Letter From a Whig
Will, George F.
"Letter From a Whig" Lots of Whimpering and One, Dull Bang WASHINGTON - - The first session of the Ninety-Second Congress ended with a lot of whimpering and one...
...that a show of conservative strength in the primaries can move the President to a more resolute defense policy, and a less resolute war against the free market...
...On the other hand, they like the idea of dividing the anti-Nixon Republican vote...
...Thus it will offer a kind of protection to American industries which make products that were being undersold by imports...
...If Ashbrook - - or some other challenger - - can make clear that he stands with the moderates, it might be interesting...
...Congressman Ashbrook of Ohio may challenge the President in several In The Land Of The White Rats" Republican primaries...
...And yet, there is a quality to Skinner's book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, entirely separate and distinct from the freneticisms, the shrillness, and the shriekings of the other works of contemporary Apocalypse...
...he could swallow the "check off" and thereby strengthen his political enemies, or he could veto the tax bill, and thereby cripple his economic program...
...But, for Skinner, the flaw is man...
...They believe (correctly, in my judgment) that many conservative anti-Nixon Republicans would cast a protest vote for McCloskey...
...The Japanese yen has been floating up since then...
...that Nixon must be defeated...
...It will be slightly inflationary...
...conservatively speaking...
...Or, more exactly, the Democrats' bird in the hand suddenly became an elusive bird in a bush...
...that the pressure has all been from the left...
...The Senator wanted to del~y the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee William H. Rehnquist...
...The necessity for change was precipitated, one supposes, by some inevitable holocaust directly attributable to the philosophically-created universe...
...And that is the point...
...The German mark has been floating u p since well before the 15 August cataclysm...
...indeed, he seems to have absorbed all extant notions of the apocalypse and its causes, for he too argues the existence of a tragic flaw in history...
...The more moderate supporters will be those who believe that Nixon is susceptible to pressure...
...They do not know how much of that vote there now is, nor bow much can be generated, but they would prefer to have it divided between two splinter candidates...
...that the fate of this movement is inextricably entwined with that of the Republican Party...
...The result was to keep the "check off" system, but to make it inoperative this year...
...Now there are four Nixon nominees on the Supreme Court and disgruntled conservatives are invited to imagine what the Court would look like with four Humphrey nominees...
...The American nation has accustomed itself by now to hearing the litanies of doom and destruction in every corner of the park and from every soap-box available, and so we should not be surprised at a Harvard professor orchestrating his own threnody for civilization...
...The White House is said to be of two minds about this issue...
...He was trampled under the flying hooves of a Senate lusting after adjournment...
...It is necessary now to change it...
...In the end, of course, Nixon got his tax bill and the Democrats did not get the "check off" system...
...This Utopia seems to be written with a scholarly detachment not common to visionaries...
...The principal whimperers were the Democrats who were thwarted in their attempt to steal twenty million tax dollars to finance their campaign next year...
...that Nixon is the best possible alternative, but that Ashbrook should be the instrument of pressure...
...Such are the postulates and premises that form the substratum of B.F...
...The cacophony was the sound of the good guys doing well...
...The two most likely are New Hampshire and Florida...
...this will lower the standard of living slightly...
...This was attached to the tax bill which the President says he needs for the implementation of Phase If...
...If Ashbrook decides to run, his first task will be to make clear the exact nature of his mission...
...The bang at the end of the session was heard as a kind of distant echo in the Congress...
...This happened when the HouseSenate Conference Committee met to ii'on out the differences~ between the two versions of the tax bill...
...Another conspicuous whimperer was Senator Bayh...
...This potential development is the Ashbrook Insurgency...
...that the worst possible tragedy is a Republican President who is not pure as the driven snow...
...Thus devaluation of the dollar began nearly twenty months ago when Canada allowed its dollar to float...
...The Democrats thought they had the President between a rock and a hard place...
...If he can not, or does not, it will be a debacle and very damaging to conservatism...
...The most ardent supporters will be those whose aim is to ensure the defeat of the President...
...For though he cloaks some of his arguments in the popular rationales of the...
...But while doing so it will protect some existing jobs and stimulate jobs in exporting industries...
...The concussion occurred in the Azores, where President Nixon announced that the dollar would be devalued...
...In fact, Skinner is a serious thinker...
...Thus it will not rescue the Democrats in 1972, and there will be time to chalIc..':ge the three or four major constitutional enormities of the plan...
...These persons believe that there is an identifiable and vibrant "conservative movement...
...As of this writing it is not clear whether there will be another end-ofsession development, or whether it will be a popgun pop or the sharp, clear report of a highpowered rifle...
...I Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B.F...
...Skinner Alfred Knopf Inc., $6.95 "DHILOSOPHERS," Karl Marx I ! wrote, "'have made the'world...
...The Nixon Administration, as every Administration since Hoover, has acknowledged a demonstrable political fact: when it comes to losing votes, unemployment is more dangerous than inflation...
...The A l t e r n a t i v e F e b r u a r y , 1972 I 1 Lots of Whimpering and One, Dull Bang WASHINGTON - - The first session of the Ninety-Second Congress ended with a lot of whimpering and one firm, dull bang...
...On the one hand, Presidential aides think that any opposition to the President tarnishes Himself's image...
...It seems to be written with the dispassionate view of a serious thinker...
...Skinner's most recent Utopian tract...
...As I write it is not clear what this means, economically...
...This will not be easy, to do because his supporters will be of two kinds...
...The instrument of this theft was to have been the "check off" system, whereby a citizen could earmark a dollar of his tax bill for the political party of his choice...
...Devaluation is going to make imports more expensive...
...Devaluation only makes sense relative to other currencies...
Vol. 5 • February 1972 • No. 5
