Andrew Young answers questions at a press conference, prior to his speech at Montreat College.

‘Faith and Civil Rights’ termed intertwined in quest for social justice

From Daily Planet Staff Reports

MONTREAT — American society, which has benefitted from big government over the years, may be even more tense now than in during the civil rights-era of the 1960s “after a simple vote on health care,” former U.S. ambassador Andrew Young told a crowd on March 22 in Montreat College’s Anderson Auditorium.

Young served in the U.S. Congress and as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Carter administration. He also served as mayor of Atlanta for two terms. Young still lives in Atlanta with his wife, Carolyn McClain Young. He is the father of three daughters and one son.

He was introduced by college President Dan Strubel, who said Young “and other African-American ministers” involved in the civil rights movement were comparable to “the struggle of George Washington and his troops at Valley Forge.”

Moreover, Struble noted that Young was with King “on his last day, when he drew his last breath” (in April 4, 1968). when he was shot to death on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tenn.

Young, who was greeted with a standing ovation from the audience, said, “I’d like to make this more of a conversation than a formal lecture.” He noted that he first came to the college in 1958 and has fond memories of his visits through the years.

“I was born in 1932, so I came up in a time when everyone needed government,” he said. “Whether big or small, we did some miraculous things.”

He said the Great Depression “came out of unbridled greed” and praised New Deal social welfare programs for returning the economy to health.

“My parents had to explain to me about white supremacy,” which he termed a disease.

“We had to go to war with Hitler ... Of course, everyone agrees we need big government for national defense in times of war.”

The issue of big government “goes way back,” Young said, noting, “My favorite president, John Adams, a member of my church — United Church of Christ — and a Founding Father, he thought Thomas Jefferson was crazy because he spent $73,000 on the Louisiana Purchase.

As for Jefferson, Young said that, “despite having slaves,” he had a vision for the United States.

“John Adams was wrong about the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. If you think bad things are being said about Barrack Obama, and they are, see what was said about John Adams and Thomas Jefferson” in their time.

“Looking over 200 years of our nation, they were both right. Jefferson was correct in envisioning the U.S. as a larger nation, as was Adams in viewing Jefferson “as a terrible sinner” for owning slaves — “and Alexander Hamilton was right about needing a national bank.”

He added, “Democracy is a terrible form of government,” but it’s the best choice for the U.S.

In his own life, Young said he become involved with the government through the civil rights movement. “Our idea was to redeem the soul of America” in race relations, “but the atmosphere was about as polarizing then as it is now.”

As a result of civil rights legislation, Young said the South now is taking the lead in race relations.
In noting that 65,000 Americans died in the Korean War, 50,000 in Vietnam and 20,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan, Young contended, “I think all wars could be prevented.” He said former President Jimmy Carter, a Southern Democrat, showed “we can avoid war.”

When Carter asked Young to serve as ambassador to Africa, “he didn’t give me an agenda. He asked me to ask them what we could do to help them solve their problems,” Young said. “Since 1978, no Egyptian has killed any Iraeli” and vice versa, thanks to his and Carter’s diplomatic efforts.

Young then praised economist John Maynard Keynes for believing “government, in times of crisis, should give money to people on the bottom.”

He told of serving on Congress’ Banking Committee when it decided to sever the remaining ties of the dollar to the gold standard.

Less than six weeks after Congress decided to cut the link of the dollar with gold, “Watergate broke — and the economy was forgotten ... The United States was in deep trouble (financially) and Japan was riding very high.
“Then Milton Friedman and the Chicago wing of the Republican Party took over,” he said. “After Ronald Reagan got elected in California ... big government was targeted.”

He noted that he paid $32 for the birth of his child in 1954 — and it cost $9,000 for the birth of his grandchild.
“We’ve gone from a place of community responsibility for each other, to a place of survival of the fittest. Without an institutional government support network, what would happen? How will we take care of each other? For me, it’s not a question of big government and small government. It’s a matter of good government versus bad government. I don’t mind paying property taxes. it costs less to educate people than to imprison them.”

“So, it seems to me, making government work” is the crux of the civil rights movement ... Government prevents us from hurting each other. I need some guideline to keep me in my place and keep me from hurting my neighbors,” Young said, noting that the government fulfills that need.

In the recent financial collapse, Young said that, despite many lawyers, “it was an accountant who figured it out ... If you want to get a Ph.D. in economics and finance, I’ll write you a recommendation, but not to study law ... When it comes to economics, none of us preachers and none of the lawyers understand it.”

He added, “I love President Obama. I didn’t originally. He’s been the spirit of nonviolence. He’s maintained a certain level of decorum that we need to survive as a democracy.

As for the future, Young said, “We need an economic system that allows us to share what is really a blessing from God ... I don’t know what the future holds.”

On health insurance, he said, “We’ve got it. What we’re going to do with it, I don’t know ... But does anyone here not have a Medicaid card? All of these people in the Tea Parties profited from many aspects of big government and somehow, we’ve got to figure out how to make all of this make sense.

“I’ve got to think about the future of this planet. I think we can do that better together.”