Extremists Politicians and lovers long ago discovered that there are
practically no new words to describe their policies or their passions. Everything has been said before. So in this election we are all modernisers, growth merchants, prosperity seekers, and John Citizen may reasonably be bewildered. Perhaps his safest guide is to ignore the words spoken and make up his own mind on the speaker. I referred last week to Dr. Martin Luther King's letter from prison in Birm- ingham, Alabama. Reading this fine testament again, I see that he uses much the same argument and almost exactly the same words as those which offended American Liberals so much when Senator Goldwater used them. Dr. King explains that although 'initially disappointed at being cate- gorised as an extremist' he 'gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you. . . ." Was not Amos an extremist for justice? . . . Paul an extremist for the Christian Gospel.... Martin Luther... . John Bunyan.... Abraham Lincoln.... Thomas Jefferson. . . .' So perhaps we are all now ex- tremists—but for different ends.
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