Union

In 1972, I served as chairman of the LSU Student Union Speakers Committee.

I introduced the comedian Dick Gregory to an audience of 1400 people in the theatre. He spoke very convincingly to his listeners, making skilfull use of his humorous world view to explain and justify the plight of black folk to obtain justice and dignity in 20th-century America. Soon thereafter, I was approached by Mike Connelly, president of the local chapter of the Young Americans for freedom. He complained that our guest speakers were too liberal. It was a point well-taken, as we had brought in, not only Dick Gregory, but previously Dr. Spock, author of Baby and Child Care and Paul Goodwin, author of Growing Up Absurd. Conservatives of that mid-20th-century era had complained that the baby boomers, one of whom is this writer, were being spoiled, and that these two authors, Dr. Spock and Paul Goodwin, were largely responsible for our generation's turning out to be so contrary. . . preferring to identify with rock’n’rollers, hippies and protesters against the war in Vietnam. I understood Mike Connelly’s complaint; so I asked him to get William F. Buckley to come and speak to us at LSU.  Mr. Buckley was the founder of the National Review, a magazine that advocated for American conservatism in a way that was intellectually more appropriate and effective than the John Birch Society. William Buckley’s message to us college kids was appropriate and profound. I was glad that we had succeeded in recruiting him. The American deep South of that era was a culture very different from what it is today. We have come a long way in conducting a society that assures freedom and justice for all people.     President Abraham Lincoln’s leadership in the 1860’s was a decisive factor in our great American hope to establish freedom and justice for all. He was the author of the Emancipation Proclamation. His insistence  that we preserve our American freedom and justice for all citizens changed the course of history. As history unfolded, thousands of American soldiers fought to preserve the human rights of all Americans. Many of those soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice of life, demonstrating their last full measure of devotion. The Union of our people here has caused US  to remain, for wherever citizens gather to assure the American name, their is justice and favor for all those who are willing to act according to the all-American game, politics. Politics is better than insurrection. Like the ancient prophet Zechariah, we have two staffs in American politics: Favor and Union. Any citizen who does not find a favorable path to accomplish political goals can at least—it is their duty— cherish and respect the rights and privileges of all the rest of us to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And we can dream, as Paul Simon did. . . “and I dreamed I was flying; high up above. . . my eyes could clearly see the stature of Liberty. . .”

Liberty and Justice for All, the American dream: that’s what the Union of our citizens here has caused America to retain:  one nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all. Glass half-Full