knick erbocker Holiday in 1938. It was rewritten as a pamphlet in 1950. Sm ERNESTBENN, a successful businessman in England, is President of the Society of Individualists. Rights for Robots is condensed from a 1950 address. SPRUILLEBRADEN was formerly Ambassador to Argentina. For a Moral Revolution is extracted from a 1951 address. EARL BROWDERis the former head of the Communist party in the United States. The Communist Idea (Part II) is extracted from his booklet, Keynes, Foster and Marx; State Capitalism and Progress,published by him in 195ft ASA V. CALL is President of the Pacific Mutual Life Insur ance Company. Insuring Your Insurance is extracted from a 1949 address.