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the state’s economy, but no recession,
And even these figures don’t tell the
whole story, e
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“Clafitys ana expand their taxation and
spending views between now and Novem-
7 ber 8. Voters should insist that they do.
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Principle or Pragmatism?
ON THE BASIS of what he has said
for the record, the decision of Rep. Charles
Weltner of Atlanta, to withdraw as a
candidate for re-election rather than sup-
port Lester Maddox is both noble and
naive.
Weltner, a 38-year-old, two-term liberal
Democrat, said his oath to the party re-
quired that he support the Democratic
nominees, and “I cannot compromise with
hate. I cannot vote for Lester Maddox.”
Maddox is the pistol-packing, ax-handle
Rep. Charles L. Weltner
Fire the
3 OW
swinging segregationist who is the party’s
gubernatorial nominee.
What makes Weltner’s decision noble
is his obvious dedication to principle.
What makes it naive is his apparent be-
lief that it will change anything —or for
that matter that his oath was binding.
As everywhere else in the country, the
Democratic Party in Georgia has wrapped
its atms around everyone from Eugene
Talmadge to Martin Luther King. The
oath is more of a pledge of allegiance to
party principles than to any individual
candidate, just as the Oath of Allegiance
to the flag doesn’t compel us to like all
Americans or everything about the United
States.
If there is validity to Weltner’s decision,
it is that there is method in his madness,
and he is not telling all. Being a politician,
Weltner has reason to hope that the state
Democratic Party, already split, may turn
to him if Maddox is defeated next month.
He might hope to be the party’s choice
to succeed Republican nominee Howard
Callaway in the governor’s chair. And he
might be right.
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