Dear Editor
Dear Editor The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words. Reaganism Andrew J. Glass is probably right that our President "will...
...Blacks still bear the terrible burden of discrimination...
...Large deficits, crime, Federal meddling, foreign competition, even the Russians do not bother the Administration as much as the entitlements of the American people...
...The Federal government is also interfering in state social programs (like rent control) that are unpalatable to Reaganism-A clear violation of the Republican fondness for states' rights...
...The balanced budget amendment is an even more direct assault, from the opposite direction, on the ability of future Congresses to reverse Reagan's present policy...
...To expect more than is possible from the NAACP is akin to blaming the ACLU for not solving the crisis of urban finance...
...Cutting taxes also compromises Republican campaign rhetoric about rearming...
...In effect, Reagan is telling the citizen who has lost his job, exhausted his unemployment benefits, and may lose his home, that while the President personally commiserates with him and has every hope for his good fortune, as Chief Executive these misfortunes are not his business...
...Blacks also have very acute economic and social needs beyond civil rights, of course...
...Although the article tried to end on an upbeat note, it contained many criticisms that I think are fundamentally unfair...
...Perhaps foreign competition, if not exactly welcome, is nevertheless looked upon as at least having a silver lining in that it is a weapon against American labor...
...If the most hostile Administration in more than a half century ends without the kinds of sweeping reverses for blacks experienced at the end of Reconstruction, the NAACP will deserve a great deal of the credit...
...Chicago Gary Orfield Professor of Political Science University of Chicago...
...Outside the civil rights area, however, there are a great many more powerful actors-including the political parties, labor, all of the great national organizations, and black elected officials, particularly the Congressional Black Caucus...
...These cuts are occuring in direct financial aid to state police and prison systems, and in the Federal government's own police responsibilities, such as stemming the influx of narcotics...
...Beset by stagnation and subsidized foreign competition, our industry is suffering an ominous wave of shutdowns and bankruptcies...
...New York City Joseph M. Diamond Figure of Speech FDR's metaphor had Doctor New Deal giving way to Doctor Win-the-War, not Mister, as George P. Brockway has it ("Midterm Excuses," NL, November 1,1982...
...These issues, moreover, should be obvious to a magazine published in the state with the nation's second most segregated public schools, and in a city with vast and rapidly expanding ghettos whose economy is producing downward mobility for many blacks through the operation of seniority provisions in historically discriminatory industries...
...The suppression of crime, presumably a prime Republican issue, has received only verbal support from the Administration, which is cutting Federal contributions to every phase of crime control...
...The unnerving mountain of debt and the tax cuts are aimed at denying the government the money to pursue social reform, no matter which party is in power...
...Of course, Congress can spend money it does not have...
...The NAACP advocates many major policy changes...
...Despite some last-minute concessions to reality, Reagan has not changed his mission-to get the people off the government's back...
...To keep it from doing so, you must increase the debt to a forbidding degree beforehand, simultaneously reducing the government income that might be used to cover the gap...
...At a time when the various relevant Federal agencies have been put in the control of officials who oppose civil rights, and when the Federal government is mobilized against the claims of minorities, the role of the NAACP in protecting hard-won advances against discrimination in voting, education, housing, etc...
...Despite the widespread impression that a large rearmament program is in the works, it should be recalled that the Republicans have only been talking about a 7 per cent annual increase in real terms, while Carter favored a 5 per cent increase...
...The NAACP has always been and is now a great force in this area...
...These senators have reason to be alarmed, for there has been an odd tone to the present Administration's policies, odd in the sense that they fly in the face of what we expect from the Republican outlook...
...And the Administration's cavalier disregard for the fate of basic American industry is surely a surprising attitude for Republicans...
...Although there has been some 11th-hour movement, the government has dragged its feet in seeking equality for our foreign trade...
...New York City Dick Netzer Director, Urban Research Center New York University NAACP Craig Mellow's strange article, "Taking Stock at the NAACP" (NL, November 15,1982), followed the common practice of blaming this one organization for not simultaneously and successfully addressing all of the problems of the black community...
...This is normally addressed through battles over the enactment and enforcement of civil rights laws and through litigation...
...If we ultimately have an interracial society that functions reasonably well, I think one of the very important contributions will be that of the NAACP in stubbornly keeping the issues of race in the public consciousness during the present very inhospitable times...
...Occasionally we hear this aim stated fairly openly by some Republican figure, usually along the lines of "Congress can't spend money it does not have...
...One poorly financed group, under legal restrictions because of the tax exempt status of much of its funds, can have only a relatively small role on the massive questions...
...No one is going to be deterred by such a small amount, least of all the Russians...
...Reaganism Andrew J. Glass is probably right that our President "will ignore the pleas of worried Republican senators" and stick to his bold agenda ("Reagan's Political Options," NL, November 15, 1982...
...The GOP shibboleth of fiscal responsibility is gone, sacrificed to Reagan's priority of cutting taxes (recent backtracking notwithstanding...
...The metaphor doesn't make sense, even in Brockway's use of it, without the medical allusion...
...The underlying thrust of Reagan's policies is simply the elimination of the New Deal...
...is of extraordinary importance...
...Take the enormous Reagan deficits now clearly visible, dwarfing anything Jimmy Carter ever dreamed of...
Vol. 66 • January 1983 • No. 1
