ustxtxb_obs_1965_11_26_50_00012-00000_000.pdf

Y WHAT RIGHT does a President pledge war to support a foreign policy? in the India-Pakistan war there was at least an invasion of the respective borders. We do not have that excuse. For a “word” \(and even the meaning of this “word” is different to the President who gave it and the President who fights to istration of nine governments ago in South Vietnam, we find ourselves at war 6,000 miles from our borders. How can such a word be given, and how can such a word drag us into war as the only means of defending it? I believe in the rule of law. I believe in the formulation of concepts into words so that they may be understood, and as understood, protected. I believe in that word we gave as signers of the U.N. Charter: All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the I believe in the language of the O.A.S. that forbids invasion of any country of the Americas without the agreement of the O.A.S. first obtained. I do not believe in the unilateral use by us of armed force and war in violation of that language. I believe in the concepts of international law, the Gneva Convention, and the Nuremberg trials; not in subversion, bribery, spying, and inhumane conduct. I do not agree that we must defend every pronouncement of our executive at any place in the world with the lives of our soldiers. John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson went to the Berlin Wall and made some pretty foolish promises a few years back. Must war support them? If advice, counsel, economic assistance \(and we tional forums cannot solve the matters in these other countries, war is not the solution, nor does the President have the right to make itwithout full consent of the people after vigorous debate in the Congress and in the land. We must take a moral position and invite the world to meet us on that plane. We must not resort to warany war except as a last resort and to serve our most vital needs. A LAST SUGGESTION: Much as we believe in the mighty power of President Johnson to get things done in Congress, he does not operate in such an environment in foreign policy. We should have a peace group in every community striving daily to study the forces of war and peace, and prepared to counterbalance the forces of war. The President should not be expected to offset these forces alone. If the lives and fortunes of the people of our nation must be committed to war, let it not be for a “word,” “image,” or “face,” but for those basic concepts toward which all peoples aspire, and at a 12 The Texas Observer time and in such manner that all peaceloving peoples can applaud our objectives and our motives. Dear Ronnie: Uncle Jim Hogg Taylor came, in the kitchen and set down at the table this morning, declaring, “I’ll have all the eggs, sausage, and biscuits that you can cook, Nell. First time I’ve felt like eatin’ a big meal in the last two months.” It surprised mama. She says, “Well I’m glad your appetite’s come back, Jim Hogg. I’ve been worried. ’bout you.” “I dreamed it back last night,” Uncle Jim Hogg says, “Had a stem winder of a dream. Woke up feelin’ like a new man.” He’s some pumpkin when it comes to dreamin’. He can out-dream any body in Texas, and give them a three-lap start. I says, “Well let’s have it, Uncle Jim Hogg. Can’t wait to hear it.” “Well, I started off by dreamin that I was watchin President Johnson on T.V. He was explaining what he thought the war in Vietnam was all about. Next I dremt I was havin cramps and dizzy spells. Dremt I went to bout five doctors and they could not locate what was ailin me. So they sent me to a psychiatrist. Dremt I went in to his office, he lays me out on a couch and gets up to the head of it, where I can’t see him, and starts askin me a lot of questions. After a, bit he allows, ‘One thing’s rattlin sure. You got a trauma.’ ” ‘The hell I have! What in the world give me a trauma?’ ” ‘Could of been any number of things. But I would say in your case, it seems that yours is caused by subconscious feelings of guilt.’ ” ‘That sort of rings a bell with me, Doc. I have been feelin sort of guilty here lately. But damned if I know why.’ ” ‘Well, that’s why you’re here. Once we locate the cause of your guilt feelins, you’ll shuck off that trauma like a dirty shirt.’ ” ‘But what causes a person to want to repress his guilt feelins to where he can’t even admit them to himself?’ “The doctor sort of chuckled, ‘Oh, a heap of things. Fear of expressing anger at someone you’re suppose to love, that sort of thing. But let’s dig in here and see what we come up with. Now, how do you and your parents get along?’ “‘Why just fine. I loved them, they loved me. They been dead for 30 years, so I couldn’t have no guilt feelins there.’ “‘How bout your wife? You mad at her?’ ” ‘We had little spats. But we loved each other. Never minded lettin her know I was mad about somethin either. But she’s long dead too.’ ” ‘Well, now you’ve got me stumped. Can you think of anybody you love that you’re mad at right now?’ To do less will lead inevitably to annihilation with only the cockroach the survivor. “I cogitated for a spell, then I says, ‘Well, there’s Lindin Johnson, I reckon.’ ” ‘You mean you love President Johnson?’ “‘Well, that’s not exactly what I meant. Sometimes I love him. Sometimes I don’t. But that’s not the point. The point is he can make me all-fired mad at times. Right now I’m mad at him.’ “‘Looks like we are gettin down to the nub of your trauma. You feel like you ought to love President Johnson, but you’re mad at him and on a subconscious level you feel guilty for being mad at him.’ “Somehow I knew that wasn’t what was ailin me, so after I thought it over some I says, ‘We’re on a cold trail, Doc. I don’t feel like I’m spose to love Linden. I think I ought to respect him. Respect him and the office he holds. Now, I think I ought to love my government. And I do. But that don’t mean I have to love the office holders in my government. They come and go. The government stays always. I’ll tell you right now, I don’t feel a damn bit guilty for not lovin an officer holder that asked me for the job in the first place.’ it HOLD ON THERE NOW,’ the Doc says sort of peevish, ‘We were bout to knock your trauma into a cocked hat, and you start backin away. You’re talkin mighty big about not feelin guilty about being mad at the President. How do you know you’re not just repressing your feelins of guilt?’ ” ‘Cause I ain’t got any guilt feelins about objecting to anything I please that any elected representative of the American people does! From President Johnson on down to ‘the County Tick Inspecter! Way I figure it, Lindin Johnson works for me. Me and the rest of the American people. He came and asked us for the job last year. When any single American citizen feels in his heart the President is not following the right policy, that citizen not only has the right, but he’s got an obligation to voice his objections good and loud. I’d feel guilty if I didn’t exercise that right.’ ” ‘Well, you’ve cleared that up. You don’t feel guilty in the love Lyndon department. So let’s rummage around for the cause of your guilt feelins another direction. Now, a minute ago you said that a citizen had an obligation to voice his protest, when any office holder was following a course that the citizen felt was wrong. That right?’ ” ‘Yessir! That’s exactly how I feel.’ ” ‘And you said just before that, that President Johnson has made you mad. Now, what’s he done to make you mad?’ r 14`44~~###NMNe######~~4~e **#########N#################~##*~~~ Out at Our Place