Correspondence
Correspondence The historian's eye Washington, D.C. To the Editors: The article of John Jay Hughes on the election of Pope John Paul II in your issue of November 10 was one of the best I have...
...2) that the pursuit of rational self-interest by individuals requires that power be balanced with power in gov- ernment and society...
...The Tangled Web 334 Baker, James T...
...To the Editors: The article of John Jay Hughes on the election of Pope John Paul II in your issue of November 10 was one of the best I have read since that surpris- ing event...
...for example the U.S.S.R...
...For Xerox copies please write to: Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Mich...
...To the Editors: I am in total agreement with Mr...
...the South African government which has ig- nored this problem for so long will be destroyed, and the dreams of martyrs like Steven Biko will be realized...
...Shaw was a Protestant Irishman...
...Critics' Choices for Christmas 789 Ahem, John...
...In the year to come, Congress will consider changes in the federal role in communications...
...A final word...
...Constitutionalism specifies certain means (e.g., institutional arrangements such as separation of powers and func- tions, balancing the power of social clas- ses by lodging such power in separate institutions) to attain certain ends (e.g., limited, lawful government...
...Hixson's lower-income groups to organize against corporate power...
...In conditions of scar- city, welfare policies, affirmative action policies, measures to curb unemploy- ment and poverty do not seem to work and, moreover, become politically un- feasible...
...In his essays and his novels, Mr...
...Indeed the evidence now seems to indicate that liberalism and corporate capitalism are more incompat- ible than compatible...
...can only hasten and ease this process, and by so doing we will have eased the pain of those who are oppressed now...
...Hixson's conclu- sion that what is needed is a new liberal theory which starts from the premise that traditional capitalism is dead and that the emerging corporate system is incompati- ble not only with the constitutional order but with the welfare of the American people...
...Death with Dignity 525 Chandler, Ralph C...
...simile-seeking style . . . crew of academic verse- or prose-makers...
...had editors considered that among the stu hybridists such as Shakespeare virtm every great novelist, dramatist, and e cist since Homer"would have to named, they would have re-assigned books under review, or at least M Gordon's, to someone (and certainly n and not ever, a committee of two...
...effective vignettes.., reader interest...
...I thus agree with Mr...
...Classical liberalism by contrast is historically associated with capitalism and with the emergence of the middle classes to positions of control and dominance in European economies...
...To this moment in the United States, we have been willing to allow the world's greatest freedom to individual economic opportunity in the hope that the common good, better and best might result...
...REV...
...the trinity of liberty ("positive" freedom for moral self-development), equality, and the much-neglected virtue of fraternity...
...That is, capitalist economic arrangements must be replaced by some form of public own~ ership and/or control of the means of production, and the primarily acquisi- tive, competitive values of capitalism must yield to an ethos which emphasizes and encourages cooperation and inter- dependence...
...48 I Serials Data Program No.: ISSN 0010-33 Second-class postage paid at New York, N Copyright (~) 1978 Commonweal Publishing C Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome but can be considered or returned unless accompanied I: stamped, self-addressed envelope...
...The U.S...
...The flaws are as follows...
...However, to continue this process of coercion will re- quire a regulation of 'political' as well as economic opportunity...
...We should stop sending arms to South Africa...
...Enough, or too much...
...He must decide whether or not he should leave his native land because of its brutal policies...
...Dying Gods in China 400 Cameron, J.M...
...J. F. DONNELLY, S.J...
...Merton on the Lain 269 Balsam, Rosemary H...
...Knox's fine translat goes, "You must not give that whict holy to dogs...
...As for the Messrs...
...It will take firm action on our part to get across to the South Africans our distaste for their apartheid policies...
...Defining liberalism New York, N. To the Editors: William B. Hixsol "Liberal Legacy, Radical Critiqu, (Continued on page 8 I .Commonweal is indexedin Readers Guide Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical lm Index of American Periodical Verse, and B Review Digest...
...Lib- eral ideals cannot be realized, however, without some change in our economic arrangements...
...on those three counts, John Paul II will have earned the abiding gratitude of millions both within and beyond the Catholic fold, to say nothing of the enduring im- pression made on the history of the pre- sent era...
...Darkness: A Poem 519 Brooks, Tim...
...This is the central prob- lem raised in Mr...
...JOHN TRACY ELLIS Professorial Lecturer in Church History The Catholic University of America High pulp art New 'York, N.Y...
...Correspondence The historian's eye Washington, D.C...
...As for the wishes of certain 'progressives,' in regard to a non-celibate clergy and the ordination of women, since Father Hughes wrote the Pope has pronounced on the first in favor of retaining a celibate clergy...
...The Nuclearizing of Canada 709 Breimyer, Harold F...
...I believe it is incorrect to identify these ideas as liberal...
...I urge him to stay...
...As a university man John Jay Hughes rightly remarked con- cerning the impressive record made in scholarship and the world of learning by Karol Wojtyla...
...If capitalism hinders the realization of lib- eral ideals, then capitalism rather than liberalism must be abandoned...
...Paton about the role of the U.S...
...and we should do everything in our power to try to bring about equal rule for the blacks in South Africa...
...Although classical liberalism was historically a set of politi- cal ideas which functioned to justify the interests of entrepreneurs, there is no necessary conceptual or analytical link between liberalism as a political ideology and capitalism as an economic system...
...Among the ideals of liberalism which still recommend themselves as worthy of attainment are these: a stress on the primacy and dignity of the indi- vidual...
...Paton and his plight...
...scenario.., blueprint for pulp treatment .9 theatrical tricks.., sure touch...
...Liberalism is a political tradition, a set of ideas (liberty, equality, fraternity, toler- ance) which was employed historically by certain classes to defend their growing economic and political power against the usurpations of absolute monarchies...
...There are a number of indications that a late capitalist economic system does not implement and perhaps even subverts liberal principles...
...But the principles of this new liberalism must be stated clearly if they are to "engage the deepest sentiments of the people" and inspire the politically inarticulate members of Mr...
...First, according to Hixson, the historical importance of the American constitutional order lies in its grounding of government in selfinterest and consent...
...does...
...Capitalism is an economic order marked by the private ownership of the means of production and by a market system that determines the incomes and distributes the outputs arising from its productive activity...
...As a dog-owner fellow-follower I intentionally omit x erence to the second and better kno part of the verse, which has to do pearls and an associated domestic anir that shall be nameless here...
...3) that the rich variety and manysidedness of life imply both a potential for conflict and a need for the quintessential liberal virtue of toler- ance...
...I can only sympathize with Mr...
...Only time can tell the ultimate out- come of their choice, but all the discerni- ble signs are heartening, and I for one am grateful to Father Hughes for his en-lightening analysis in interpreting those signs in a way illumined by the lamp of history and a realistic appraisal of the needs of the present hour...
...there is, I know for a c tainty, myself...
...New York, N.Y...
...but th must be minimally qualified papi somewhere...
...Even if Mary Gordon's novel were not, as the secular press at least seemed able to grasp, the best Catholic fiction since J. F. Powers and Crawford Power, the re- viewers' contentment with social science jargon and clich6s is evident in every sentence...
...in South African affairs ("Why I stay in South Africa," Nov...
...Critics' Choices for Christmas Bansman, David...
...We have been correct...
...some may also have been liberals defending colonial interests against a British monarch bent upon imposing stamp taxes and the like...
...The time has come for the U.S...
...The 1978 public inter- est debacle in the 95th Congress gives a fair warning...
...no country can ride roughshod over the majority of the people and get away with it forever...
...Doing Poorly at Doing Good 438 Castelli, Jim...
...University Press Books: A Critic's Choice: Death of a Humble Prophet 344 682 Armstrong...
...Building countervailing factions appropriate to Hixson's purpose will require popular appropriation of the means of persuasion...
...I suspect that the author's 'misgivings' concerning other matters such as contraception and the readmission to the sacraments of in- validly married Catholics, may prove in the time ahead to have been solidly based...
...MARY C. SEGERS Dept...
...Commonweal: 802 Liberation and development were polarities of the debate in the emerging new nation of the United States in the eighteenth century and are, again, the ideological options in nations that are emerging as modern, political entities today...
...Al- though I agree with Mr...
...A liberal or open society need not be a capitalist one...
...We regret that we cannot accept any further orders...
...Sooner or later, the volcano of hatred for the apartheid policies will erupt...
...downbeat tone.., lightness of touch...
...It is very important that there be a voice in South Africa that will tell the world the truth about the happenings in South Af- rica...
...A constitu- tional regime need not be liberal...
...With respect to the Americans of i 787, it is certain that Madison and the Framers were constitutionalists...
...Just as liberalism is different from constitutionalism, so liberalism is differ- ent from capitalism...
...Ethics and Public Policy 302 Cohen, Arthur A.Critics' Choices for Religious Book Week 156 Coleman, John A...
...JUDSON REIS Index to Volume CV From January 6, 1977 to December 22, 1978 Artides and Poetry Aaron, Daniel...
...They are more correctly termed constitutionalist and they have a long history, dating back to theories of mixed government discussed (for example) in the writings of Polybius and Cicero on the Roman republic...
...Paton has the ability to capture the attention of the world...
...To the Editors: The incompetent, ill-written, mean-spirited maltreatment of Final Payments by your team of review- ers has been, for me, an occasion of sin["The Pulp of the Matter," Oct...
...When the politi- cal process, largely because of private ownership of mass media, is so vulnera- ble to factions that can generate large amounts of cash, the possibility of poli- tics coercing an equitable--not equal-- distribution of goods and services is a faint hope indeed...
...In short, I believe that the ideals of political liberalism deserve a better press than Mr...
...Critics' Choices for Christmas 789 Bishop, Jordan...
...REV...
...a conviction that human reason can fashion solutions to social problems, and the corollary notion that society must therefore allow open chan- nels for communications of knowledge and opinion...
...R, ~ ley and Moss, they are invited, ak with the editors, to ponder the first s. tence of the sixth verse of Matthew which in Msgr...
...he has a very difficult decision...
...6, New Frontiers in Theology, is now exhausted...
...Employing the doctrines of separation of powers and checks and balances, the Framers institutionalized the self-interest of leaders and of individual citizens in separate branches of government in order to check the tyranny of absolute power...
...ROBERT CULl P.S...
...he has eloquently expressed the agonies of the blacks in South Africa...
...The national interest re-quires a nationalization of sufficient media time to provide a political coun- terweight to the ample political resources financed by the factions of economic concentration...
...He has noted the new pon- tiffs emphasis on three key points: com- plete implementation of the decrees of Vatican Council II, expansion of colle- giality, and the promotion of ecumenism...
...In that regard the latter brings a background to his high task that will inevitably enrich all that he touches...
...Commonweal Papers #6: NEW FRONTIERS IN THEOLOGY Our Stock of Commonweal Papers No...
...I, 1924 current issues available through University I~ rofilm, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mi...
...But in framing republican institutions of government, the Founders drew upon the older constitutionalist tradition...
...Indeed, John Paul II may offer the latest example of a long line of churchmen who have been socially pro- gressive and at the same time theologi- cally conservative, e.g., Bishop Wilhelm von Ketteler, Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Popes John XXlll and Paul VI et al...
...All things considered, it is impossible at the moment to think of how the College of Cardinals could have made a happier selection than that announced on October 16...
...Do not these three objec- tives constitute a more than ample agenda for the pontificate, even if it should stretch to the year 2000 as, in-deed, it may...
...To be a genuine liberal in an advanced industrial society it is neces- sary to be a social democrat...
...I only hope that his voice will continue to cry out...
...We Come to New Hampshire & Look What Happens: A Poem 54 Commonweal: 826...
...Hixson's article...
...The "fault" does not reside in principles of political liberalism but in the type of economic order selected together with the values implied by that economic system...
...Microfilm from Vol...
...to do more than just pay lip service to the ideals of racial equality...
...of Political Science Rutgers University, Newark Paton's plight Groton, Mass...
...I realize there are no Roman Cathc Edmund Wilsons available...
...A liberal worldview embraces principles and assumptions which are sound and have continuing va- lidity...
...The Farmers' Strike 300 Brennan, Joseph Payne...
...Defeat for the Miners 789 263 Berrigan, Daniel...
...The South African government will be forced to change no matter what the U.S...
...some sensitivity to language and lite ture...
...If the time ahead is witness to the church moving forward in a truly serious and meaningful way...
...The reviewers should be thanked informing us that the "great" (th word, as wild and whirling as all others in their committee report) Bern...
...elimination of these flaws from his analysis would not detract from but would strengthen his conclu- sions...
...we should stop all further invest- ment in the country...
...If the editors can print without wincing this kind of non-language, at least they might have asked themselves what the reviewers had in mind by manufacturing, or resurrect- ing after at least three generations, the unmeaning distinction between "popu- lar" or "pulp" and "high art...
...To the Editors: Congratulations on the very important and provocative article by William B. Hixson, "Liberal Legacy, Radical Critique" [October 13 ]. This essay is a significant contribution to a continuing national debate about the adequacy of liberalism as a political ideology in a post-affluent society...
...Hixson's con- clusions, I believe his analysis is partly flawed by a failure to distinguish liberalism from both constitutionalism and capitalism...
...Richard...
...Hixson gives them, and that liberalism stands for more than simply the rational pursuit of self-interest...
...The Worldly Calling 115 Collins, Martha...
...In other words, liberal capitalism or (what is the same thing) classical liberalism does not seem able to realize its promise of liberty for all with its implicit notion of equality (genuine equality of opportunity for self-development...
...Factions organized in politics have been able to coerce com- mon benefit from the most powerful fac- tions in the economic order...
...Among such assumptions are these: ( I ) that men are neither angels who have no need of government nor devils who cannot be restrained, a truism which makes government both necessary and possible...
...As he phrases the question: To what extent are the evils of unemployment, discrimina- tion, poverty amidst affluence, and unre- strained corporate power inextricably connected to liberal America, to either the constitutional.order or to the society which it reinforces...
...University Press Books: A Critic's Choice 343 Baum, Gregory...
...I admit to a bias in the author's favor, since he writes as an historian of the church and illumines his commentary with the kind of reference that one has a right to expect of historians, e.g., the altogether merited tribute to Pope Paul VI, and the closing paragraph on the u- nique contribution of the Polish nation to Catholicism...
...has a constitution limiting and prescribing the ways in which power is to be exercised, but (for different reasons) neither Soviet nor American officials would refer to the Soviet Union as a liberal polity...
...I quote at random: -"relatively trashy plot . . . contrivance and sen-sationalism.., savagely ironic tone...
...Paton has proved himself to be this sort of voice...
...I | been under the impression that he wa Ukrainian Old Believer...
...48106 22 December 1978:825 I suggest that neither a liberal society nor a constitutional order are responsible for the evils he mentions...
...The ad- mission in passing that Shakespeare was one of many "honorable antecedents" for the "mixture of melodrama and seri- ous literature" they somehow find Miss Gordon's brilliant novel redu their entire review to ashes...
Vol. 105 • December 1978 • No. 25
