7 Dark Roses - Free Audio ebooks

As for American labor-management relations, some busi-

nessmen are still living figurati

vely in the long dead and

un-lamented days of public-be-damned laissez faire

Capitalism. They resist any forward stride that may better

the working-man’s lot. In short, they consider labor as their

natural enemy, rather than as their natural ally in a

common effort. On the other hand, quite a number of labor

leaders have ceased being labor leaders. Instead, they’ve

become executives in a new and independent industry

called labor. This form of labor has but one apparent aim:

to compete with business and industry and to make things

as difficult and unprofitable as possible for them.

Clearly, there are errors and abuses on both sides of the

labor-management fence. Yet, anyone who criticizes

management will quickly have the wrath of manufacturers’

groups down on his head. He who criticizes labor or its

leaders will have the full fury of labor groups and

organizations to contend with. In the former case, he will be

reviled as a radical. In the latter, he will be accused of

being a reactionary. Consequently, there are few who are

willing to criticize both sides freely and objectively. There

remains only the highly prejudiced criticism of one side by

the other.

Our educational system? A shocking percentage of our

high school and college graduates are deficient in reading,

writing and simple arithmetic. Their knowledge of geogra-

phy is weak, of history, woolly and muddled. There is ob-

viously something wrong with our educational system. It is

not beyond the realm of possibili

ty that there might even be

something wrong with at least some of our schoolteachers.

But heaven help anyone daring to express such heretical

views.

Through some weird process of brainwashing, the public

has come to believe that our schools are sacrosanct, beyond

criticism or question. As for our teachers, they have been

endowed with sublime qualities; they are pictured as long-

suffering, overworked and underpaid martyrs sacrificing

themselves on the altars of education. Any criticism of

either schools or teachers brings a storm of abusive protest.

Teachers’ groups—and, egged on by them, parent-teacher

associations—are quick to counterattack. The critic is

characterized as an ogre who

hates children and wishes to

destroy civilization and bring about a return of the Dark

Ages.

According to U.S. Office of Education figures, American

schoolteachers’ salaries have risen more than 1000 percent

in the last 50 years or so. The average schoolteacher’s

salary today is over $4000 per year. Would anyone in his

right mind say that the quality of our educational

standards has risen comparably—or risen at all—in the

last half century?

Now, I did not choose these three examples because I

have any particular axes to grind. I do not say that our

foreign policy is bad, nor even that it necessarily needs any

major overhaul. I am not trying to blame either capital or

labor for any economic ills. In no way do I wish to imply

that I believe all our schoolteachers are incompetent or

undeserving of high praise or pay. I chose the examples at

random, merely to point out the fallacy of thinking that

everything is always all right everywhere. There are

always many things that require investigations, critical

examination and evaluation—and then possibly change and

improvement—in all areas of our society.

The public at large cannot allow itself to be swayed from

seeking needed reforms by entrenched bureaucrats, selfish

minority groups or organizations which have their own, and

far from altruistic, reasons for wishing to preserve the

status quo.

In order that our society and its institutions

may be strengthened there must be dissent. There must be

dissenters who will seek out and point out the faults and

abuses which exist or may develop.

“But most people today feel they can’t afford to be dis-

senters,” a moderately successful manufacturer declared to

me recently. “They’re afraid they’ll lose their jobs,

customers or profits if they try to buck powerful special-

interest groups. You’ve got to be a multimillionaire to feel

secure enough to speak out these days.”

It so happens that I

a multimillionaire, but I’d hate

to think it is for this reason alone that I can be a dissenter

if I choose to be one. I don’t be

lieve it’s true. I feel that the

real reason there has been so little dissent of late is that

Americans have been far too satisfied with their lot and

with their achievements. We have all grown indifferent and

complacent. Being too comfortable, we haven’t wanted to

see, say or hear anything which might disturb the bovine

tranquility of our rosy existence.

But I sense a strong wind of change in the offing. I’m of

the opinion that America and its people are awakening to

the realization that the lotus-eating binge is over. The

hangover is already beginning to hurt—but it is having a

highly beneficial effect. Through bleary eyes, we start to see

the grave errors and deadly dangers in the “all is well and

could not be better” thesis so

long peddled by some of our

leaders and the drumbeaters of Madison Avenue. I’m

convinced the American people

are ready to reclaim their

minds and their nation, to take them back from the

pressure groups, selfish minorities and hucksters to whom

they lost them by default in recent years. I predict the

vanishing American dissenters will soon reappear on the

American scene and will once again make themselves

heard—and will once again be give

n fair hearing. It will be

a pleasure and a great relief to welcome them back. The

nation’s future will be brighter—and far more secure—for

the return of the breed!