Spectator's Journal
An American Disgrace? "Apathy" was traditionally the exclusive concern of high school civic leaders. But during the past election season, "voter apathy" became the problem most vehe-...
...While the ideologies sounded very attractive, I was close enough to see who was preaching them and how these people fought for power among themselves...
...All the industrialized Western nations outpoll the United States...
...Singer, who was thirteen years old and living in Poland when the Russian Revolution broke out, described in the November 1963 issue of Commentary his view of the politically committed: Certainly I was very close to these people, and maybe that was the trouble: you know, sometimes when you see the cook, the food doesn't seem very appetizing...
...95 East Germany...
...54.4 percent Great Britain...
...The surprising news is that the United States, which has in other studies been put behind North European countries, is ranked second in the latest report...
...The percentages for voter participation in national elections run in part: United States...
...Democracy seems to me to be one of the better systems, and there is no system which gives more power to the devil than Communism...
...The truth is, if you ask me, that the aches and troubles of this world cannot be cured by any system...
...Radio Moscow has adopted the same line, seemingly unembarrassed by the hypocrisy of praising Marxist-Moslem cooperation when the Islamic religion is being suppressed within the Soviet Union...
...3.8 Bangladesh...
...You can be proud of your record of accomplishment...
...Shopping is done early in Sana because after a few hours of chewing qat vendors lose interest in selling their foods and wares...
...Spectator Writer Honored Congratulations to Mr...
...As usual, however, the goodgovernment lobby seems to have the figures on its side...
...49.2 .. many other countries...
...I wish you every success in the future...
...According to economists at the University of Pennsylvania, romantic Kuwait continues to lead the world in per capita wealth, with the average Kuwaiti 161 percent as rich as the average American...
...99999997 South Korea..................100 Sierra Leone...
...Presidential preference polls have found George Wallace and Edward Kennedy to be the political figures most popular among nonvoters...
...72.8 New Zealand...
...Singer's most recent book is the novel Shosha, but his finest writing has been in the short story form: A Crown of Feathers, Short Friday, and A Friend of Kafka are some of his best collections...
...The leaders of one of Persia's terrorist groups, the People's Mujahedeen, originally called themselves 'Islamic Marxists'....In a broader sense, the alliance between Marxism and Islam has been preached by the Tudeh (or Communist) party in Persia since 1973, when the party issued a program laboriously entitled 'The Creation of a Monolithic Front against the Persian Regime' that preached the necessity to form a united front of opposition groups...
...3 Apossible correlation to be investigated: That the wealthier a country is, and the less scary its elections, the greater its voter apathy...
...Peter H. Kostmayer, who won with 63 percent, received letters from Moore which said in part: Knowing of your long and difficult campaign, I was truly sorry about the results of Tuesday's election...
...In 1966 I remember a citizen asking a political campaigner whether Robert Kennedy was the senator from the northern or the southern part of New York State...
...99.96: Albania...
...With America's per capita wealth pegged at 100, the figures for other nations are: West Germany...
...London Economist editor and Daily Telegraph...
...73.2 Belgium...
...Ethiopia...
...Singer's memoir of political fanaticism in Poland between the wars was the cover story in the May 1978 American Spectator...
...The qat habit is widespread and reaches into the highest circles of Yemeni government...
...Chewing the leaves in sufficient quantities is said to induce peacefulness to a point where speech becomes "either unnecessary or impossible...
...91 Australia...
...91 West Germany...
...Shortly after midday, work in Yemeni fields and offices generally stops for "qat time...
...American International Development economist Pixie Ross reports that raising qat "is so profitable you would never in your right mind ask a farmer to give it up.'' Judging from observable trends in business conduct the qat-chewing phenomenon has already spread to Western Europe and North America...
...All have sophisticated national health care systems...
...99.86 Rumania...
...Apathy could come to be seen as a healthy sign in the world's democracies...
...72 The Netherlands...
...Congress, and I will miss your contribution to the legislative process...
...63.5 Japan...
...68.7 Britain...
...78.2 percent France...
...In April 1975 one of our literary critics reported that "after a laborious survey of local libraries and pharmacies, I have found Isaac Bashevis Singer to be the world's greatest writer...
...columnist Robert Moss, who toured Iran just before the fighting began, has pursued a different line of questioning: "Is there a link between Russia's obvious strategic interest and a widespread revolt that appears to be led by religious fanatics and has resulted in strikes in most basic industries...
...One excellent aspect of Singer's work is the superb satire with which he has treated those "serving the idol of World Betterment...
...This satirical element is at the center of his May Spectator piece...
...The Communist countries are outpolling the United States by nearly two-to-one-and before the Helsinki pact we chided them for not being democratic...
...Michigan Rep...
...But during the past election season, "voter apathy" became the problem most vehemently discussed by columnists, editorial writers, and aging student-government types generally...
...Perhaps the Botswana electoral model should be considered more favorably, * ..* * * Post-election note: Frank Moore, the administration's congressional liaison chief whose competence was investigated by Karl O'Lessker in our December issue, has sent letters to two victorious House Democrats expressing regret at the "results of the election...
...88 West Germany...
...59.2 Italy...
...From its very beginning it was a butcher shop, and it has remained so even today...even if there has been some "improvement...
...The southern part," the politician tactfully (and with some truth) replied...
...El mish-mish" is the Arab expression for "fat chance...
...Before going further, however, the question should be asked whether those who are concerned about low voter turnouts are not in a sense "second-guessing democracy...
...Islamic Marxism' is not-as some of the Shah's Western detractors have suggested-a phrase invented by a Conservative publicist...
...Nevertheless, there are better and worse systems...
...I always felt about the Soviet Union that it would never come to any good...
...Near East Roundup Our Near Eastern bureau has mailed this report: The talk of Sana, Yemen, is that widespread snacking on the leaves of the Qat tree will prevent this sunny land from achieving its five-year economic plan...
...That Iran is the world's number two oilexporter and shares a 1,500-mile border with the Soviet Union is partly why it is such an interesting place to live in today...
...This is probably the least frightening major crisis America has ever faced...
...With the Shah in the midst of massive attacks on his regime and trying desperately to be liked, press attention has focused upon the chaos bred of religious fervor and hasty modernization, the clash between old and new, etc., etc...
...8.12 France...
...When people have extreme power over other people, it's a terrible thing...
...John Conyers, Jr., who won with 93 percent of the vote, and Pennsylvania Rep...
...According to a recent I enjoyed working with you in the last international survey, only Botswana has an election turnout lower than the United States...
...103 Do these dramatic figures represent still another American disgrace...
...Apathy" was traditionally the exclusive concern of high school civic leaders...
...3.2 Rwanda...
...Isaac Bashevis Singer of New York City, winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature...
...I always pray to God (and I do pray because I am in my way a religious man), don't give me any power over any other human beings...
Vol. 12 • January 1979 • No. 1
