Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE Does the Pope Love America? ference between Communism and capi- "underdevelopment," don't fall under maybe the poor chap is, as the French To those of us who equate the idea of...
...But in doing so, in ac- our system—and demand to know why if Pius XII had started hurling anath- pollute only themselves...
...Stephen's Church cated to having us transcend our "base tive Catholics, spend much of their economic reform...
...They told distinguished Roman Catholic theolowhich our transcendent destiny is re- —Lawrence W Hyman him, indignantly, that the fire was three gian, Sister Madonna Kolbenschlag...
...I thought the credit Smith gave my work was quite generous...
...I personally most fervently wish one could divorce our American species of capitalism from the economic determinism out of which it evolved . . . but I don't see how that philosophical finesse can be pulled off...
...But isn't it crazy to address our —The Reverend Roland Thorwaldsen West...
...Christ enjoins us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect...
...Better leave the content of education to the "market" of supply by the teachers and demand by the pupils and their parents...
...The valiant tries by Gilder and Novak finally do not convince—at least me...
...sans its central operating dynamic (selfish materialism), with all the sociological and philosophical evils that this implies ("consumerism," the yuppyesque Me society, etc...
...If, however, we accept ing of innocents...
...Without going into a long historical or philosophical discussion of jazz (the word "jazz" is used here as a generic term), I will simply state that (maybe for the first time in his life) Podhoretz is wrong...
...many of us think such is a very unwise move, and one doomed to failure...
...We are indoor pool without American contribute mightily to our regeneration But if the Pope's teaching is inter- a soft people, willing to watch allies be Catholic dollars in that case is by cleaning out the polluted metapreted in this way, as a manifestation consumed by an Evil Empire to the anybody's guess—as would be the physics, epistemology, and morality of Christ's dictum that our true king- East, looking the other way while our source of funds for that incredible which flourishes in that odd ecdom is not of this world, then the en- unborn are wiped out, impassive as our Vatican deficit, which is far worse than clesiastical entity "the American Cathcyclical is itself irrelevant whenever it society buckles from vicious crime and any but the most disreputable govern- olic Church...
...Herein also probably lies the demise of the Broadway musical comedy which Mr...
...A society's system of economics is a reflection of its central moral assumptions...
...say, the rotting cadaver a pure spring fied Christianity so as to have Christ's Joseph Bernardin lecture us on morali- My Catholic training tells me that Eng- well...
...That said, I have to say I was struck by the extraordinary degree of what I took to be isolationism in the American youngsters that I spoke to...
...Most realize that prescrip- other hand, that silly grin he wore Just as the Pope is not (solely) a temAnd to the extent that Sollicitudo Rei tions for world exchange-rate reforms, when snapped at his shameful meeting poral ruler, he is not (solely) a "statesSocialis suggests that there is little dif- or phenomenological discourses about with Arafat was eerily Carterish, so (continued on page 49) THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JULY 1988 7 CORRESPONDENCE (continued from page 7) man," nor is he (solely) a "diplomat...
...That yoke may be sweet, but in this corrupt age, to which we belong, and by which our sensibilities have been degraded, it is hardly light...
...Some even seemed to think that they did not need to know much about the rest of the United...
...And had the occasion for pointing this out arrived at an hour of apparent peril for the U.S., nonetheless would it be the Pope's solemn duty to point it out...
...The truth is that British society in 1940 was corrupt, and is more corrupt today...
...Nor would the point of the corn-economic issues must be judged by the treatise as infallible (some pietists do, otherwise is plain irresponsible...
...It may be the peacenik's cliche to acknowledge that our greatest existential peril stems not from the USSR, but from the corruptions within our society...
...Reflect on how uncannily mercantilism reflected the political assumptions of its time...
...in your May issue...
...Yet the gates, that would have been inex- Catholic Church remain untouched...
...John Podhoretz should stick to political commentary...
...I also agree with Buckley's interpretation, and see the But would someone please explain ism, classism, imperialism, clericalism, Buckley that the only way this state- encyclical as essentially a call to reli- why many of the Catholic right's best and all the other isms you can think ment by John Paul can be defended is gious transcendence, then the encyclical minds shrug—or endorse him—when of . . . ." This insight was reported in to see it as a message that is not con- has nothing to say to our political John Paul attacks our economic system the religious press as an observation on cerned with our lives here on this earth questions—and Buckley's victory is not root and branch...
...admittedly...
...In Britain the government are attempting to dictate the content of the school curriculum by legislation...
...And so is ours, for cognate reasons...
...say, "un peu detraque...
...They didn't shrug at the Holy and Undivided Trinity by the but with "that breach in being through one that John Paul would appreciate...
...For the Pope who bear-baited Regarding Mr...
...Christian critics of Sollicitudo for some reason resist applying to the encyclical what is implicit in the surrender of will that constitutes the act of faith: our acknowledgment that reality resides in congruence with the Holy Spirit, from Whom it flows, by Whom alone is it sustained...
...Lawrence D. Skutch Westport, Connecticut Twits Having just returned to Britain from a most enjoyable and informative visit to colleges and schools in the U. S., may I presume to comment upon the article "The Social Studies Debacle' by Chester E. Finn, Jr...
...To the Christian, there is no dilemma...
...They worked within the evolving jazz form...
...out of Jerusalem, and elevated Mgr...
...He says, in effect, that if one holds that the Popes encyclical can only be understood as otherworldly, then its criticisms of our temporal economic system are irrelevant...
...Because there is the one reality alone...
...moral equivalence between democracy should be condemned by anyone who No, conservatives get puppy-like —John Poulin and Communism with moral obtuse- is not sympathetic to Communism— about John Paul II because he's a Pole Flin Flon, Manitoba ness, the encyclical, Sollicitudo Rei So- including, of course, Reid Buckley...
...Finally, regarding Mr...
...On the parison be relevant, even if it were apt...
...ment's...
...States apart from the little bit they were living in...
...Podhoretz mentions were certainly talented musicians who deserve all the accolades they've received...
...criticizes the economic policies of the sexual perversion...
...For the same reasons...
...As individuals, however, we may attempt a clumsy spanning of the gulf by conducting our personal lives and business dealings as far as possible according to the Sermon on the Mount...
...the sociological "laws" that derive from them) on its head...
...that it missed the key point of the mogrifies its essential character—as, ognized this dilemma, and have modi- Indeed, when the likes of Cardinal pope's encyclical—the political impact...
...By reducing Christianity to another sociology, the awful meaning of the Incarnation and the obligations consequent on our redemption from sin are made frivolous...
...In this context, one in Ridgewood, New Jersey miles down the road...
...vealed to us...
...Podhoretz Is Wrong There is an unfortunate implication in John Podhoretz's satirical review of Hedrick Smith's The Power Game (TAS, June 1988...
...But with all our cogitating, I Ridgefield, Connecticut Reid Buckley replies: we should follow, since these policies don't think I know anyone who has Regarding Rev...
...Early jazz grew from a combination of musical forms and dances popular in America during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including the waltz, mazurka, schottische, and march welded together by a strong, straight-four African-derived rhythm...
...Pope John does not tell us...
...Not only did they not know where other countries of the world were, or what they were like, but they seemed to have an attitude that they did not need to know...
...Bernardin and Company...
...This is not to denigrate the work of these songwriters...
...Stuart Sexton Director, Education Unit Institute of Economic Affairs London, England THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JULY 1988 49...
...There was no more in it...
...or the West's) political reason based in human experience...
...he explains that no political system is adequate, and its fruits for a morally healthy society John Paul II can't approve of us be-consequently, the sharp differences be- That many Americans care more about with a klutzy, Wojtyla-like system...
...Yet schlag may disgrace their Order...
...same criteria as secular statements...
...In obedience to that office, he cannot, must not, the existential nexus regardless, at any time fudge truth...
...cause we are "a philosophically cortween East and West are ultimately their ski trips and cars than about the (Where he'd pay for his ski trips and rupted society...
...That Reid Buckley even Buckley cannot have it both ways: If ter all, merely one of two Structures of " . . . A good ole boy, associating attempts to defend this document is the encyclical is to be relevant to our Sin...
...The Holy Father could irrelevant...
...Michael J. Malbin Silver Spring, Maryland John Podhoretz is absolutely correct ("The American Musical's Last Hope," TAS, March 1988) when he states that "jazz enthusiasts will disagree" with his assertion that the likes of Irving Berlin and George Gershwin "created the first really distinctive popular American art...
...and suffered under Communism...
...Our incredible mission is to subdue nature—toturn it (our base natural inclinations...
...Why Canada cialis, is difficult to understand, let Even a debater who is as clever as that is so bad now escapes me...
...As for history, it seemed to me that there was none, or hardly any, and again an attitude which suggested that the history of Europe or Africa or wherever was irrelevant to those living in the United States...
...they the next world...
...And, I hasten to add, the better writers were very important to its development...
...Regarding Mr...
...After all, this 32-bar form reigned supreme in America from 1910 to the mid-1950s...
...I like him for that too...
...Hyman: too many religious leaders, Catholic and Protestant, indeed "have modified Christianity so as to have Christ's kingdom embrace this world as well as the next world," which is truly, and profoundly, and irrevocably, catastrophically, to render the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ irrelevant...
...Podhoretz laments...
...Such as Sister Madonna Kolbenkingdom embrace this world as well as ty and capitalism, we naturally defend land was a sinful society in 1940...
...I usually agreewith him in that context...
...On another note, however, at a certain point the popular American song simply ran its course...
...gion has had to defend its statements when even sterner lectures come from cusable...
...By insisting on the priority of this burden, however, Pope John avoids the error lamented by Mr...
...Handy, Lerner and Loewe, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Rodgers and Hart, Hoagy Carmichael, Fats Waller, and many, many more...
...In Reid Buckley's article "Does The which we are summoned to "sanctity," I'd trade our economic system and Pope Love America...
...ference between Communism and capi- "underdevelopment," don't fall under maybe the poor chap is, as the French To those of us who equate the idea of talist democracy, the Pope's statement the divine guarantee...
...Berlin and Gershwin, among a lot of others, developed what has become known as the American song directly from the jazz idiom...
...Is not the present problem largely because the curriculum has been dictated in the past by so-called educational experts who have not taught a live child in twenty years or more...
...That may not span a longer period of time than the popularity of the German Lied of Europe during the nineteenth century, but considering advances in communications and the music's rapid introduction to a massive audience, the length of time the American song held center stage was respectable, indeed...
...The only acceptable course is to conduct ourselves in this world, and fashion the mainsprings of our society here, in accordance with the desires of the Holy Spirit` . . . thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...
...One would like to practice the fruitful mechanisms of free enterprise, with all the sociological and philosophical goods that the system implies (freedom of choice, respect for property, etc...
...Certainly one would like to see "History" and "Geography" return to American schools as free-standing subjects in the curriculum, taught with intellectual rigor, but I question Chester Finn as to whether such can be achieved by diktat from the top, whether federal or state curriculum...
...But how...
...The point is, however, they did not create "a distinctive American art...
...The two Mr...
...The theoretical vacuum remains to be filled...
...The review implies that Smith used my ideas about the role of congressional staff without complete attribution...
...state of their souls is manifest...
...Hyman's letter: he slips into—it seems to me—the fallacy of the false dilemma...
...It is no less true...
...That is, by using the mechanisms while personally rejecting the dynamic...
...cause of these evils is our economic bold, got so wound up in the fine print agent contaminates and thus transReligious leaders have, of course, rec- system...
...And his proof for this astounding claim is, "They used bits and pieces of previous musical styles to create a new kind of song, a brassy, melodic, short, and memorable piece that was" characteristic of the nation...
...It boils down to the concept of sin...
...The development of new jazz forms surfaced in part because the song form—eight bar line/eight bar bridge/eight bar line, or AABA—had lost its vitality to support real creative effort...
...But the dilemma does not hold: precisely is the follower of Christ asked to bear in this world, in his mundane dealings and private existence, the near impossible burden of his transcendental destiny...
...McCaffrey's letter: he seems to miss the point that Adam Smith wrote so adamantly to affirm, namely, that economics is all about morality...
...And so were Cole Porter, W.C...
...Any interpretation of reality as possible in opposition to the desires of the Creator is a distortion, a risible pretension, a corruption, and a phantasmagoria, in consequence of which, moreover, as Pope John Paul points out in Sollicitudo, unhappiness and injustice will always persist...
...The form was adapted by the Tin Pan Alley boys—the Gershwins and Berlins—and spoon-fed to the American public via live performances on Broadway, in music halls sheet music, the piano roll, the phonograph record and eventually, motion pictures and other media...
...The metaphyscepting religion as immanent as well as the Chicago liberal doesn't focus on the emas at Churchill while Hitler was at ics, epistemology, and morality of the being transcendent, the Christian reli- real causes of our moral decay...
...He was also probably the victim intimately only with two other di-itself an accomplishment that I must political life, the Pope is wrong in some of a KGB plot, and he opposes the kill- vine males . . . "responsible for admire ("Does the Pope Love Ameri- important ways...
...situation today with England's vis-a-vis Consequently, those statements in the And it isn't because most of them re- Obando y Bravo, to pretend other- Nazi Germany in 1940 strains mightiencyclical that deal with political and gard the Pope's latest socio-economic worldliness when the evidence indicates ly...
...A religious statement that is dedi- Conservatives, particularly conserva- moral decay with a call for structural Rector, St...
...The newer jazz forms are too sophisticated to be adapted to a light evening's entertainment, but are there for the serious listener to savor...
...it is, afalone defend...
...Thorwaldsen's letter: and systems are designed to accom- ever come up with a gem like this: "The Reid Buckley's piece, if I may be so something can be polluted only if an modate natural man...
...If it is any consolation, we, too, in Britain, despair at the poor level of knowledge of so many of our children of the world about them and the history and culture of which they are a part...
...TAS, May 1988...
...The transcendent reality (Truth) must take precedence over the contingent temporal form of that reality (Error) in order that true freedom and true happiness of the human spirit flourish...
...Poulin's letter: cornin the same way as other statements: by Rome, conservative Catholics exhibit a in Poland, chased Cardinal O'Connor paring the U.S...
...But his article, "The American Musical's Last Hope," is more a nostalgic plea for the good old days on Broadway than a serious commentary on either American music, or the American musical...
...These this-world categorizations neither define nor circumscribe the mysterious dimension of his office, which has been divinely appointed...
...legitimated religious bigotry, racca...
...Beaumont, California nature" cannot expect also to tell us time thinking about these abomina- —Roger A. McCaffrey what political and economic policies tions...
...Rather than bureaucracy and politicians attempting to set the curriculum, and by all means exalt teachers and parents of the benefits for their children of teaching good English, Mathematics, History, Geography, and so on, is it not better to leave the decision to the schools, responding to the wishes and needs of the parents and their children...
...softness all their own...
Vol. 21 • July 1988 • No. 7
