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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1901)
POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. PAUT ill. IA paper read before "The Philosophical So ciety , " of Denver , Fob. 14 , 1001 , by Louis R. Bhrich , of Colorado Springs , Colo.J It is necessary to make the people understand tlnit , as Aristotle expressed it , "Political society exists for the sake of noble actions ; " that political parties are mere tools to serve this end ; and that these tools are to be changed as the necessity of the hour may demand. At present as that sterling independent , George William Curtis , once said : "The superstition of Divine right has passed from the king to the party , and the be lief that it can do no wrong has become the practical faith of the great multi tudes. " No influence will tone up the higher political faith of the community like the spectacle of the man whom neither the fear of the multitude nor the temptation of office can swerve from the path of truthful , ' courageous utter ance on public issues. Example is ever contagious. "Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies In other men , sleeping , but never dead , Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. " Unfortunately , our schools and our colleges instill in the American youth the passion for success. The end of life should not bo success , but service , and he renders the highest service to society who conscientiously endeavors to pursue and to consistently speak the truth. The man who founds his life on such an ethical basis will not , cannot , cripple his liberty of action by permanently bind ing himself to any political party. Nevertheless , this habit of political , independence need in no wise destroy that sense of practical action which will most conduce to the triumph of desired principles. To me , under the present condition of the national parties , it seems most unwise and unpi-actical to attempt to organize a third party , ex cept with the underlying intention of contributing to the victory of that party , republican or democratic , whose success appears at the time desirable. During the late electoral campaign some eminent citizens , disliking Mr. MoKin- ley because of his imperialistic policy , and Mr. Bryan because of his "free silver" views , advocated the organiza tion of a third party , with the argument : "Between two evils choose neither. " I admit the validity of the argument , if the two evils are of exactly the same gravity and viciousuess ; and also , if the third party can , by any possibility founded on practical judgment , prevent the adoption of one or the other evil. If this is not so , then it would appear son- Bible and imperative to assist in the vic tory of the lessor evil. I cite a case in illustration. In 1844 Polk represented the interests of slavery. Henry Clay , of whom Lincoln , in his debate with Doug las , said : "He was my beau ideal of a statesman , the man for whom I fought all my humble life , " was nominated by the Whigs , and was opposed to the ex tension of slavery An effort was made by the moderate anti-slavery men to pre vent the extreme abolitionists from nominating a third candidate. The fol lowing extracts from letters of the time which I discovered in an old pamphlet are interesting. On April 10 , 1844 , William H. Seward , then governor of New York , wrote as follows to the "Whig young men of Rochester : " -'A citizen who wishes to assert a principle , may do so by casting an isolated vote , or by giving his suffrage with that of a limited and inefficient party , and so far ho may do well and deserve well. But one who means to prevent evil , or to ac complish good , must combine with one or the other of the great parties into which the people divide themselves , and which always divide between themselves the powers of government. Of those parties there are never more than two at one period. Thus believing , we attach ourselves to the Whig party. " To tin's , Gerrit Smith , the ardent abolitionist , replied in part : "You state that the mass of the people being divided between the Whig and Democratic parties , and the powers of government being , there fore , in their hands , he who would ac complish good must combine with one or the other of these parties ? Now , it strikes me , that a reason , which involves so gross a violation of sound ethics , should be promptly abandoned by you , even though you should see no other supportforyoxirposition. What ! Would you have a man connect himself with the Whig or Democratic party , who be lieves both of them to be wicked in then ? aims and measures ? To seek to improve the character of a corrupt party by joining it , and by thus lending one's self to the furtherance of its wicked schemes , is most emphatically 'to cast out devils by the prince of devils. ' " Im pelled by such views , the so-called Libert } ' party nominated Mr. Birnoy for the presidency. This party polled in all 62,800 votes , of which 15,812 were cast in the state of New York. Those few New York votes defeated Henry Clay. Horace Greeley wrote : "To Birney & Co. , therefore , is the country indebted for the election of Polk. " That unfortunate election led to the annexa tion of Texas , to the Mexican war , and straight to the great rebellion. I have never found mention of this action of 1844 in the memoirs of a single abolitionist , which was not coupled with the admission that it was a serious , if not a criminal , blunder. To reform either of the political parties , the pressure must come from without. The man who protests , but who keeps within the ranks of his party , is never feared by the practical politi cian. Senator Hoar's arraignment of the Philippine policy troubled the ad ministration very slightly so long as ho was willing to say that Mr. McKinley was the best-beloved president who ever sat in the presidential chair , and so long as he stood ready to work for his re election. The man they feared was lie who had been affiliated with the repub lican party for half a century , who had been the recipient of distinguished honors from that party , but whoso high- souled sense of right and justice com pelled him , in his eighty-third year , to part company with Ms old political asso ciates and to ally himself with the op position. As I scan the public men of our time , I can recognize no nobler typo of citizen , no purer example of the true patriot , no higher model for the political independent , than George S. Boutwell , of Massachusetts. Our republic needs the stimulus and the disinfecting , purifying influence of men who yield their devotion to the country and not to party. Mr. Bryce well says : "Perhaps no form of gov ernment needs great leaders so much as a democracy. The fatalistic habit of mind perceptible among the Americans needs to be corrected by the spectacle of courage and independence taking their own path and not looking to see whether the mass are moving. Those whose material prosperity tends to lap them in self-complacency and dull the edge of aspiration , need to bo thrilled by the emotions which great men can excite , stimulated by the ideals they present , stirred to a loftier sense of what national life may attain. " We need , as a balance between the selfishness , the heated partisanship , and the unreasoning sheep-like following of the two great political machines , the organization of a large body of indepen dents , who will labor for political puri fication , whose ambition will be to serve the highest and noblest interests of the country under the stimulus of no other reward than the consciousness of duty faithfully followed , and who at all times will stand ready to throw the weight of their influence and of their numbers against whichever party deserves chastisement or defeat. The man who allies himself with such an independent body , whoso aim is truth , and whose utterance flows from conscientious con viction may appropriate to himself the ringing words uttered by one of the noblest representatives of exalted pat riotism and of political independence to whom this or any other country has given birth : "I honor the man who is ready to sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think , And when ho has thought , bo his cause strong or weak , Will lisle t'other lialf for the freedom to speak , Caring not for what vengeance the mob has in store , Lot that mob be the upper ten thousand or lower" .
