The Gastonia Gazette from Gastonia, North Carolina • Page 2

Opinion page McGovern supporters find their guy is human, too A number of McLiuvern supporters who rode into Miami on the rosy wings of a dream will leave that fairyland som ewhat disillusioned. They have found that their prince is human after all. He is softening some of his altitudes and this the young people do not like. They are. as Mrs.

Helen Marvin said, idealists and they find it hard to understand that their man cannot win when he espouses views that a great number of people find objectionable. They were irritated and they screamed their anger in the hotel lobby Wednesday night when McGovern said he would not sign a bill providing life imprisonment for any police officer who "murders" a black or any other member of a minority group. They worry about the black who is killed by a policeman. McGovern knows, and his advisors know, that more people worry about the victims of other slayings and the victims of rapes and burglaries and the fact that you cannot safely walk the streets of many cities including our capital at night. They booed his stands on the war, marijuana, abortion and amnesty for draft dodgers because they thought they were too far to the right.

Many people in the past have said they are too far to the left, and it is likely that they will be softened even more as November nears. They cheered him when he said that in 90 days after he is elected President every American troop and every American soldier will be home. But other people whose votes McGovern must have, sat at home and listened on television and wondered to themselves if anyone thinks they are foolish enough to believe that the North Vietnamese will bundle up American prisoners and send them home without milking every last concession they want out of this country. And now he must convince these people that he knows what he is talking about. A lady supporter of McGovern from Illinois sat beside a Gaston County woman at a Miami lunch and said that some McGovern people wore irritated that his headquarters had sent down word to vote against the abortion plank.

It was a Women's Lib thing that would have gained him solid support from them, but strategists weighed the number of women's libbers against the people who do not believe in abortion including Catholics and the candidate took the stand which will appeal to the most people. They booed him when he said he was not prepared to recommend the complete legalization of marijuana, but again the vast majority of people and their beliefs must be considered by a man who wants to win. The changeover has begun for McGovern. Some of his young people who had a passionate belief that he was the answer to their revolutionary prayers will drop off the McGovern bandwagon now. Some will stay on and become more disillusioned as their man reaches further to the right for support.

In the months before November they will learn a lesson and it is this: They must give, as well as take. And as long as America still selects its presidents by popular and electoral vote a candidate is going to have to give too. Unless he is become but a showpiece who espouses the unthinkable, who is given a brief moment of glory as a concession to the people who sponsor him and who then steps down from the rostrum to become a nonentity once again. About those ideas: JESSE HELMS is a television commentator in Raleigh who is highly regarded by many down-easterners because of his conservative philosophy. He is also the GOP nominee for the U.

S. Senate in November. Not long ago Helms was wondering, like a lot of other people, where young people get some of the ideas they have. Why so many of them hate their country. Why they are eager to join with mobs to denounce America.

He found part of the answer in a textbook which is used in a history course at N. C. University at Raleigh. The first two words in the book, Jesse says, are "Capitalism stinks." With that beginning, the author moves on into 458 pages of absolute denunciation of America. The name of the book is "Up Against the American Myth." The text, according to Jesse, includes such statements as: "We can solve our social problems only by doing away with capitalism and the institutions that support it It is only through developing and expanrt- ing the socialist rationality that the advanced industrial countries can hope to overcome the ills of society." Helms called the young instructor at State who had selected the textbook for his course.

He asked the young man, a graduate of Yale, what he would recommend to replace the capitalistic system functioning in America. He couldn't come up with any suggestions. "None of the systems works," he said. When Helms suggested that capitalism built the university where he teaches and pays his salary he said, "I cannot accept that theory." Asked if he intended to use a textbook which would suggest that capitalism does not stink, he said no. He said, in fact, that he did not know of any book which defends the American system.

And yet his chosen text infers that the American system of government is deliberately operated so as to oppress the people. Now you know where they get some of their ideas. And you're paying for it. THE GASTONIA GAZETTE Gastonia, N. Monday, July 17, 1972 Let Peace Begin With Mel Tiiis newspaper is dedicated to furnishing information to our readers so that they can better promote and preserve their own freedom and encourage others to sac its blessings.

For only when man understands freedom and is free to control himself and all he produces can he develop to his utmost capabilities. We believe that all men are equally endowed by their Creator, and not by a government, with the right take moral action to preserve their life and property and secure mmc free- dam and keep it for themselves and others. Freedom is self-control, no more, no less. To discharge this responsibility, free men, to the best of their ability, must understand and apply to daily living the great moral guide expressed in. the Coveting Commandment.

TENDERIZED? Presidential vote no real choice? A RECURRENT criticism of the American political system, one which comes up at least every four years, is the charge that the selection of a president is nothing but a choice between Tweedledee and Tweededum. The idea is that the two major parties are essentially so similar in their philosophies and programs that it really doesn't make much difference which one is in power. And that, it is alleged, is a bad thing. For a really meaningful election, runs the argument, the people should have a choice between two clearly different philosophies and programs and candidates. That, it is alleged, would be a good thing.

CARRIED TO its logical actually, its illogical extreme, this means that in every presidential election Americans ought to be offered a choice between a right-wing fascist and a left-wing Communist. This, of course, is ridiculous. In fact, a choice between two different brands of totalitarianism would itself be a case of Tweedledum and Tweed- ledee, a "choice" between two essentially similar evils. Yet we need only recall the election of 1964 to realize that when Americans are indeed offered "a choice, not an echo," they will choose the candidate who appears the more moderate, who stands closest to the political center. It is at its peri! that a party nominates a candidate too far out of the mainstream.

In 1964, what to do about Vietnam was the overriding issue. Americans emphatically rejected the candidate who avocated a hard line and overwhelmingly favored the candidate who promised no military involvement in Vietnam and a continued forging of a "Great Society" of social progress at home. Never mind that the winner eventually adopted the very war policies that were discredited at the polls. Americans were given the appearance of a clear choice, and acting on that appearance they chose the moderate. There is an analogy in the astronomical phenomenon of double stars, in which two bodies revolve around a common center of gravity at the same time as they influence each other.

In politics, the center of gravity the small society by Don Oakley is the mass of people, and the major parties, if they would be major and not maverick, splinter parties, cannot stray to far from the pull of that center. It is true that the center may change. In this century, the American political center has registered a slow shift toward the left. But the "law of political gravitation" still holds. It is also true that in a time of deep national crisis, as in the Depression year of 1932, the American people demand a man who offers them new directions and new hope.

They do not want a Tweedledum when the policies of a Tweedledee have failed. BOTH PARTIES, however, will be seeking out the center during the election, for the center is where the voles come from. If this be Tweedledee and Tweedledum, make the most of it. But in politics as in celestial mechanics, anything else would be chaos. Timely topics Religion is the light of our life.

Faith is the key that turns it Ernie Ford, singer. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to Now I known in part, then I shall understand fully, even as 1 have been fully So faith, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is Cor. 13: 12,13, by Brickman ONE OF Self-service gas stations rising AUTOMATION at the filling station. Pump your own gas. How many American workers might be replaced with a coin-operated machine? National news media, home based in big cities, cannot present an accurate mirror of us the United States.

Big city problems are not necessarily "typical," yet the big cities monopolize the press, radio, TV, magazine and other information facilities. Thus changes and trends initiated by news media re not necessarily to everybody's best interest. TO KEEP me reminded how "out-of-touch" we can become in our ivory towers, frequently I recall a suggestion which Eleanor Roosevelt once made to help working girls economize. In her magazine column she suggested, among other things, that working girls should ride taxicabs less, buses more. Her response demonstrated a total lack of awareness that working girls then and now only seldom allow themselves the luxury of a taxicab.

Recently the Wall Street Journal described the typical service station attendant as follows: "A high school kid with a Veronic Lake hairdo who swishes a greasy rag across your windshield and considers it a reflection on his manhood to have to check your car's oil and water." Well, we are putting up with a lot of goof-offs in the city, but that description does not properly reflect the professional service station attendants I encounter while traveling the byroads. Nonetheless, since crowded cities get the worst of everything first and since tie city-based news media send the ugly picture everywhere at the speed of light, evolution whether progress or retrogression is accelerated everywhere. So where just a decade ago there was but one self-service filling station in our nation, a "novelty" idea, today there are 12,000. The number has quadrupled in three years. The cut-rate discounters started it, now the big companies are doing it.

Many major company stations have designated one or two pumps where you may serve yourself for less per gallon. Conventional stations which have been unprofitable are being converted altogether to self-service. Industry executive Harry Bade calls it "the first basic change in gasoline marketing since the industry started." Another, Bob Reed, predicts "more half of all gasoline will be sold through self-service outlets 'very In 19IM only 13 states allowed it; now 40 do. It's a bonanza for manufacturers of the coin-operaled pufps. A totally automated station can be set up for as little as $10,000.

STATISTICALLY, so far, the hazards are no greater lhan in attended stations. The introduction of self-service stations frequently triggers a price war with franchise dealers; friction is inevitable. Evolution, accelerated, is revolution. And this is nothing less than that. The bush-leaguer By Jim Fiebig BOBBY FISCHER'S successful demand for higher stakes before agreeing to meet Russia's Boris Spassky for the world champion chess title has Soviet citizens calling him a "money-grubbing capitalist." That changes the complexion of the 24-game match.

What originally would have been just another championship series is now an intellectual showdown between Russian communism and good old American money-grubbing capitalism. That being the case, the United States is fortunate to have a Fischer to carry its ideological colors. He is more than a phenomenon at chess he is a phenomenon in a country that ranks the game right up alongside tiddlywinks in national importance. Put another way, America's coming up with a Bobby Fischer is akin to Japan's chances of producing a world heavyweight boxing champ. Nevertheless, there is some doubt that Bobby is all that capitalistic.

Although his most recent showing is encouraging, he's done little during his career to really make the big buck from the game. For example, I've never seen a chess set bearing his name. And to my knowledge he has yet to write a syndicated newspaper column on chess tiiis, appear on Merv Griffin's show or even have his most exciting game plans' reduced to comic book form for kids. Good heavens, there aren't even any Bobby Fischer T-shirts on the market. IF BOBBY beats Spassky for the world championship, we can all be quick to call it a triumph for capitalism.

If he loses, however, let's remind the Russians that as a mondy-grubbing capitalist Fischer is a bush-league amateur. open Natural food Dear Sir, Three times before I have attempted this letter, three limes I have failed. Not (hat the words weren't there nay, just the opposite. Page after page, wall to wall illustrations and examples. Too long to be printed here, so, this attempt.

The subject is sky-rocketing meat prices, hollow and devitalized processed foods, tainted and rotten meat prices, hollow and servativcs and other dangerous che- miccals. And no way for the consumer to do anything about it. At least that was the attitude the Gazette (June 25th edition) left me with. Well, there is an alternative. Back to Unprocessed, undamaged, natural, organic food.

Full of vitamins and minerals in the quantities God intended for us to have. Not what some nutritionist thinks we need. Whole grains, beans, nuts, meat and vegetables. But where can you get these things in Gastonia? Nowhere. That's right, no where.

So several of us have gotten together and formed a food co-op. We order organic foods at wholesale prices and divide it up between us when it arrives. If interested call me at this number 8(i7-(H29. Leave a message if I'm not there. Peace be with you, Larry Slack 1518 Florida Street.