John Quincy Adams; R. M. Thornton

18 fectly clear to his constituents that he would be his own man in Wash ington, not a mere errand boy or mouthpiece for any party or sec tion. This, evidently, was good enough for the farmers of Plym outh, because Adams was re elected every term until his death in office in 1848. The independent stand of John Quincy Adams contrasts sharply with the promises of many of to day's candidates and officeholders to be guided almost exclusively by the majority-or the strong and vocal minority that gives the im pression of being a majority. The 1968 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 19 politician of today is concerned not with doing what he believes is right but with doing what the majority of those who elected him want him to do, be it right or wrong. Consequently, he devotes much of his time to nose-counting instead of hard thinking and pray erful meditation. The most successful political leaders of the future will not nec essarily be men of intelligence, wisdom, experience, knowledge, honor, character, and integrity.

Rather, they will be the men-or women-with the most sophisti cated polling and computing sys tern; the man, that is, who before committing himself on any ques tion, can quickly and accurately determine the majority opinion among his constituents. There is no room in such a situation for a John Quincy Adams with his broad experience, wide learning, and strong character. In fact, the sit uation calls for no man at all, least of all a man of integrity; a ma chine can "count noses." When comparing the politicians of today with John Quincy Adams, we must recognize the idea im plicitin each position. The politi cal leaders in our time believe, or in return for votes pretend to be lieve, the voice of the people is the voice of God-vox populi, vox dei. Men like John Quincy Adams, on the other hand, do not believe such nonsense. Nor do they believe that any party or nation has a monop oly on the truth. Truth is not found by the expedient of count ing noses. Very often the maj ori ty can be dead wrong; it is a few wise individuals-the natural aris tocracy - who lead them on the right path away from disaster.

We need men in office like John Quincy Adams who believe their duty is always to seek what is right, whose allegiance is not to a party or section or nation but to the Truth. ~ Essential Justice FOR THERE is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is necessarily unjust and wicked. CICERO, De Legibus ONE AND INSEPARABLE WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN Two FAMILIAR left-wing cliches that are too often allowed to pass unexamined and unrefuted are that freedom under capitalism is freedom to starve and that human rights are superior to property rights. The implications are that people are most likely to go hun gry under a system of free enter prise and private ownership and that there is a basic antagonism between human rights and prop erty rights. Both assumptions are completely false and misleading.