Dear Editor
Dear Editor Big Government Gus Tyler points out ("The Politics of Disillusion," NL, October 25) that both Presidential candidates this year played on the people's fear of "Big Government." This...
...In an economy dominated by big business, the opposition by ordinary people to big government does not make sense...
...In the process, it would turn those who are now the unemployed beneficiaries of taxes into working taxpayers...
...What we could and should do is expand the government by, for example, passing the Humphrey-Hawkins bill...
...ALFRED BAKER LEWIS Rhodesia Roger Mann's "On the Road to Zimbabwe" (NL, October 25), provided an informative backdrop to the talks currently being held in Geneva...
...And why weren't there any commercials in the debates...
...Workers and consumers do not seem to realize how much they need a strong government to protect them...
...Secondly, it now appears that the blacks and IVime Minister Ian Smith are not as close THE NEW LEADER welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...
...Not only were we forced to endure the contests with empty stomachs and full bladders, but the candidates blew some big money...
...But in all of these cases, of course, we would be worse off...
...For one thing, he seriously underestimated the difficulty various Zimbabwean factions would have in coming to terms with each other...
...Sure, announcing the winner is I fine idea, but why stop with that...
...Especially on the significant issues of whether security during the transitional period will be run by blacks or whites, and how long the period will be, they remain far apart...
...Olympia, Wash...
...The only trouble is he didn't take his sports metaphor far enough...
...There should be an ongoing play-by-play commentary, provided by one journeyman announcer and one "color" man, an out-of-work politician like, say, George Romney...
...STEPHEN JAFFE...
...Did Henry Kissinger present the same plan to all factions during his shuttle diplomacy last summer...
...what they obviously needed was an exhibition season...
...The mind boggles at the forensic heights they might have reached had they been given the benefit of a Grapefruit League in Florida...
...For example, it was apparent that Carter and Ford were both quite rusty as the first debate got under way...
...These are the questions that have stood out in Geneva, and the ones that will have to be answered before any agreement can be reached...
...Will the U.S...
...put pressure on Smith to capitulate to the blacks' demands...
...We could cut big government-by getting rid of the Fair Employment Practices Law that prevents discrimination in hiring and upgrading by employers on the grounds of race, creed, color, or sex...
...Kitman also neglected some of the possibilities of sports-style television coverage of the contests...
...Since a Presidential race is, after all, a four-man affair, it is only natural for debates to be tag team matches, a la professional wrestling...
...as they once seemed to be...
...Just think how much Planter's Peanuts would have payed Jimmy Carter for one voice-over spot...
...Riverside, Conn...
...And we could cut big government-if we stopped trying to limit monopolies and oligopolies and prevent the price-fixing practices of big industry...
...Indeed, we could cut big government-by eliminating the Federal Minimum Wage Law and the people who enforce it...
...And we would have useful projects to show for our pains: improved mass transit, better efforts to reduce pollution, more slum clearance and urban renewal with more public low-rent housing, and increased educational opportunities for the poor...
...I hope the powers that be take Kitman's and my suggestions to heart...
...Just think what joys we missed out on this yean Carter and Mondale ganging up on Ford, Dole's rapier-like wit piercing Carter, or, best of all, a full-fledged two-on-two brawl...
...In any case, with the best minds in the country already debating the format, 1 have no doubt that the 1980 debates will break new ground for broadcast journalism...
...Finally, Kitman left out what could be a truly revolutionary development...
...This would create massive Federal programs of public works and services, employing all whom private industry does not hire...
...New York City JAMES BARNES Debating the Debates I think Marvin Kitman is definitely on the right track ("A Format for the 1980 Debates," NL, November 8...
...No less interesting than his insights, however, was what Mann failed to foresee...
...We could cut big government-by reducing expenditures on irrigation and flood control, and throwing the workers engaged in the useful projects into the ranks of the unemployed...
...The most crucial point of contention to emerge from the first week of the talks, in fact, is something Mann didn't even mention: the role of the third (and fourth) parties, Great Britain and the United States...
...Is Britain prepared to take more authority on itself, to treat Rhodesia as the lapsed colony that it is...
...Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe have not turned out, as Mann said they would, to be the only significant nationalists: The two hnve indeed formed an alliance, yet Ndabaningi Sithole and Abel Muzorcwa continue to be powerful voices at the Geneva conferences...
...This was particularly true of the substantial tax cuts they promised, for no one can reduce taxes without reducing expenditures on the Federal government's activities and personnel...
Vol. 59 • November 1976 • No. 23
