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we Roncerous Lillaby © dust a crackpot revolutionary’ plant “ab te focetat AGM in Washington and light the fuse de: 4 on ‘ca. be considered dangerous to American instrtutiens” .f" 18 there preater danger in one who plots suc: wt tt ersion as conquered the satellite countries of kurupe, ‘ . : hut carefully refrains from lighting a fuse prematurely? ' ° These are the questions, as we sess it, put before the United States Supreme Courf\by thé “American Civil . Liberties Union recently. The“ACLU, sar at Smith 7 Jons of Communist terders in this country | should be thrown out because American institutions are | so strong that home-grown Communists cannot cause " any “clear and present” danger to them. These American institutions, the AC LU argued, “have so well and so consistently demonstrated their effectiveness in meeting ordinary needs, as well as withsta nding_the_tremendous impact of-two-world- wars, a devastating depression, and the continuing challenge of world-wide unrest, their stability and permanence ; ; would seem to be virtually unassailable...” : : ; The “clear and present danger” doctrine is a recog- ; 2, nized part of American law, but it is scarcely at home . j . ; 1. 7 | in this argument. What the ACLU is saying, in effect, (2, . ©) ; Ta Ce 4 is that since the Communists cannot hope for success . ‘ oe in taking over the American government. we ought to eae se let them try without ‘interference. If we followed that : ; oF road, we should never see danger with the naked eve / until it was tao late. - The importance of the ACLU : attitude. however, ¢ Points more in another direction. Next to subversion itself. the greatest danger this country can face is an attitude by its people and Officials that our wavy of life is so well established, nothing needs be done to protect it, Once we begin to believe that some magic power inakes our institutions “unassailable.” and that we need put in no effort to safeguard them from internal ero- sion, then we're on the way to losing them. a Except for that eternal vigilance which is the price , 16: ef liberty, we could awake some morning to find not - The f ; Stow Veen a pretense Jeft of the things we thought were so re, Inds peel 8 “tar. i strong and permanent. Freedom can be lost in war, but Wale ananot+s, Tnit-ana 2 "is more often sold, given away or slept away The onday, November 24 » LIC4 doctrine of “unassailable” institutions induces a tasger- lap ; ao. oO ous Sleep. We cannot afford to accept it. _ - ALE ial a , veh . ; - vo 4 ry . see or e~ rye ra \