Responsibilities of American Citizenship (1955)

when our founding fathers established this Republic they created a political and economic system unique among nations a system which has led the United States to the very pinnacle in wealth and in world leadership this series of programs is being presented to help all of us understand better our advantages under our American Way of life for today's topic let's join now a group of young people at the National Education Program workshop in searcy arkansas at the classroom lectern is dr. Clifton L gayness jr. noted young historian we're discussing today one of the most precious gifts on earth American citizenship American citizenship is a combination of freedom and responsibilities the privileges of freedom come to us has a heritage from many generations of pioneering Americans the responsibilities must be developed by each new generation by each individual citizen some of you may be asking yourselves why should we be bothered with developing citizenship responsibilities well there are many reasons one of the primary reasons is that great principals do not live from generation to generation without being nurtured without being kept vigorously alive unless we understand and work effectively for the principles upon which our American Way of life is founded the structure will crumble and our heritage of freedom will perish another primary reason for the development of citizenship responsibility is that we are living in an error marked by the growth of socialism to a substantial degree in one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of the earth and the shadow is encroaching upon our own liberty a third major reason for accepting our citizenship respond abilities and working at them is the presence within America of socialists and communists propagandists dedicated to the establishment of a new order the Communists fifth columnist among us are working for world dictatorship to accomplish this their strategy is to undermine the confidence of our people in the American system and the principles on which it stands the Socialists among us seek to bring about a gradual change in our system by gradually destroying the principle of the private ownership of property and substituting the socialist principle of government ownership now let's be practical for a moment is the American Way of life worth bothering about that is with a viewpoint of self-interest well let's see we know that under the stars and stripes we have more freedom than do civilized people on earth our freedom stems from the fact that America is a republic founded on a constitution and dedicated to the principle of democracy and the worth of the individual the people rule but some philosophers tell us that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach in other words food the material things of life are dear to the heart let's look briefly at the material blessings of America our nation although containing only six percent of the land area and seven percent of the population of the world produces forty-two percent of the world's wealth we know that the average American in all walks of life as a living standard twice as high as the best in Europe for socialism is widespread and from five to ten times better than in the communist countries such as Russia and China and if we remember our previous lessons we know that this economic abundance is possible in America because incentives for progress and the other factors built into our dynamic private enterprise system have enabled us to utilize our resources to the fullest extent so we do have good sound reasons both abstractly and in self-interest for developing citizenship responsible with these towards safeguarding the basic principles of our way of life but let's put the full challenge in a few words the world is caught in an era of socialist expansion most of the nations are affected and America is a target in fact the number one target are both the socialist and the communist if we permit our great system to crumble through the apathy of our citizenship we should lose not only our freedom but our prosperity and are still brighter future but then must we do as citizens what are our obligations of citizenship number one to understand the American Way of life and what makes it tick for instance we should understand that our form of government is a republic not a pure democracy and we should clearly understand the difference who can tell us the difference in a few words a pure democracy establishes majority rule with a minority overrun yes it does on the other hand our republic is based on a constitution which protects minority rights in our republic we have representative government not sure majority rule and isn't its authority divided into three branches the executive legislative and judicial yes it is and it's important to that in our republic Authority is surrounded by an ingenious system of checks and balances that prevents autocratic our dictatorial rule that is if we maintain the Constitution as our basic law well that briefly sums up our political structure what about our economic structure our economic system is based on three major principles private ownership of property the profit motive in the competitive open market yes those are the three great pillars private ownership diffuses the wealth and economic power over the very widest area over our whole population and makes our people independent masters of their own lives the profit motive as we have learned is active in all human behavior and our economic system the profit motive is the incentive for new development and constantly expanding production and the open competitive market is where the consumer is king it is this factor in our economy which brings about better goods and lower prices as one company after another tries to outdo its competitors and get the consumers business these are some of the basic facts about our own system which every citizen should know but now let us go on to additional obligations of American citizenship number two to understand communism it's basic godless philosophy its goal of world conquest it's insidious tactics and is cunning strategy number three on our list of obligations is to understand socialism and all the cunning disguises in which it presents itself to the American people our fourth obligation is to understand propaganda techniques as used by both the Communists and the Socialists this is a very vitally important need thousands of good loyal Americans have been duped into actually aiding the Communists simply because they did not look carefully before they join some high-sounding venture before they more or less blindly advocated some course of action number five in the list of American citizenship obligations is to take an interest in your public schools and in your private and public financed colleges to take an interest in what's being taught and how it's being taught and to take an interest in the welfare of the teachers who contribute so much to the development of America number six in addition to voting in all elections become active in government run for local state and national office our help select capable people of the highest integrity to serve be constantly vocal on all local and national political issues tell your representatives in Congress are even the President himself what do you think is the best course on issues that come before the public number seven strive constantly for spiritual growth we as individuals can push the world along toward mankind's highest destiny if each of us will make the welfare of his fellow man his first concern and if each of us will apply the principles of God's truth to our political and economic affairs and lastly obligation number eight dedicate a part of your everyday life to the bringing of these requirements of American citizenship to the attention of fellow students fellow workers neighbors and friends is it too much to ask that we fulfill these obligations of citizenship if we think so we should read again the history of the founding of this nation and consider the hardship of the people who made possible our freedom they felt that no challenge was too great if freedom was at stake that spirit carried them on it created for us the foundation of our great heritage we have seen it flare up and burn brightly and every national emergency on the battlefields and at home the socialists the Communists and their followers would like to see the American spirit extinguished if each of us will rise to the occasion if every citizen young and old will accept the challenge of his citizenship in the socialist and communist and their followers will not prevail and America will go on toward the fulfillment of her great world destiny this concludes the American adventure series our next series of classes in the American Way of life will be announced soon for now class dismissed the American adventure series is a production of the national education program searcy arkansas dr. George S Benson director dr. Clifton Alchemist jr. was our instructor this is a continuing series based on a unique political and economic system which has made America great watch for the next presentation of the American adventure