LETTERS
LETTERS Shredding the Constitution Regardless of political affiliation, most Americans must be alarmed and ashamed at the extent of the Iran-contra fiasco and the far-reaching involvement of the...
...Perhaps the most important right of dissent one retains in the media age is to ignore television entirely— and certainly never to validate its power by agreeing to appear on it...
...Beyond these feeble signs of hope, there is only the streetcar named MAD, a transport that runs on rails and allows no choice of path, dead-set on its route, carrying us all with it...
...The next election may well be the most important of our 200-year history...
...The Democrats have six mildly liberal pygmies plus one front-runner who articulates progressive positions...
...Jack Carter Moscow, Idaho Underground Music Now that's music—at least to some of us...
...As time passes and further revelations are made, the scandal grows steadily worse...
...Corliss Lamont Beth Lamont New York, New York Iagree with the conclusion to your Comment, "The Emperor's New Clothes" (July issue): "We won't come to terms with the revelations of the Iran-contra affair by unseating this or that President, or by putting some of his flunkies behind bars...
...Warning: Eugene is not for those who take their music straight up...
...Jahnkow is correct when he states that "it would be a mistake to put too much of our confidence—and too many of our scarce resources—into the electoral process...
...Perhaps Jackson needs prodding from the media, which should subject the Nation of Islam to the same kind of scrutiny that is given the Ku Klux Klan...
...I took the liberty of summarizing it for one audience, and the response was excellent...
...We need to find ways to eliminate enticing pathways to crime...
...We need leaders who can be counted on to stick with principle, not politicians who switch from one position to another whenever the wind changes...
...Daniel Morris Euclid, Ohio The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...
...Steve Livingston Asheville, North Carolina Rick Jahnkow's advice that leftists shun the Democratic Party and the electoral system is foolhardy...
...I have worked for Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party...
...Without a significant increase in the size of the base the Left claims to speak for, its voice will not be heard...
...Just think: When we run out of heroes, when at last everyone is a celebrity, a vast search will be conducted for that one American who has never been on camera, and when that American is found, no one will believe he or she sought anonymity by choice...
...Do you think the marchers would have made it past the first restaurant they attempted to integrate...
...The press would have to stop ignoring him...
...I have a number of his albums and I've seen him live, and Eugene has to be experienced...
...A citizen can live in relative serenity on principles, in denial of the democratic notion that they should count for more than a personal code...
...But what would happen if Jahnkow and my friends got off their duffs and Jesse Jackson started winning primaries...
...Perhaps I should not be too surprised, given Salim Muwakkil's finding that the "anti-Jewish notions" that influenced Jackson bore "a close resemblance to classical anti-Semitism...
...But we must make sound judgments as to how much is too much and how much is not enough...
...LETTERS Shredding the Constitution Regardless of political affiliation, most Americans must be alarmed and ashamed at the extent of the Iran-contra fiasco and the far-reaching involvement of the U.S...
...A number of his solo and Shockabilly Band albums are available through New Music Distribution Service, 500 Broadway, New York, NY 10012...
...Cecil P. Roberts El Paso, Texas Rick Jahnkow tars Democrats and Republicans with the same brush, but that just doesn't stand up to scrutiny...
...The press doesn't even acknowledge the front-runner because of the color of his skin...
...This is one of the few places on Earth where the ballot box is still significant...
...I doubt it...
...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness...
...Those who accept the local success-models are often sent to "finishing schools"—reformatories and prisons...
...It helps...
...William L. Fisch Teaneck, New Jersey I'll take Robert Karl Man-I offs bait when he suggests that the Left must master the media discourse if it is to "talk the language of American politics" by taking part in television's silly, shallow news talk shows...
...A point Manoff doesn't make is that one need not feel victimized by a society that doesn't provide its crass forum for every idiot view from Left and Right...
...John Sarich Sacramento, California The Ballot Trap Rick Jahnkow's "The Ballot Trap" (Reflections, August issue) gave a surprisingly myopic view of the political process...
...I'm sure I'm not the only one who has stopped watching the show because of its bland-ness and cautious conformity...
...I encourage liberal/leftists to put time and energy into electoral politics...
...I'm talking about Eugene Chad-bourne ("Notes from Underground," Datelines, August issue...
...Look at the stark differences between the Democratic and Republican candidates for President...
...It is very important that George Bush or Oliver North or Jack Kemp never make it into the White House...
...However, as Rick Jahnkow points out, the record doesn't support such a conclusion...
...About the only hope of stopping the policy of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is its gross inefficiency—the Marines sleeping in a high-rise dorm in the middle of a battlefield, the broken-down new tank that can't be repaired in the field, the bomber that can't get off the ground...
...What if Richard Nixon had been President during the civil rights marches of the 1960s...
...We are well-advised to do our homework, to know where the candidates stand, and to make friends of those who support peace and justice...
...Government and the Reagan Administration...
...George B. Ringwald Eureka, California Jesse Jackson should do more than dissociate himself from Louis Farrakhan's anti-Semitic views...
...And it is primary elections at all levels that represent the greatest untapped source of political power in this country...
...He believes we can do more good from the outside, but he misses an important point: If we do not work for progressive Democrats, if we don't devote our time and skills, we lose the ability to influence debate at the critical time when leftist goals merge with the electoral system...
...I believe our time is well spent working within the Democratic Party...
...We need to provide more opportunities for self-fulfillment among the deprived...
...Alfred McClung Lee Madison, New Jersey Jesse Jackson's Challenge Ithought Washington Post reporter Milton Coleman's revelation of Jesse Jackson's comments on "Hymies" and "Hymietown" during the 1984 campaign was an example of journalistic courage and integrity, and I am incensed to see it dismissed by another journalist as an "indiscretion" ("Jackson's Challenge," by Salim Muwakkil, July issue...
...What would he have—a pogrom...
...If there are viable candidates who are certain to be a marked improvement over their predecessors, they are worth our time and effort...
...Robert J. Hall Daly City, California Tear Down the Walls In response to Linda Roca-wich's enlightening article, "Lock 'em Up" (August issue), please let me be the first to volunteer Linda to share a cozy condo with Charles Manson when we "tear down the walls" of prisons as she suggests...
...As long as we retain some semblance of the rule of law and representative government, it is the ballot box that is the principal engine of change, for better or worse...
...I'm sorry to see this flimsy apologia in The Progressive...
...The Reagan rabble has shredded into bits and pieces our much vaunted democracy...
...He should also repudiate Farrak-han for the heart of his philosophy—black superiority and hatred of the "white devil...
...That's true, too, for welfare and Social Security...
...Gerry Brennan Boston, Massachusetts Ihope a great many people who who are not acquainted with the prisons will read Linda Rocawich's excellent article...
...The most profound tragedy in this situation, however, is that while we are proudly celebrating the 200th anniversary of the great American Constitution, we are confronted with an Administration that is the most lawless and dishonest in the history of the Republic...
...I say this as one who has, like Jahnkow, been frustrated by unsuccessful campaigns for progressive candidates as well as by successful campaigns for candidates who, having achieved office, proved less than responsive to our constituency...
...Greg Rideout Ayden, North Carolina The civil rights, women's rights, and antiwar movements succeeded only when the battle moved into the Congress, where Democrats, primarily, passed laws affirming their goals...
...The notion of anticom-munism as the cornerstone of our foreign policy has metastasized throughout our body politic...
...The Republicans, on the other hand, have a gang of right-wing crazies plus a Vice President who is a candidate for impeachment in his own right...
...To think of rooting it out is a dream...
...that it is our civic duty to be political evangelists...
...Alvin L. Schreiber Somerville, Massachusetts Quick-Fix News Robert Karl Manoffs analysis of The MacNeil/ Lehrer Report ("Quick-Fix News," Media, July issue) was right on target...
...The schools are deplorable and out of touch...
...But I say this also as one who has remained close to the electoral process and whose faith has been rewarded...
...Noam Chomsky, in your interview with him in the same issue, puts it nicely: "Ever since I've had any political awareness, I've felt either alone or part of a tiny minority...
...Get with it...
...However, I am skeptical of Manoffs proposed cure for the all but total exclusion of Left viewpoints from the mass media...
...It is the whole system of empire— the system we have fostered for decades—that must be rooted out...
...I would welcome a ballot on which I could register a choice even though that choice might be a perennial loser, reflecting the views of only a small minority...
...Our chief product today is arms, and with it has come a constituency that depends on arms-making...
...Is Manoff suggesting that merely mastering technique will give us access...
...He counsels the Left to learn to use the language of the media, mastering "the discourse of power...
...We can deny conserv-1 ative Democrats the opportunity to set the terms of debate...
...He is certainly left-field in more ways than one...
...But it implies tasks so immense that Hercules would tremble in his horse-shit...
...Laverne Rison Albuquerque, New Mexico For a lifetime—seventy-four years—I have yielded to the logical argument that supporters of third parties can best further their interests by casting their ballots for a major party and against "the greater evil...
...We can influence Party officials and candidates...
...Instead of building more prisons, we need to study where prisoners come from...
...What's wrong with that...
...Rooted out"—what a darling puritan and radical term...
...We can share and explain our world views...
...For those who grow up in the deprived neighborhoods of our American cities, the only success-models available are often the local drug dealers, operators of houses of prostitution, racketeers, etc...
Vol. 51 • September 1987 • No. 9
