Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Braille Monitor: Special Issue; May, 1959
The first move of the mcdaniel-boring faction following the 1958 convention took the form Of a purported rebuttal by mcdaniel to George Card's mild convention summary in the Monitor. The Mc Daniel piece contrived to revive and fight out all over again the very issues which had been decided by the convention. In an effort to con fine this acrimonious debate so far as possible within the boundaries of the Federation, the president declined to publish the mcdaniel re buttal in the Braille Monitor but instead circulated it to Federation members in the form Of a special bulletin. Among other things, the mcdaniel rebuttal contained the amazing argument that the basic changes in the Federation which his faction sought could have beenaccomplished by the president and the executive committee alone without any need for consultation or consent by the convention. That argument was only the most obvious revelation in the paper that what the faction was agitating for was not more, but distinctly less, democ racy; not additional authority or responsibility for the membership and its delegates, but simply more power for the executive committee power which could, of course, be obtained only by taking policy-mak ing powers away from the convention and administrative powers away from the president.
In releasing the mcdaniel rebuttal as a bulletin, the president wrote in his accompanying letter: Democracy indeed requires, as our critic seems to say, enlightened and effective leadership. But leadership however enlightened can only be effective when other essen tials Of democracy are also present; and the most essential of these is the simple willingness to resolve the differences peaceably through the process Of majority vote. It would be better, no doubt, if there could always be unanimous and perfect accord among us; but when there is not, it is indispensable to the very life Of any democratic movement that those who find their views defeated should accept the decision in good faith and work together with their fellows in the com mon cause. No one who refuses to recognize and abide by the prin ciple of majority rule should be permitted to invoke the name Of de mocracy for his tactics of Obstruction. For if those tactics should succeed the result would be not democracy, nor unity, nor effective leadership, but only anarchy and failure.
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