Correspondence
Pulling a Clinton Christopher Caldwell makes an important point in the ongoing scandal-laden Clinton/DNC fund-raising story ("A Democratic Scandal," Nov. 18). Again, we see Bill Clinton doing what...
...The Republican party needs to be more than just the party of "the wallet...
...Only the words of Gen...
...As a newly minted Republican, I voted for Dole in this presidential election...
...It had been covered over "accidentally," said the manager...
...When in Los Angeles, I checked the big bookstores: no Nine Lies to be found...
...Arnold Beichman Stanford, CA Ari Redbord concentrates on a tiny fraction of conservative books in a tiny fraction of bookstores...
...He couldn't believe it wasn't on the shelves...
...They had been there for ten days," he said, looking puzzled...
...Exactly...
...Gary M. Polland Houston, TX John Podhoretz has it exactly right...
...Again, we see Bill Clinton doing what he does best: "pulling a Clinton...
...there are those who still doubt that each nation has the right and the capacity to handle its own matters and destiny successfully...
...Mike Matya Bellevue, NE...
...On the very day it was reviewed (rather nastily) in the New York Times, I stopped in at the big bookstore on Third Avenue operated at the time by Harcourt Brace...
...25), Andrew Peyton Thomas writes, "When unelected judges wield their great and solemn powers irresponsibly, the public is liable to rise up and assert its legitimate concern...
...In view of the real reasons why books get to be where they are, it is ludicrous to lament the fact that already bestselling conservative authors cannot get their books displayed prominently in every store in the land...
...Of course, we put it out several days ago...
...Understanding the critical role the canal plays for countries around the world, the reforms stipulate that canal operations cannot be interrupted for any reason...
...Dominic C. Bellone Alexandria, VA We Want Value Added John Podhoretz, in "The Value-Free GOP" (Nov...
...I agree we need to reform our campaign-finance laws, but let's first appoint an outside counsel to investigate these allegations...
...Caldwell points out, rightly, the difference between the "procedural issue" of campaign-finance reform and allegations of corruption, bribery, money laundering, and the shaping of foreign policy based on campaign contributions...
...When the book came out in paper, I dropped by the Harvard Co-op Bookstore and looked around for a copy...
...After 25 years as a registered Democrat, I finally abandoned the Democrats principally because of values issues...
...We need only limit the terms and thereby the powers of the court...
...The point of the symposium was that the courts are threatening the most American of all principles, consent of the governed...
...This pigeonholing often seals a book's fate long before it can get into bookstores...
...It must also be the party of the soul...
...After an appearance on a morning television show, I stopped by the New York Doubleday bookstore on Fifth Avenue to look for a copy of the book...
...Not one...
...Not there...
...I believe, however, that we are able to regain our freedom...
...The value-free GOP...
...If he is interested in the fate of most conservative books, he should talk to authors and publishers about the triage-like decisions publishers make to deterCorrespondence mine how much they will "push" a given book...
...I looked around for the book on the shelves...
...William C. Walden Southampton, MA Lefty Bookstores Ari Redbord's report on bookstore censorship needs an historical perspective ("Liberal Bookstores, Conservative Books," Nov...
...We as Republicans should be proud of our positions and ideas, and we should be willing to seek to advance them at every opportunity...
...He went looking for it...
...Talk to publishers and the big chains about the deals they make for advertising, shelf space, display space, and book-tour time...
...The same kind of censorship happened to me in the '70s when I published Nine Lies About America...
...Not to be found...
...Charles T. Rubin Forest Hills, PA Property of Panama It was with great frustration and concern that I read Thomas M. DeFrank's recent piece about the imminent turnover of the Panama Canal, "Ronald Reagan Was Right" (Nov...
...DeFrank recalls a "golden era" of the Canal Zone that has supposedly ended...
...Surely, a public discussion of judicial usurpation is profoundly American, important, and long overdue...
...He went to a shelf, lifted a book off a pile, and lo...
...it was a staple during the high period of Stalinism...
...The Communist party did everything it could to destroy the book's publication in 1941...
...President Ernesto Perez Balladares enacted constitutional reforms that deal exclusively with canal matters...
...We know—as do many of the U.S...
...Unfortunate too is the liberal media's complicity in this shameless act of mendacity...
...I showed the Times review to a salesperson and asked to see the book...
...Nor can we allow ourselves to be intimidated into hiding our true beliefs...
...Not all were Communist, but usually one of the employees was...
...Joseph J. Darcy Brightwaters, NY One can certainly take issue with the views expressed in the First Things symposium and even the decision by the magazine to publish it, but why talk of anti-Americanism...
...I hope The Weekly Standard will contribute to the subject with a series of articles and/or responses by thinkers equal in stature to those in the symposium, rather than simply quote shrill voices that say this subject is not fit for public discussion...
...He said they had sent out books a week or so before but somehow the book cartons were not unpacked...
...I asked the manager, whom I knew, whether he had received the book...
...They create the Panama Canal Authority, whose budget will be independent of the national budget...
...Brooks's article does not contribute to a serious discussion of the issues raised by the symposium...
...She leaned down to a carton near the cash register and took out a copy of my book...
...When it came to what I think is the most significant moral decision this country has made in recent years, President Clinton's veto of the partial-birth-abortion ban, our fearless candidate, Bob Dole, said virtually nothing but a throwaway line...
...Worse yet is his choice of title...
...nationals who have worked and/or are currently working closely with us in this process—that not only does Panama have the natural and legal right to sovereignty and management of the canal, it also has earned the trust of the international community...
...How ironic that after lambasting First Things and calling their legitimate concerns "anti-American," you ran in this week's issue an article about the citizens of Arizona who fight judicial arrogance...
...We don't seem to have it," he said...
...American Despotism II David Brooks trivializes the questions posed by the First Things symposium ("The Right's Anti-American Temptation," Nov...
...Talk to public and university libraries about their purchases...
...Normally, a book reviewed in the Times would have been in the sidewalk showcase window...
...Bookstore censorship didn't begin this week...
...Paul Geary Pacifica, CA David Brooks was way off in his article concerning the First Things symposium...
...We do not need to amend the Constitution to establish school prayer, Christmas manger scenes, term limits, or the English language...
...Four years from now, I'll be voting for either a third-party candidate or "none of the above...
...Are conservatives too proud to open bookstores...
...By bringing up the issue of a bipartisan commission on campaign-finance reform, he seeks to obfuscate the real issues at the heart of this scandal...
...We strongly disagree, as do most Americans...
...In "Voters v. Judges" (Nov...
...He went down to a lower floor and found boxes of my book labeled but not yet opened...
...We cannot and we must not let the Democratic party attempt to define who we are or falsely label what we stand for...
...I called the publisher to complain...
...The symposium was defending, not attacking, American principles...
...Among their most important provisions: They establish the canal as the inalienable property of Panama and state that the canal will always remain open to the peaceful transit of ships from every country around the world...
...The book was covered by another paperback...
...I asked the manager...
...In my opinion, there is no reason to fear running on social and economic issues because these are time-honored values that the citizens in this country cherish...
...It is not diversity to have all bookstores stock the same titles...
...18), lays out the path for future success for the Republican party...
...David M. Prentiss Marion, MA Iwas pleased to read David Brooks's article because I believe in the absolute truth of the message of the symposium: "The End of Democracy: The Judicial Usurpation of Politics...
...Talk to the big wholesalers about which books they will warehouse for quick delivery and which will have to be long-wait "special orders...
...In a diverse, commercial, and essentially democratic publishing industry, all the above decisions have to be made, often at the expense of good books...
...Barry McCaffrey, buried deep in the article, indicate that there may be something disturbing and indeed wrong about supporting and perpetuating it: "It was always clear to most of us that you couldn't continue to have a colonial status in Panama...
...Skepticism about the future of the canal indicates to us that there are those who still wish to perpetuate outdated paternalistic relationships between countries...
...There was Nine Lies About America...
...He then walked over to the cashier, showed her the review, and asked if she knew where the book was...
...I did a little shopping in another part of the store and before departing I stopped at the bookshelf where my book had been on display twenty minutes before...
...it wasn't...
...It ordered its satellite, the United Office and Professional Workers, a CIO affiliate, to sabotage the book in every way possible...
...Jan Valtin wrote one of the early exposes of Stalinism, Out of the Night...
...We do not need to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning, abortion, or child pornography...
...Independent book retailers are, thank goodness, just that...
...Eduardo Morgan Ambassador of Panama Washington D.C...
...Talk to magazine editors about how they choose which books to review...
...Clinton and the Democrats know this but are trying to "universalize" this into a bipartisan "good government" issue...
...UOPW members were bookstore employees...
...It doesn't take very many people in a bookstore to make a book disappear...
...The simple solution: The Constitution should be amended to limit the term of justices to six years, subject to reappointment and reconfirmation by the Senate...
...What do I find with the Republicans...
Vol. 2 • December 1996 • No. 12
