An Open Letter to Spiro Agnew-Wherever You Are
Gold, Vic
Vic Gold An Open Letter to Spiro Agnew--Wherever You Are Has some malicious blatherer usurped the name of Spiro Agnew? The former Vice President was always a strong supporter of Israel, but...
...She's the daughter who worked as a volunteer for CREEP in 1972, passing out Nixon-Agnew literature and defending you when the teenage children of our limousine liberal neighbors said you were a racial-religious bigot...
...And I believe that the American press is Zionist-controlled...
...This article is adapted from an essay in The Ethical Basis of Economic Freedom, a 428-page book edited by Ivan Hill, and available for $12 50from Amenican Viewpoint, University Square, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514...
...What is pertinent here is that Paige recently picked up a copy of an educational newsletter called Memoranda, which bears your signature, and she directed my attention to that Middle East editorial, h read like pro-Soviet boilerplate, the kind of pap Tass has been putting out since 1948...
...There's more to the story than that...
...One-and-the-same...
...Sincerely, Vic Gold Wilkam E. Simon The Business of America is Honest Competition Businessmen who cheat or bribe are not only contemptible...
...And I think t h a t - - " "You know what I think...
...Meaning, because that's where the money is, the Arab money...
...enterprise...
...I tell you, Pathfinder, kids nowadays aren't up to speed on the subtleties of jurisprudence...
...Does nolo whatever-it-is," Paige asks, "Does that mean he pleaded innocent...
...What possible reason would lead a Vice President of the United States--a man supposed to have guts and principle--to resign, unless he was guilty...
...Why should a child your age be so cynical...
...I challenge...
...The ethical and philosophic underpinnings of capitalism have not been thought out, articulated, and then disseminated to the millions of average citizens who enjoy the direct material benefits and the indirect spiritual and political benefits our system provides...
...Any objective evaluation of economic performance clearly illustrates the United States' superior record in both economic output and the equitable distribution of economic benefits...
...What makes you think so...
...In the long run, honesty is not only the best business policy, but the only one compatible with the free market and open competition...
...Isn't that what he used to say...
...Dear Pathfinder: Please excuse my use of your former Secret Service code name, but after several recent confrontations, in print and on the tube, with an impostor who looks, sounds, and even dresses like you, down to the last polysyllable and pinstripe, this seems to be the only way I might possibly get through to the Vice President Spiro Agnew I once knew and admired...
...It certainly would be," says Paige, now flipping the station tuner on the TV set...
...He had a good reason for doing what he did...
...business ethics are a luxury, if not a liability...
...Which, by the way, I don't think he has any right to d o . " "A-ha...
...Rigorous business ethics may be commendable from a moral point of view, they will tell you, but honesty interferes with the rough-and-tumble competition of the free market...
...Instead of automatically weakening their faith, adversity may even fortify it as long as they believe and as long as they feel that their belief is anchored to something of moral worth...
...I think the former Vice President has suddenly become a big authority on the Middle East for the same reason Willie Sutton used to rob banks...
...First-things-first...
...The ethical businessman, according to advocates of corporate corner-cutting, is at an automatic competitive disadvantage...
...This is some impostor...
...the Russians don't deal in dollars, and who ever heard of anyone, this side of the ocean, taking rubles in a plain brown envelope...
...Meaning what...
...He is currently working on his second book, Super Tuesday, the story of public relations flackery in the 1976 campaign...
...For example, there is my 20-year-old daughter Paige...
...Give it to us straight, Pathfinder--the way you always said you would...
...But I never said Agnew sold out to the Russians...
...And all the more anxious that, wherever you are, the real Spiro Agnew will be heard from soon...
...Supporters of free enterprise are dismissed either as outdated theorists or as selfish opportunists concerned only with personal gain and preserving the status 12 The Akcrnative: An American Spectator Octoher 197...
...Their economic philosophy is deliberately linked to a general philosophy of life, for, to the "true believer," socialism and Marxism are not merely economic formulas, but allembracing world views--kinds of temporal religion...
...They also attack the very heart of our free-enterprzse system...
...Sold out to the Russians...
...Watch your language," I admonish...
...Definitely, an impostor...
...Frequently, and especially to youthful idealists, those who support a state-dominated economic system are perceived as concerned, socially progressive men and women who " c a r e " - - a s the humane champions of the underdog...
...The ones you say will believe anything Kennedy hands out...
...Now, for some odd reason, the kid is turned off on Republicans...
...Believe me, I know Spiro Agnew, and he would never--" "Look, dad, a man who would tell an audience of people who believe in him, 'I will not resign if indicted' on Saturday, then cop a plea three days later, that kind of politician will do anything...
...He's just sold out again...
...You don't think Spiro Agnew even has a right to express his opinion...
...Quite the contrary...
...On these clear-cut, practical grounds, business corruption is inefficient and business ethics are efficient...
...for not supporting Third World anti-Israel resolutions in the UN--are one and the same...
...History teaches us that no free society or free economy can long survive without an ethical base...
...No," I reply, clearing my throat, "it simply means--" Now, at precisely that point in the conversation the TV tube warms up and there is this impostor (incredible how well he has your mannerisms down) talking to an interviewer: "I am not a bigot," he is saying "It's just that I think it was a mistake to create the State of Israel...
...Part, but not all, of the problem is a matter of image...
...But why not now...
...The former Vice President was always a strong supporter of Israel, but now he has put out a fatuous anti-Israel newsletter that might as well have been written in Libya or Moscow - - and perhaps was...
...It is the private sector which ultimately supplies ' new jobs and creates the material means for raising living stavdards, but the private sector seldom receives (and hardly ever demonstrates its claim to) credit from the man in the street...
...Everybody has a right to express an opinion--and don't you forget it...
...He didn't plead guilty...
...I-look "A plausible forgery," I insist, "but a forgery nonetheless...
...But that's another story...
...And let,me remind you, no matter what his critics claimed, Agnew was always a man who said what he believed...
...Agnew," I repeat, "will tell the full story of why he resigned in time...
...Those of us on the side of economic freedom are not so fortunate...
...The Vice President pleaded nolo contendere...
...Telling us why you told those ladies you didn't intend to resign, and why, in the vernacular of my daughter, you copped a plea three days later...
...It is only through a shared moral foundation--a set of binding ground rules for fair conduct--that free associations, be they social, diplomatic, or commercial, can flourish and endure...
...So it comes out...
...He even spoke at an Israel bond dinner four years ago...
...The whole story will come out some day...
...No pulled punches...
...There are also overwhelming moral grounds for a strong business ethic...
...Bitter, bitter," I answer...
...You know the line: With every right there goes a responsibility...
...Advocates of a state-controlled economy, whether they are Communists, fascists, or democratic socialists, base their own position on an ethical view, though a mistaken one...
...Corruption, whether it involves bribes to secure overseas government contracts, illegal contributions to political candidates here at home, or any other form of graft or payola, hampers the efficient functioning of the market place...
...And you call yourself open-minded...
...Dad," Paige replies, "you remind me of those knee-jerk Kennedyites you're always criticizing...
...I repeat: this is an impostor...
...I find that difficult to believe, but less sentimental people around me don't...
...Vic Gold An Open Letter to Spiro Agnew--Wherever You Are Has some malicious blatherer usurped the name of Spiro Agnew...
...Oh, I haven't," she replies...
...Of course, there's always the chance that the Agnew I knew from 1970 to 1973 and the fatuous persona currently spouting the Soviet line on Middle Eastern affairs--e.g, criticizing the U.S...
...You may remember Paige...
...I say, knowing I've finally trapped her in an indefensible position...
...Besides, Vic Gold served as press secretary to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and as assistant press secretary to Barry Goldwater during h*s 1964 Presidential campaign...
...Now, frankly, Pathfinder, what the kid said there has a certain inner logic...
...Vic Gold, once Agnew's press secretary, directs some pointed questions to the man he worked for and admired...
...You know, Agnew could have become vitally interested in Southeast Asia if he wanted to re-enter public life discussing foreign policy...
...If apologists for corporate corruption are to be taken at their word, dishonesty is the best policy...
...The kind we used to admire you for back in the good old days...
...The Alternative: An American Spectator October 1976 11 "Mr...
...The fact is that Spiro Agnew is pro-lsrael...
...Baloney...
...There's a difference...
...Look," my daughter replies, pointing to your picture and signature above the boilerplate...
...You're being unfair to the man," I reply...
...Because the Vice President--that is, the former Vice President-says mere's more to the story...
...Just that he's following the Soviet line...
...I tell you, this is Spiro Agnew...
...That, young lady, is an outrageous suggestion...
...And, often enough, they really are the only ones who have effectively communicated their concern for social issues...
...I ask, half-leaping from my chair...
...my daughter interrupts, turning down the TV volume on this Agnew impersonator...
...This," I say, "is definitely not the work of Spiro Agnew, the former Vice President...
...Not the man who was applauded by the Religious Zionists of America in 1972 as a 'True Friend of Israel.' No...
...Nevertheless, American free enterprise today is in serious danger of failing as a belief...
...If he isn't interested in answering questions about his own integrity, why should anybody listen to him on any other issue...
...That's all...
...Which makes me all the more convinced that the fork-tongued, fuzzy-minded guy writing and popping off on the tube is a ringer...
...And by all means, do something about that Red-lining,: UN-loving charlatan who's trying to raise money from honest conservatives through his phoney, pro-Arab front, Education foe Democracy...
...No one is more aware of this than the opponents of free I~llzam E. Stmon zX Secretary of the Treasury...
...In our era, when the main political struggle is between controlled societies and free ones (and, on the economic front, between controlled economies and free ones), nothing is more vital to the survival of our economic way of life than a rigorous free-enterprise ethic and business leaders with the courage and energy to stand up for it...
...As Benjamin Franklin once observed, " I f the rascals knew the advantages of virtue, they would become honest men out of rascality...
...See for yourself...
...All I'm saying is that before Agnew has a right to lecture anybody on foreign policy he ought to answer the question of why he resigned...
...Their systems do not work as well as free enterprise, but, like all religious devotees, they are willing to suffer and sacrifice for their beliefs...
...My daughter shakes her head, obviously still not getting the point...
...It results in higher prices, lessened responsiveness to the consumer, and lower quality of goods and services...
...It's all because of that damned educational permissiveness you used to warn against...
...American free enterprise has consistently outperformed Marxism and socialism from the beginning, and continues to do so today...
Vol. 10 • October 1976 • No. 1
