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    "label": "Michigan Association of Professions, Detroit, MI, January 23, 1960",
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    "title": "Michigan Association of Professions, Detroit, MI, January 23, 1960",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4525757",
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        "Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers",
        "Speeches"
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box D15, folder \"Michigan Association of\nProfessions, Detroit, MI, January 23, 1960\" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press\nSecretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nDigitized from Box D15 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nTwo Information\nExcerpts from an address\nresp.\nby\nRepresentative Gerald R. Ford, Jr.\nMichigan Association of Professions\nHome\nDetroit, Michigan, January 23, 1960\nI'd like to point out this Today morning what I believe are some alarming developments\nin our national internal life and to suggest the role that you can play in helping\nN\nour nation to meet these challenges. As I do so, I hope can avoid either the undue\noptimism of a Pollyanna or the unwarranted pessimism of a modern Cassandra.\nHowever, at the start, I should make clear that I am basically an optimist. In\nthe past few months, I have had some opportunity to travel about our country and, once\nagain, I was reassured by what I saw. We live in a marvelous country. As one leaves\nthe hothouse atmosphere of Washington and goes out among the people, one cannot help\nbut be deeply impressed by the basic strength of our country. That strength is\nreflected in our abundant resources, in their dynamic development, and, above all,\nin our energetic, freedom-loving and God-fearing people.\nthe long have\nI have no fear for the future of such a nation and such a people. I believe\nthey can meet and conquer any problem once they understand the nature of the problem\nand its significance.\nIt is in this area, the area of recognizing our problems, of understanding them\nand of choosing the right solutions, that we face our greatest challenge, and it is\nmore Than\nhere where my basic feeling of optimism is tempered by a few nagging doubts. They\nare brought on by a number of warning signals in our economic and political life\nwhich we cannot afford to ignore as we move into the decade of the fabulous 60's.\nAs a prospering, highly-developed nation, we face the same danger which has\nconfronted every successful nation or civilization since history began. Our danger\nis that, as we enjoy our strength and prosperity, we neglect, and thus weaken, those\nvery institutions and principles which made us strong and prosperous and free. Our\ndanger lies in complacency, selfishness, ignorance, and irresponsibility.\nAnd, while my message today is 1 that it need not happen here, let us not delude\nourselves. It can happen here. Just because in our lifetime we have seen our nation\nmove from one plateau to the other, each higher than the last, until we now stand the\ngreatest nation in the world, let us not think that we cannot fall in fact The prescysice\nmaybe closer then\nI have often thought that perhaps the first thing which should be taught in\nwe The\nthe civics and political science courses in our schools is the story of the decline\nand fall of the Roman Empire. The story of a nation which became the undisputed\nruler of the world and then collapsed so utterly and so completely that it plunged\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\n-2-\nthe civilized world into darkness for centuries, should be studied by every American.\nWe would learn that just because an economy and a civilization rises to\nwill memorin at The pronecle\nspectacular heights is no reason it is going to stay there m perpetenty\nWe would learn that stupidity, selfishness, and ignorance on the part of the\npopulation and its rulers can bring on not just a temporary reversal but a collapse\nso complete as to wipe out the whole structure with all of its accomplishments. The\nRoman Empire collapsed because it became rotten within. It became rotten because the\npeople and the government failed to preserve those virtues which had led to its strength\nand because its citizens refused to apply any restraint to their demands upon the\ngovernment. Literally, the Roman Empire tore itself to pieces through the weakness and\ndemagoguery of its rulers and the enormous burden of expenses they incurred in meeting\nthe demands of a citizenry which forgot the public interest in its selfish fight for\nthe fruits of national prosperity.\nThe comparison between our nation and the Roman Empire is not a perfect one, but\nabvious\nwe cannot ignore the warning signals which are flying today.\nwith +\nAs a nation, in spite of the heaviest tax burden in its history, we appear to be\nItis almost beyond comprehension that This year our federal government cannot itowaj\nHowev, deficit financing slems to be habit froming + wen describle economics among some government officials\nconstitutionally unable to restrain our expenditures below the level of our income. 1 We pay\nhave balanced our budget (lived within our income as a government) in only five out\n3'\ngravely concerned that this fiscal year will end on\nof the last 29 years. Needless to say, I am more than pleased with the President'\nJune 30 #4 bobbion in the mil + responsible Arrecasts predict a deficit of over 93 Willion m the nept months trudve\nrecommendations for & $4.2 surplus in fiscal year 1961. Basically however, we\n298\nappear unable to reduce our tremendous national debt which now stands at $290 billion.\nover\nInterest on that debt alone amounts to $9 billion dollars each year which is more than\nour total annual expenditures for every purpose only 20 years ago. As a result of\nthis profligacy with our national wealth, coupled with the selfish demands of the\nmore highly organized segments of our economy, we are fighting a losing battle against\ninflation. Over The the cost past of thesty goods years and services have is been going up. The value of our money Los\ndone\n1 laught in This vise\ngoing down. In that struggle the victims are those who are least able to protect\nthemselves. Unfortunity victims are our Amion citizens who have return on fixed incomes, + the\nyoung, even These the inton, results, who however, must assume grave though the nesponsibity they may of be, payong are but the debts the symptoms of our generation. of what\nI believe to be a far more serious defect in our national !ife. I refer to the growing\ntendency of our people, encouraged by demagogues whose only principle is a lust for\npower, to take the easy way out. We know, each of us in our own hearts and minds,\nthat the right way is not always the easy way and that no nation which has consistently\ntaken the path of least resistance, including the Roman Empire, has ever survived. The\neasy way, if it is the wrong way, leads only to the misery of retraced steps or the\nfinality of disaster. Yet, what are our constantly recurring deficits, what is our\nhuge debt, what is our inflated currency--if they are not the symptoms of a people\nand a nation which have fallen into the habit of taking the easy way out?\nGERALD LIBRARY\nPresident federal Invenuing\n-3-\nwill encrease\nThe hard way, we know, is to rely on our own individual initiative and self\nreliance for the solution of our problems. The easy way is to pass these problems\non to government. The easy way is for the local units to pass them on to the state\ngovernment and for the state government, in turn, to pass them on to the federal\ngovernment This Frend in the last eighteen months has added almost 100, on\nfederal employees If Empless anacts several of the major legislative proposate recommended by the\nToo many of our politicians and self-appointed leaders seem to find it politically\nexpedient to suggest that the solution to any problem should rest on government. And\nno politician has found it difficult, seemingly or has lost any votes, by suggesting that the\nsolution for any state or local problem was the responsibility of the national govern-\nment. How simple and easy it is to shift responsibility to government. It is also\nmuch less risky, from the politicians point of view, to remove a problem from the\ncareful scrutiny of the folks back home and dump it in the legislative pit of the\nnational congress where its costs, complexities, and waste are hidden in a multitude\nof other federal activities, This concentration of has one very slows\nfault a gont by sangh gove no everything we want its\nThis is the easy way to avoid responsibility. This is the path which our people\nare being encouraged to take by those who think more of the next election than they do\nof the next generation.\nIf you think I overstate the case, examine the proposals that are being advocated\ndaily for the solution of most of our problems. Pass a federal law, create a new agency,\nappropriate billions. allegelly That ends the problem.\nIt is not a question of the need for the program or project. The tragedy is\nthat we have succumbed to what we have been led to think is the easy way of meeting\na recognized need. The demagogue has no difficulty in selling us on the idea of using\nfederal funds, which incidentally must be borrowed by a debt-burdened government, in\npreference to raising the funds locally, probably through increased taxes. There has\nbeen spread across our land the idea that there is some magic in federal money and\na bottomless pit.\nthat its supply is somehow unlimited. The demagogue is not concerned with the true\nfacts of our precarious fiscal position. He is interested only in providing painless\nbenefits for his greater glory.\nThe demagogue, and those like him, have also discovered that it is easier to\ninfluence one legislative body, the federal congress, than it is 50 state legislatures\nor thousands of local governing bodies. He knows the national government is further\naway from the close scrutiny of the people. He knows he can more easily bring to bear\non the national legislature the heavy influence of powerful pressure groups.\nThe net result of deluding ourselves into believing that the easy way can safely\nbe traveled is not alone the financial and fiscal difficulties it inevitably creates.\nFORD\nIn the process, we not only weaken our basic economic strength through lavish and\n-4-\nuncontrollable expenditures, but we weaken ourselves as individuals and we weaken\nour local and state governments. Weakness and lack of power is the invariable con-\nsequence of the constant sloughing off of responsibility to someone else. If we choose\nto make figureheads of our local governments whose function, under our constitutional\nform of government is to help preserve our individual liberties, then we have laid the\nbasis for the complete concentration of power in the federal government and its\ninevitable corruption into absolute tyranny. This consentation of power has one\nmat services implication agrt by though to gave me everything we want is a government in 4 take\nI have spoken pessimistically of what I have described as the tendency of a from\neverything\nprosperous and successful people to rest on their oars, to avoid difficult decisions,\nhe Rave.\nand to take the easy way out of their difficulties. I have spoken of it in terms of\nour fiscal difficulties, in terms of its dangers to our liberties and, specifically,\nsome the\n2 hope\nin terms of its relationship to the problemsin which you are primarily interested. I is\nhave suggested that a continuation of this trend to its logical conclusion can only\nlead to a grave weakening or possible collapse of our nation. I have said this collapse\nis possible, and I call to your attention, as another reminder, the work of the\nBritish historian, Toynbee, whose study led him to the conclusion that of the 26\nmajor civilizations in world history, 16 are now dead and buried and the remaining 10\nare rapidly losing their character.\nBut, early in my remarks, I said I was an optimist, that I had great faith in\nyour people\nthe basic strength of our nation and that, while it can happen here, it need not\nhappen here. Whether it does or doesn't happen depends on you and me and every citizen\nin this land. It is up to us to determine whether we will continue to forever adopt\nthe easy solution, the expedient answer and the least distasteful course of action,\nor whether we will pursue the right course, the sound solution and the intelligent\nprogram regardless of how difficult they may first appear to be.\nSeveral centuries ago, the Italian poet, Dante, put it this way:\n\"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral\nThe communities in now\ncrisis, maintain their neutrality.\" My plea to you today, as leaders in the professions\nis to discard your neutrality in this period of moral crisis and to enlist in the fight\nto preserve our nation and its institutions.\nBut I would be derelict in my duty if I merely summoned you to battle and left\nit at that. Certainly, you are entitled to a knowledge of the nature of the struggle\nand to my ideas as to the kind of strategy and tactics which must be employed by those\nwho choose to fight for the right rather than the easy way.\nWhen I speak of a summons to battle, let me make clear what I mean. I call upon\nprofessions, in the breamess community & thems\nyou, as individual leaders in your communities and in your professions, and I eall\nLIBRARY\n2 believe what Thomas mcCanley once sail,\"\n-5-\nupon your professional organizations and this new organization, to take part,\nyour individual varine organizations\nwith enthusiasm, with courage, and with determination, in the political life of our\nin Tower\nnation. I do not refer to political theorizing or polite discussions on a high plane\namong a yourselves; I refer to the down-to-earth, back-breaking job of nominating and\nelecting candidates to political office. I refer to the only kind of political action\nwhich has any meaning if we are to reverse the trend I have described today. I refer\nto the defeat of those who oppose everything for which you stand through the victory of\nthose who will work shoulder to shoulder with you on behalf of the principles which\nbrought greatness to America.\nI can give you one word of encouragement at the outset. It is my considered\nopinion, as one who has spent some years in American politics, that the principles of\ngovernment in which you believe are held by a majority of the American people. If the\ncause of common-sense conservatism, with its dynamic urge to preserve the best American\ninstitutions, has suffered in recent years, it has not been because of any change in\nthe basic philosophy of the majority of Americans. It has come about instead because\nradicalism and the proponents of the easy way have done a vastly better job of mobilizing\ntheir strength and in hammering home their something-for-nothing philosophy. You know\nthat is so without my telling you. The really effective political action groups in\nthis nation are in radical hands. They are working the soil which produces the most\nabundant harvest. They are developing and electing candidates who will promote their\nviewpoint. These extremists in political philosophy have all developed highly-effective\npolitical organizations which are producing results when the votes are counted. While\nI violently disagree with their philosophy and with many of their ruthless methods, I\nam not one to stand on the sidelines and criticise their activities. Fundamentally, they\nare doing what every citizen should do in a representative republic. They are taking\npart in the basic process of representative government. They are electing office-holders\nwho will advance their views and the answer to this activity is not criticism. The\nanswer to radical political action is middle-of-the-road or conservative counter-action,\nand the sooner we realize that fact the sooner we can restore the balance of power in\nour internal political life.\nwh?\nWhat I am saying, I believe, has particular meaning for you, and your new organi\nzation. I hold you in high regard, for I selve member of one of the professions repre-\nsented here, but I ask you quite frankly whether our professional people and their\ntoo many Jma of the organizations to which\nwe belong\norganizations in the crucial struggle for the preservation of our institutions, have\ntaken the easy way out by an excessive preoccupation with political neutrality? That\nis a question which every individual or group in our nation should now be asking itself,\nGER\nLIBRARY\nindividually and collectively.\n-6-\nPolitical success cannot be achieved by well-meaning attempts to influence men\nwho have already been elected to office. That is the easy way, but, unfortunately,\nlike many other expedient methods, it just doesn't work. The farmer well knows the\nfinest seed ever produced will not sprout if it is sown in a bed of concrete. Your\na legulative body\nefforts to achieve political success cannot be harvested in the legislature unless\nyou have prepared the soil in the precincts at home.\nWhat is called for, I sincerely believe, is a decision on your part, both as\nindividuals and as members of your localgrape professional associations to renounce political\nneutrality during elections and to bring your entire individual and organizational\nstrength to bear on behalf of candidates who meet your rigid specifications of honor\nand outlook.\nAs individuals, you have the responsibility and duty to become actively engaged\nin partisan politics. I am not here as a recruiter for the Republican Party, although\nI will be glad to take membership applications at the door. What I am saying is that\nyou cannot, as individuals, expect to achieve concrete political results if you are\nunwilling to join and work for the party of your choice. It is only within a party\nthat you can help to determine party policy, help select candidates for party nomination\nand work for their eventual election. It is only within a political party that you can\ntill and fertilize the soil which will produce the kind of legislators who will, for\nstate national,\nexample, get some of our basic problems out of politics. Many like myself in the\npolitical arena are disappointed that professional people are not working as actively\nmore of our highly instructed citizens\nthe american people their good mid Priferm perce in lature chambers and in advisory\nas they should in a political party If this is true across the land, then I say councily.\nprofessionally trained people have no complaint when they find the halls of our legis lature\nholies\nlatures slowly filling up with those whose views are diametrically opposed to their own.\nI will go even further and say that, beyond your clear call to duty as individuals,\nyour professional Insurers associations\ntheir\nspokers\nyour association, if hopes to be effective in promoting its program$ must take an\norganized groups\nactive interest, as an in the nomination and election of legislative\ncandidates. You can deliberate at this Congress and devise the finest program in the\ndescuss usues an local arganystem meetings + come my with strongly\nzet\nworld and all of your efforts will go for naught if your drgadization is willing to\nthe group\nstand namely the sidelines and permit the election of legislators whose views are contrary\nto your basic philosophies. The day has long since passed when you can confine your\npolitical efforts to education after the elections have been held. How, I ask you, can\nlocal,\neven the most efficient state or national association staff sell your philosophy to a\nCongressman who owes his political allegiance to some other group or organization leader.\nThe load Chanbe Commerce, the P.T.A, or the groups representation the FORD\nI am not suggesting that your organization become the wing or adjunct to one of\nour political parties. I hope, however, that I have made it crystal clear that believe\nLIBRARY\n-7-\nyour organization cannot afford to be neutral in any political contest where one\ncandidate is for and the other against everything for which you stand. Nor indeed, do\nI see much hope for America if our best citizens and our most respectedgroups stand\nsmugly aside while the real struggle is being fought and permit victory by default for\nthose whose policies can lead only to the collapse of our nation.\nThe 18th century British statesman, Edmund Burke, said:\n\"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.\" He\nalso said that \"the people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.\"\nThe gravest danger confronting our nation today is that the people delude themselves\ninto believing there is an easy way out of all their difficulties. The triumph of\nsuch evil can only come about if good men stand idly by. Let it never be said that\nyou and I were among those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintained our neutrality\nand did nothing."
}