232 State Papers and Addresses

disheartening struggle, is the way of personal freedom; of individual liberty;
of the right of every man to work out his own destiny and to be his own
master so long as his actions do not infringe upon the rights of his neighbor.
The American way of living is based on a profound belief in the dignity of man
as an individual, and bespeaks for him unhampered right to the use of his
God-given faculties and powers. The American way of living places everyone
on an equal plane, with equal opportunity and—mark this well—with equal
responsibilities.

Those who accept the manifold privileges of the American way of living
must recognize that every right entails a corresponding duty, and that, as
Americans worthy of the name, they must be prepared to defend the rights
that they enjoy in direct proportion to the high value in which they hold them.

Such a concept of the way of life which is open to every resident of our
Country absolutely prevents acceptance by our people of the new theories that
underlie the national policy of dictator-ruled states. No sane person who
appreciates and values the national policy of dictator-ruled states. No sane
person who appreciates and values Democracy could bow down and subject
himself to any theory of government which makes the state the all-important
being. Americans will never submit to any self-constituted ruling group, be-
cause too long have they enjoyed the Democratic way of rule: Too well do
they know that the business of government is carried on by men no better or
wiser in the long run than themselves. Democracy and the American system
of government are based on a relationship between man and government
under which man is the government, choose his own leaders, and delegates to
them only such control of his individual and group activities as he feels should
be delegated.

Is this the ideal form of government? We believe it is. And despite our
realization that it is not perfect, we challenge any other system of government
that ever has existed or that now may be striving for mastery to prove its
superiority to our own form: Looking down through the paths of history,
we find many other great nations that arose and flourished for a while and
now are gone. Egypt, Greece, Rome: here on our own continent, the ancient
civilizations, so long past that every record of them is almost extinct; all have
faded away. Why? Because, possibly, they lacked that one world's leading ex-
ponent of Democracy. They lacked that God-given principle of individual
liberty, and in the final analysis that is the thing that properly brought about
their downfall. For man, no matter how abject he may become under despotic
rule, finally manages to unseat the despotic power above him, and then it is
that ruination follows.

Thoroughly in keeping with the American doctrine of free action for all of
its citizens has been America's international policy. Throughout the years,
and particularly since America has come to man's estate and taken its place
at the head of the world family of nations, our national policy has been an
unselfish one, completely non-aggressive, seeking no new territories, making
no selfish alliances. So satisfied have we been with the progress and prosperity
wrought by our own democratic theories that our one desire has been to spread
the knowledge and appreciation of these theories, that the peoples of all the
nations of the world might enjoy the same prosperity and peace that was our
lot. There is not a privilege we ourselves enjoy that we would not share gladly
with all the world.