CONSTITUENCY OF CONSCIENCE

IN a column that appeared on the editorial page of the New York Times, Eugene McCarthy last week gave an eloquent explanation of the evolution of his campaign from an "educational program" to a full-fledged fight for the presidency. Highlights:

Everywhere I have campaigned I have sensed a deep uneasiness about the war and about the quality of our leadership. It flows from a profound and growing conviction that something is wrong with the direction of American society.

It is now clear to me that the discontent of the young is only the most dramatic sign of a feeling of paralysis that is shared by Americans of all ages.

Americans are not by nature a people that wishes to oppress their fellow citizens or oppress the peoples of other nations, and they do not wish to be led by fear. Yet we see the growth of leadership by fear. We are finding among ourselves fear of remote enemies and fear of our fellow citizens.

I have found this unease among every kind of American, and my most urgent appeal is not to any ready-made political bloc or alliance of interests or constituencies in this country. It is to one constituency--a constituency of conscience, of hope and of trust in the future.

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If I am elected I will never regard the presidency as a personal office. A President should not speak of "my country" but always of "our country," not of "my Cabinet" but of "the Cabinet." For once the Cabinet has been appointed it becomes something apart from the man who nominated its members and something apart even from the Senate which confirms them in office.

In this conception the office belongs not to the man who holds it but to the people of the nation. It is an office which must be exercised by the will of the majority but not in the sole interest of the majority.

The role of the President must be to unite the nation. But he must unite it by inspiring it, not unite it by just adding it up or by piecing it together like some kind of jigsaw puzzle. Rather than trying to organize the nation he must try to encourage the common purpose of creating an order of justice in America.

sb

I believe that a man who is presented to the presidency must know the limitations of power, and know the limitations that must be placed on the exercise of the office of the President. He should understand that this country cannot be governed by coercion, and that it needs a special kind of leadership, which itself recognizes that the potential for leadership exists in every man and woman.

America has great reserves of energy and high purpose, but at present our energy is being diverted and our idealism is being sapped by a war that seems to transgress our cherished tradition of prudence and decency. Much of our energy has been turned toward destruction, and the more generous and noble impulses of our people have been given little room to manifest themselves.

The next President must liberate these generous impulses by reordering our national priorities. He must give direction to the movement of the nation by setting people free.

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