199 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
199 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IV July, 1923 No.7
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MASON'S FLAG
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by: Unknown
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In the charge to an Entered Apprentice each of us has been told:
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"In the state, you are to be a quiet and peaceful subject, true to
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your government, and just to your country; you are not to countenance
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disloyalty or rebellion, but patiently submit to the legal authority,
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and conform with cheerfulness to the government of the country in
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which you live."
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The second, third and fourth charges, to which all Masters must
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assent before being permitted to assume the Oriental Chair, are as
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follows:
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"You agree to be a peaceable citizen, and cheerfully to conform to
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the laws of the country in which you reside."
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"You promise not to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against
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government, but patiently to submit to the law and constituted
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authorities."
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"You agree to pay a proper respect to the civil magistrates; to work
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diligently, live creditably, and act honorably toward all men."
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In the ninth charge an elected Master agrees: "To promote the general
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good of society, to cultivate the social virtues and propagate the
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knowledge of the Mystic Arts."
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None who hear these charges need to be reminded of the assurances
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given them prior to their first obligation, regarding the allegiance
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all owe to their country.
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These matters are here rehearsed that all may recall that Masonry is,
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actively and ritualistically, a supporter of established government;
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those who wish further assurances may read all the Old Charges of a
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Freemason for themselves, particularly the first; "Concerning God and
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Religion" and second, "Of the Civil Magistrate, Supreme and
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Subordinate."
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A good citizen is not necessarily a Mason, but no indifferent citizen
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can possibly be a good Mason. The unpatriotic Mason is an
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impossibility, as much so as "Dry Water, or "Black Sunlight."
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One hundred and fifty years ago this month our forefathers declared
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that inasmuch as all men are created free and equal, they and their
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descendants shall always be free and independent. they set up their
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own government, these men who brought a new idea of government into
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the world, and they fashioned that new idea of the very stuff from
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which Masonry is made; aye, they cut the cloth of the flag from the
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garments of Freemasonry and with every stitch which put a star in its
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field of blue, they sewed in a Masonic principle of "Right,
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Toleration and Freedom of Conscience." They declared against tyranny
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and oppression, and they pledged their all - wealth, comfort,
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position, happiness and life itself - to maintain and support this
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revolutionary declaration that men are free and have a right to
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govern themselves.
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This is neither the time nor the place to read again the inspiring
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story of the Revolutionary War, of the privations and problems of
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those early days, of the power which was Washington and the fire
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which was Jefferson. But, in this, the anniversary month of the
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birth of this nation, all Masons may well pause for a moment in their
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busy lives to think of what Masonry teaches of citizenship and
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patriotism.
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Ours is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the
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people." All have an equal share in it; one man's vote is as big and
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as powerful as the vote of another. But we do not always remember
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that there is no right in all the world, whether having its origin in
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God or in man, which does not bring with it a corresponding duty. We
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have, so we proclaim, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
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happiness; therefore, we cannot escape the duty of seeing to it that
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our fellowmen have the same right. In 1776 we declared that we were
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free and equal of right; we thereby assumed the duty of maintaining
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that contention before all the world; the duty of fighting for what
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we claimed, no matter whom the opponent might be.
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All battles are not fought with shot and shell, and not all opponents
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of our idea of liberty wear the robes of George the Third. We have a
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never-ending conflict with the forces of indifference, of selfishness
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and of ignorance; forces which are just as powerful and just as able
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to destroy this nation and this government as the armed force of men
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and guns which any nation or group of nations could bring against us.
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It is against these that the good citizen must always be in arms,
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these which the true Mason is always willing to fight and to conquer,
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even if it be himself he must first meet in conflict.
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Any American citizen will resent with all the force of his being any
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attempt at disenfranchisement. His vote is own; his inalienable
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right, guaranteed to him under the constitution, the very heart and
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soul of his Americanism. But the vote is not only a guaranteed and
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inalienable right, it is a solemn duty. If all have this right, and
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none use it, there can be no government (of the people). If all have
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the right and only a minority use it, we have a government by the
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minority of the majority. Then what becomes of our boast that this
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government is "By The People?" The Mason who does not go to the
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polls and register his voice, no matter how small a part of the world
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it may be, not only gives up voluntarily the right for which hundreds
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of thousands of patriots fought, bled and died for, but dodges his
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solemn duty to the State in failing to live up to that Charge which
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admonishes him to be "True To His Government and Just To His
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Country."
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Injustice was the underlying reason, the foundation stone on which
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all the other reasons rested, which caused men to rebel against the
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English King, and declare themselves independent. Taxation without
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representation; the feeling that they were being exploited; that the
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millions of subjects of the King, loyal and true to the ideals of the
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Mother-Country as they knew themselves to be, were but pawns in a
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game in which George the Third played with human destinies for purely
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selfish reason; these were the bitter dregs of the cup held to the
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lips of the colonists, which they could not swallow.
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Injustice, inhumanity, the exploitation of the weak by the strong,
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the oppression of the helpless by authority, the enslavement of men's
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bodies or their souls by force - these are anathema to Americans.
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And so our legal structure, our courts and out ideals of justice are
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all so arranged and used that every possible protection is thrown
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about a man who must stand before his fellows, accused of wrong-
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doing, lest injustice be done.
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At the very root of our system of justice is the jury system. But
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what a mockery a "Jury of his Peers" often becomes! When it is a
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mockery, it is because we, who would fight to the death under a
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waving Flag of Stars and Stripes rather than let an enemy have one
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inch of our sacred soil, often turn away from the call to jury duty
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and allow selfish pleasure, indifference and personal convenience to
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keep us from doing our share in the administration of that justice,
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to promote that for which this nation was born.
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A jury-serving citizen may not be a Mason, but no real Mason who
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obeys the teachings of our great Fraternity will not let anything
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less potent and important than his duty to his family cause him to
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"Beg Off" from jury service, or try to dodge his share in the
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administration of that justice which we proclaim is "For All."
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It is a proud Masonic boast that politics is not discussed in lodge
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rooms, and that Masonry is not a power politically. But the boast is
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and should be true only when the word "Politics" and "Politically"
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are used in the narrow, partisan sense. Masons cannot be, in their
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lodge rooms, "Republicans" or "Democrats." But Masons can and should
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take a most earnest interest in the political activities of the
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nation as a whole and cast their votes and raise their voices for
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those moments which are for the benefit of all.
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Particularly is this true of the public school system.
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The "Little Red School House," which so well served the forefathers
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of this nation, is rapidly passing; the consolidated school, the
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better city and town schools with new and better methods of
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transportation are taking its place. But only the form of the
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building and the quality of the teaching have changed; the underlying
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idea is the same. And for that idea Masons have always stood firm,
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and must always stand four-square.
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Though our Declaration of Independence asserts that men (people) are
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created free and equal, we know that no power of government can keep
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them equal. Different people, different minds; different people,
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different characters. All government can do and all it should do
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towards preservation of equality is to assure equality of
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opportunity. And that is what the public school system does,
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provides an equality of opportunity by which the high and the low,
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the rich and the poor, the clever and the stupid, may have equal
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chances to drink from the fountain of knowledge, equal chances to
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become well informed men and women, equal opportunity to rise to the
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top!
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With some of our greatest leaders coming from log cabins, no one in
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all the world can say this nation does not practice what it preaches.
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The highest gift in the hands of the nation can be and has been given
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to a son of plain people, and will again. That equality of
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opportunity today has its beginnings in our public school systems.
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The Mason who is not interested in those schools, whether or not his
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children attend them, the Mason who is not alert to prevent
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encroachments upon the system, which some organizations continually
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attempt; the Mason who is not a self-constituted watch-dog of
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juvenile freedom and the child's right to the best education that
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State can provide, has little right to wear the Square and Compasses,
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and none to answer "Well!" when in some far-off day a Great Judge
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shall ask him, "How Did Ye With Your Obligation as a Freemason?"
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Over your head, and mine, waves the most beautiful Flag in all the
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world. Its red is the red of the blood shed by selfless men, for the
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establishment and the preservation of the Union. Its blue is the
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blue of the sky, a symbol of limitless opportunity; the blue of Blue
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Lodge Masonry, which first raised the flag aloft and whose hands have
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held it high for one hundred and fifty years. Its White Stars and
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Stripes symbolize purity; the purity of aim, purity of ideals, purity
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of intentions and purity of purpose to sacrifice for the common good.
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Let us keep the red unspotted; let us maintain the blue as loyally as
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we maintain the sacred institution under whose letter "G" we meet
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together; and let us, one and all, from the Worshipful Master in the
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East, to the youngest entered Apprentice in the Northeast Corner of
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the Lodge, keep the white unspotted, that the government "Of The
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People, By The People and For The People Shall Not Perish From The
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Earth!"
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