Benson Brickbats
Lewis, Robert G.
tually, no substantive rivalry existed, but a synthetic political competition was created by the writings of Western observers who hoped to find in Iraq a counter weight to the independent course...
...But he denies this is simple name-calling...
...Reviewed by Robert G. Lewis Jim Patton, that authentic mixture of liberal egghead and agrarian fundamentalist, speaks up for a misunderstood client—the American farmer—in this breezy little volume...
...This facile explanation of Arab nationalism overlooks the opposition of such generally progressive minded groups as the Progressive Socialist Party in Lebanon, the National Democrats in Iraq, and the Arab Socialists in Syria and Jordan...
...It is true, no doubt, that most Christians are made uneasy by the rise of an Arab nationalism which increasingly tends to identify with Islam, but there are large numbers who are as ardent Nasser supporters as can be found in the Muslim community...
...Anyone who has tried to cope with Benson's infuriating gift for making political buncombe, juggled statistics, and addled economic doctrine into plausible-sounding platitudes can not but say "Amen" to Patton's exceptionally harsh judgment...
...2.50...
...the repeated assertion that things are getting better when they are not, the whirlwind speaking tour (aimed mostly at city and processor audiences, instead of dirt farmers), increased expenditures of money while preaching economy...
...Patton lambastes Ezra Taft Benson with lusty enthusiasm and such verbal bricks as "phony," "worse than deceptive," "less than half-truths," "political hypocrisy," and "a lot of hog wash...
...Essentially his appeal adds up to a bigger and better revival of the Truman Administration's policies and programs in farm price supports, public power, and natural resource development...
...It is to be hoped that Jim Patton, the most imaginative and creative farm policy thinker in his generation, will not rest his case on measuring Benson's failings against "the good old days" of the 1940's, but will turn his insights soon upon "what ought to be" in the 1960's and beyond...
...tually, no substantive rivalry existed, but a synthetic political competition was created by the writings of Western observers who hoped to find in Iraq a counter weight to the independent course followed by Egypt even before Nasser...
...Patton does not delve far beneath the counter-slogans of Benson's political opponents, however...
...distrust of farmer committees while loading his office with advisers who are not farmers, the pretense that politics are abhorrent while he is neck-high in partisan politics, undying faith in lower prices as the salvation of farmers already suffering low prices, setting consumers against farmers and livestock farmers against grain farmers—all accompanied by pious overtones about the 'moral fiber' of American farmers...
...62 pp...
...As Patton puts it, "I try to be specific in criticizing Mr...
...Benson or be silent...
...Since Israel was established, many of its supporters have used the theme of "feudal opposition to the progressive Jewish State" as a means of rallying liberal support...
...The era covered is principally the last decade and the regions range from Libya to Iran, and Turkey to the sheikdoms on the Indian Ocean coast, with greatest emphasis on the Arab world...
...Benson Brickbats The Case for Farmers, by James G. Patton...
...In his brief volume, there is almost no hint of the dynamic revolution that is underway in farm technology—and the completely new order of problems it raises...
...He gives a once-over-lightly treatment to the current political wrangle over farm policies from the viewpoint of an intense partisan of the farmer, gained in twenty years of fighting the family-scale farmers' battles as president of the National Farmers Union...
...If one is looking for a volume which, as this is described in an Israeli publication, is not pro-Arab, and is uncritical of Israel, which ardent Zionists would consider fair and objective, this is it...
...The characteristics displayed by this skillful man include the following: "Manipulation of official figures to tell a story opposite to their real meaning...
...The theory of Christian Lebanon's antagonism to Arab nationalism is another oversimplification...
...The farm problem of the 1960's demands a new perspective, new ideas, new solutions...
...There is no mention of the opportunity afforded by new farming technology, particularly if farmers can get enough capital to apply it, to cut drastically unit costs of production, nor of the problems which the unprecedented potential volume of farm output will pose...
...Public Affairs Press...
Vol. 24 • September 2006 • No. 7
