Correspondence
Correspondence Gen Xers, Free and Responsible Iam a bit taken aback by Andrew Peyton Thomas's comments on libertari-anism in "Dear Generation X: A Letter to My Cohort" (Jan. 1/Jan. 8). Perhaps...
...On recent trips back to Vermont, Jeffords made a special point of blasting Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America...
...He was the only Republican in the House to oppose Reagan's tax bill...
...I expected that some might disagree with my choice, so I made myself available to explain why I believe Cochran is one of the great lawyers of this generation...
...Except for the Henry Wallace Progressive Party in California in 1948, no third-party or independent candidate has ever managed to overcome a petition hurdle greater than 135,000 signatures, in any state, in the history of the United States...
...But by applying those findings to Fells Acres, Rabinowitz and others ignore evidence that most of the children who testified against the Amiraults disclosed what had happened to them spontaneously, or disclosed specific details of abuse in response to general, non-specific questions...
...The school-voucher caper offers another example of Jeffords at his worst...
...Perhaps unknowingly, Thomas echoes the know-nothing left on conservatism...
...What really bothers Stewart's detractors is that this flame is being rekindled by a Grinch in mother's clothing...
...Since when did "the personal is the political" become conservative doctrine...
...Schlafly insists that the moral venue concerning abortion is complete because it "exists in the holy books of the world's great religions...
...Americans are feeling this loss and some are turning to Stewart to rekindle the flame that feminism extinguished...
...Emery's strategy is not a call for the Republican party to "abandon the fight to make abortion illegal," as Schlafly contends...
...8), there are significant structural barriers to independent parties operating in the U.S...
...In Florida, the ballot-access laws for new parties are so severe, there has not been a third-party or independent candidate on the ballot for governor since 1920...
...Thomas believes that the wish of Generation Xer's to be free from "higher taxes and restrictions on sexual liberation" has destroyed families, unleashed social pathologies, and increased women's role in the work force...
...We also need to focus on a moral approach in order to win protection for the unborn in the future, and to stop the number of abortions being performed in the present...
...Excuse me...
...Richard Winger San Francisco, CA Child-Abuse Complications In his profile of Wall Street Journal editorial-page writer Dorothy Rabi-nowitz ("America's Foremost Muckrak-er," Jan...
...There is no reason to believe that anyone reviewing the case today is more likely to arrive at the truth than the 24 jurors who sat through those trials...
...If Thomas wants to argue with Max Stirner's ghost, he's welcome to it, but he shouldn't pretend that his argument is with contemporary libertarians, most of whom are decidedly conservative on family issues...
...The Florida petition requirement of 196,788, on top of huge filing fees, is prohibitive...
...Terry Teachout New York, NY The editors respond : We were being ironic...
...Why is Thomas appalled that one of these libertarians asserts that the individual is the most basic unit of society...
...8), Tucker Carlson wrote that Boston's "local alternative paper implied that Rabinowitz was in league with the North American Man-Boy Love Association...
...My ads are aimed at the parents of brain-damaged babies...
...Since that didn't happen, Labash decided to take a few whacks himself, referring to some of my guests as "crows'-footed atrophied socialites...
...This overlooks the fact that we live in a democracy, where consensus must be reached among citizens, not religions...
...Well, let's just say it meandered a bit to sneer at just about everyone who wasn't able-bodied, white, and young, or, for that matter, like-minded...
...I think this sort of reductionism of liber-tarianism is no more appealing coming from the neo-con right, which should know better...
...John A Kelleher Summit, NJ As Generation Xers, Andrew Peyton Thomas and I share "an almost eerie ability to recite dialogue from The Brady Bunch" but not much else...
...I wrote the article Carlson cited, and I dispute his characterization...
...Most people who assert this recognize the significance of families, and also understand that families are made up of individuals...
...John McClaughry Kirby, VT In Defense of Cochran In "Cochran of the Walk" (Dec...
...Underwager's findings, that children repeatedly asked leading questions about sexual abuse may report they were abused even if they were not, may well be true...
...Florida requires parties with less than 5 percent registration membership to submit 196,788 valid signatures to be on the ballot for statewide office...
...The answer is simple: They have not reduced the number of abortions...
...The cause of our social breakdown is not individualism, but the willingness of the state to subsidize individual immorality and encourage a state-fostered culture that promotes moral, aesthetic, and intellectual cretinism...
...I did write that Rabinowitz was relying in part on research pioneered by a controversial psychologist, Ralph Underwager, who in 1992 gave an interview to a Dutch pedophile magazine with ties to NAMBLA in which he appeared to endorse pedophilia...
...In addition, third-party and independent candidates must also pay candidate filing fees, which are over $10,000 for congressional candidates...
...Every issue raised by Rabinowitz was explored at length by the Amiraults' talented, aggressive defense lawyers...
...He provided the sole Republican vote for a Democratic budget bill that passed by one vote...
...Now the art of homemaking is lost to fast food, impersonal decor, and psycho-babble about child rearing...
...I have never questioned Rabinowitz's integrity, although I believe she misconstrued the evidence against the Amirault family in her commentaries on the Fells Acres child-sexual-abuse case...
...There's no correlation between coming from a loving family and believing that taxes are too high and that morality ought not be legislated...
...How can anyone quarrel with our political successes...
...To achieve that kind of success requires a new strategy that seeks first to win the hearts of Americans...
...25), Matt Labash bashes the Olender Foundation for giving Johnnie Cochran the Advocate for Justice award...
...Doesn't that ilk routinely argue that conservative thought is no more than a rationalization for class interest...
...He further erroneously asserts that as "Washington's medical malpractice king," my ads seek out "brain dead babies...
...It's not freedom from personal responsibility that Generation Xers are seeking, but freedom from government excess...
...Jeffords's crimes are not confined to inveterate liberalism...
...A judge's decision last summer to overturn two of the three convictions because the children who testified were allowed to face the judge and the jury rather than the defendants raises an important constitutional question: the right literally to face one's accuser...
...Dan Kennedy Boston, MA...
...Underwager later said that he'd been misunderstood and that he opposes pedophilia...
...As with all child-abuse cases, Fells Acres is immensely complicated...
...Tracy Locklin Charlottesville, VA Martha Stewart, Grinch Christopher Caldwell misses the nail and hits his thumb when he says, "What really bothers Stewart's detractors is that she cares about the home" ("In Praise of Martha Stewart," Jan...
...If you think it is easy to obtain 196,788 valid signatures, please note that two days ago, the Rhode Island secretary of state announced that Pat Buchanan, Phil Gramm, and Steve Forbes all failed to qualify for the presidential primary because they failed to submit 1,000 valid signatures...
...Jan Krauss Annapolis, MD The Personal Isn't Political Let me get this straight: You approve of the fact that Newt Gingrich is one of those people who "burn with the knowledge that everything is political-that every decision they must make, every thought they think, is laden with ideological meaning" ("In Defense of Newt Gingrich," Dec...
...He stalked around our event looking for someone who would say something bad about our honoree...
...He was the only Republican to sign a pledge to support Kemp-Roth in 1980 and then renege on it...
...It seems the first thing that comes to this man's mind every day is "How can I revile fellow Republicans...
...The last time I looked, it was a left-wing slogan with totalitarian implications...
...Since at least 1980 he has exhibited a perverse delight in sticking it to his own party...
...James Jeffords ("How Jeffords Obstructs," Jan...
...He could be forgiven for his hyperbole if he weren't so far off the mark...
...Lee Kessler Palatine, IL Pro-Life Not Abandoned Ibelieve Phyllis Schlafly's response to Noemie Emery ("Abortion and the Republican Party: Three Responses," Jan...
...At least he has enough integrity to repay the NEA for backing him in 1994...
...I have pioneered their representation, obtaining the first multimillion-dollar verdict for such injuries in 1976...
...Jeffords, GOP Detractor Thanks to Matthew Rees for his portrayal of the perfidious Sen...
...He supported John Anderson over Ronald Reagan for president in 1980...
...But Labash was less interested in hearing why I, along with many others, respect Cochran...
...Maybe your editorial writer needs to take a couple of weeks off and spend them outside the Beltway, talking to non-wonks about non-policy He might even consider joining a support group: Enthusiasts Anonymous...
...Jack H. Olender Washington, DC Third Parties Are Shut Out Contrary to your editorial ("The Vanity of Third-Party Politics," Jan...
...True, her moral approach would postpone a direct attack on the legal status of abortion, but it need not require pro-life Republicans to abandon this goal altogether...
...The American home lost its soul when women turned their backs on family and hearth in the 1970s to pursue some ethereal sense of greater personal worth and stature...
...8) seriously mischaracter-ized Emery's position and offered a weak defense of the pro-life movement's traditional legal approach...
...What's crucial to keep in mind is that not one piece of new evidence has emerged in the decade since the Amiraults' two trials took place...
...It strikes me as a banal observation...
...Except when he is up for reelection, of course, when he preaches "party unity...
...Did I say his article was about Cochran...
...Thus, the pro-life movement should try to turn these principles into legal reality...
Vol. 1 • January 1996 • No. 18
