The following article is an editorial from The New Times of October 20, 1961. The New Times is the Australian Social Credit paper. We are reprinting it here because it shows how similar are the problems of fluoridation in Canada and Australia. People everywhere are very much alike in their attitudes towards both democratic ideals and totalitarian measures.
On Saturday, September 23, the people of the city of Albury, New South Wales, not only dealt the policy of mass medication called fluoridation a severe blow they demonstrated in a most heartening manner that the Australian people still possess a deeply-rooted antipathy to all forms of totalitarianism. It is significant that one section of the Melbourne press which has been advocating fluoridation of public water supplies, and which has been claiming that public opinion polls show that a majority of people favour fluoridation, ignored the overwhelming vote against mass medication by the people of Albury.
The referendum held in Albury was the second held in Australia on the fluoridation issue. The first was held at the small Queensland center of Chinchilla, and the result was an unpleasant pill for the totalitarians who believe that a government has the right to compel people to submit to mass medication. However, it was suggested that the result at Chinchilla was insignificant; that it was only a small country center, and that the vote could not be regarded as a true reflection of Australian public opinion. But the decision at Albury, a large provincial city, has obviously come as a crushing blow to the fluoridationists. The vote against fluoridation was overwhelming, 6,888 people being in opposition and only 1,753 in favour.
The large opposition vote was recorded in the face of a highly-organized campaign to which the N.S.W. Minister of Health gave his personal support. The Albury medical, dental and pharmaceutical professions supported the campaign for fluoridation. The City Health Inspector and the Water and Sewage Engineer also gave their support. And the N.S.W. Department of Health strongly backed the pro-fluoridation campaign. Against this massive and impressive campaign, a small group of Albury citizens gallantly upheld the principle of the right of the individual to decide freely for himself whether or not he was going to consume fluorides with his water.
The defeat of fluoridation in Albury does not mean, of course, that the advocates of compulsory mass medication will cease their efforts. The totalitarian virus is deeply seated in Australia, as in all other countries, and there are many people who are convinced that they know what is best for people and that they should have the right to impose their policies on their fellows. An example of the virulence of the disease is provided by an editorial which appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald commenting upon the anti-fluoridation vote in Albury.
The editorial which appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald of September 27, provides a most illuminating picture of the thinking of many editorial writers for the Australian daily press. It is headed, "Emotion Wins In Albury", and, after observing that propagandists against fluoridation "stirred up the community, sarcastically states that, "The people of Albury have gone on record as insisting on the sacred right to let their own teeth — and, more importantly, those of their children — rot". This insulting rubbish implies that the officials of the N.S.W. Health Department – which deplores the holding of referendums on fluoridation - are more interested in the teeth of Albury parents that are the parents. The truth is that the parents of Albury have not voted in favour of tooth decay; they have refused to accept the policy of fluoridation as an alleged means of preventing tooth decay. Tooth decay, admittedly, is a serious problem. But much more serious is the decay of a sense of freedom and personal responsibility.
Having delivered himself of his views on the wicked irresponsibility of Albury's parents, the leader writer then proceeds to reveal his totalitarian philosophy. Parents must "take the consequences. They must pay for this "freedom". And how must they pay for not accepting mass medication? "...if a dental benefits scheme ever becomes a practical proposition, committees which reject fluoridation of their water supplies should be specifically excluded from it. Then there might be an agonising reappraisal of anti-fluoridation arguments".
Without discussing here the question of Government dental benefit schemes, we point out that any such schemes would be financed out of the pockets of taxpayers, including the people of Albury. And the leader writer for The Sydney Morning Herald bluntly urges that any people who have the audacity to reject fluoridation should be denied the return of any of their own taxation under a dental benefits scheme..
We would not be surprised to learn that the person responsible for it's classic piece of totalitarian advocacy describes himself as an anti-communist. And this highlights the truth that labels and words today no longer reflect reality. The basic struggle in the world is not between those who call themselves Communists and anti-Communists, but between those who believe that the freedom of the individual to make free choices and to accept personal responsibility for those choices — is the most important thing in the world. The Western world is retreating against the Communist advance because many people have surrendered to the totalitarian virus. All forms of collectivism help weaken resistance to Communism. Every increase in the power of the State is a weakening of the power of the individual. And every weakening of the individual's sense of freedom and responsibility makes the Communists' task so much easier. Every defeat of totalitarianism is therefore an event to be warmly welcomed and applauded.
The salvation of Western Civilization must start with the individual, who through action in his own local community can demonstrate how totalitarianism can be defeated and freedom upheld. Those responsible for the lead against fluoridation of the public water supply in Albury demonstrated what can be accomplished by a dedicated few who serve a principle. They have also demonstrated that the dedicated few can defeat the massed battalions of Government agencies and associated interests. They have provided both inspiration and hope to those fighting the totalitarianism challenge everywhere.
Having described the outlines of Communist espionage systems in the U.S.A., Canada and Great Britain, in his book, "Les Espions Soviétiques dans le monde" (Soviet Spies in the world), Léon de Poncins concludes thus:
"As we have seen in the course of these proceedings, Communist agents are recruited from those milieus in which dwell the intellectual liberals and progressives; there exists between them an affinity of ideas, sympathies and a tacit alliance, often unrealized.
"Most of the agents whom we named were not even Communists. strictly so-called: thus they were often more useful to the party than if they were proclaimed Communists.
"They were not those condemned to misery or to hunger, but intellectuals coming forth from great universities such as Cambridge in England, Harvard and Columbia in the United States, McGill in Canada; many were scientists of great value, holding down high positions; certain of them were personally very wealthy (to name some of these latter; Noel Field, a member of the Vanderbilt family in the United States, and Raymond Boyer of Canada).
"In the U.S.A., said Chambers, the workers are Democrats, the middle class Republicans and the upper intellectual class, Communists. Such a state of fact is not always so clear cut, but it is far more common than is commonly thought."
Léon De PONCINS