Dear Editor
Dear Editor Reaganomics Of all the criticism I have read of the President's economic programs, none has been more cogent-or amusing-than Sidney Weintraub's spirited denunciation ("The Reagan-Regan...
...Its view is akin to that of a man who is reluctant to take his new car out in the rain...
...My intention is not to advocate any particular conventional strategy— The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...
...It is no wonder that West Europeans are nervous...
...When such sis-boom-bah sports movies are popular, making a similar one takes no courage...
...That element is our basic-reliance on a nuclear defense against conventional attack-a very different matter from the maintenance of a nuclear defense to deter nuclear attack...
...New York City James Irrizary Sidney Weintraub's intemperate words do not make much of a mark against our supply-siding President...
...Rebuilding a substantial conventional military position requires more than concern about the interests of the marketplace: It means calling on the resources of the nation in common, both to serve in the Armed Forces and to pay for them...
...I would like to see him enter the debate about the gold standard...
...it would involve large expenditures on military equipment and training, and would necessitate a draft, which the West Europeans already have...
...For example, the repugnance we see against placing the neutron bomb and other nuclear weapons in Western Europe may be an expression of appeasement or even of capitulation on the part of some, but there is another element that' must concern many others...
...Brooklyn, N. Y. Joseph M. Diamond Cinematic Conservatism It is depressing to see a film critic of Robert Asahina's caliber get sucked in by an obnoxious bit of fluff like Chariots of Fire ("Religion and Running," NL, October 5...
...It hardly was courageous "to conceive of a film suffused with such frank nostalgia and patriotism," as Asahina seems to think...
...producing this film was plainly based on a shrewd appraisal of what audiences want in these mawkishly conservative times...
...Reagan's proposals ought to at least be given a chance...
...We cannot ask young men to serve with enthusiasm while chiseling on their veterans' benefits, their sisters' student aid, their fathers' osha protection, and their grandmothers' Medicare...
...Asahina himself inadvertently acknowledges this canniness when he claims that Chariots' climax "stirs us in the same way that the finales of Rocky or Breaking Away did...
...As important as the purely military aspects of the problem are the moral, or morale, aspects...
...It may be true that we have lost the full year 1981 to inflation, as Weintraubsays, but no anti-inflation plan is going to work overnight...
...Part of Weintraub's trouble is the violence of his metaphors, which are so frenzied they cancel each other out...
...The only way out of the dilemma is the creation of an adequate conventional defense...
...that is a matter for military technicians to debate-it is merely to urge such a strategy...
...This would not come cheap...
...Dear Editor Reaganomics Of all the criticism I have read of the President's economic programs, none has been more cogent-or amusing-than Sidney Weintraub's spirited denunciation ("The Reagan-Regan Flimflam," NL, October 5...
...The Administration tells us that our main defense is the strength of our economy, which presumably must be sheltered from the shock of large expenditures in any field...
...My favorite: "The manhole cover the President has drawn over government spending as ' hazardous to our health' is made of straw-or of the tobacco subsidies to buy North Carolina Republican Senator Jesse Helms' votes...
...In contrast, the nuclear avenue admittedly offers a "bargain" defense, but one that places us in an impossible position...
...nuclear weapons...
...Boston Mark Davidson Conventional Arms The current arguments about military appropriations seem to miss the important issue of conventional vs...
...This puts us in the position of initiating the use of nuclear weapons in any major conflict in Europe...
...Clearly, if the Russians with their moth-eaten economy and impoverished allies can build 50,000 tanks, we and our well-off allies can build 50,000, or 100,000-although not by cutting taxes, not by laissez faire ("getting the government off your back...
...New York City Charles Hall...
...I f only more voters had been aware of Weintraub's arguments in 1980...
...A deeper problem with Weintraub's arguments is the fact that Reagan's bold programs simply have not had time to take effect...
Vol. 64 • November 1981 • No. 20
