LETTERS

...Instead I submit his name in nomination for a new Washington Monthly award, the James Fallows Defense Fiction Prize...

...MICHAEL PERTSCHUK Washington D.C...

...To maintain a healthy skepticism of bureaucracy and technocracy does not absolve one of learning to cope with and utilize them...

...Repeated air strikes against the Bismarck from the British carrier Ark Royal were generally ineffective but did finally damage Bismarck steering gear to permit the British battleships King George Vand Rodney to overtake the swifter German ship...

...I have worked with Jim over the years on everything from the ERA to the Family Planning Services Act (now Title X of the Public Health Services Act), which he originally sponsored...

...Unfortunately, Rothenberg's caricature of our movement as a group of high-tech types obsessed with investment, retraining, and "appropriate technology" (whatever that is) has now become so widespread that many who will participate in the coming debate over the direction of the Democratic party tend to dismiss neoliberalism, put off by Rothenberg's unappetizing description...

...Don Edwards is a representative from California...

...He is among the most effective and respected Democrats in the House...

...I follow a slightly higher standard (one which would have me refuse to write a review where I have admitted conflicts of interest...

...It saddens me, because it confirms a general impression that's been afoot in the land that The Washington Monthly has abandoned the principles upon which it was founded—the promise to give objective, irreverent reports on the doings of the bureaucracy—in order to promote its own parochial interests...

...His work is all the more impressive given the time constraints imposed by his chairmanship of the board of directors of the Global Committee of Parliamentarians on Population and Development...

...Neoliberals would carve out a communitarian sphere where class distinctions are dissolved," he writes...

...As chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee with responsibility for overseeing the fate of the Federal Trade Commission during the height of the antiregulatory, lynchmob frenzy that swept over Congress in the 1970s, Jim Scheuer stood firm against the tide...

...But at least I can say, " 'Tis a poor thing, but mine own'!---not Charlie Peters's, not Mickey Kaus's, but mine...

...As a member of the New York congressional delegation, I've worked with Congressman James H. Scheuer for over a dozen years on issues of importance to our city and state...

...In his effort to disparage my book, Kaus even makes a few errors...

...It is precisely because of comparative advantage, however, that neoliberals—rightly or wrongly—advocate concentrating our efforts on industrial revitalization, human-capital policies, and the possibility of a universal right to training, arguing that our edge will always be in what they call "knowledge-intensive" industries...

...In the late 1960s, Jim introduced and shepherded through Congress legislation that amended the federal criminal code to repeal laws prohibiting dissemination of birth control information and devices...

...Since that time he has consistently supported regulations to protect the health and safety of consumers— from his leadership on airbag legislation, to his probing of EPA abdication of its duties to protect the public's health under Anne Burford's reign, to his opposition to the Reagan administration's weakening of consumer protection laws...

...His book was a potentially valuable effort precisely because, by bringing disparate political strands together, and demonstrating their ideological affinity, Rothenberg might, as he says, "define' a new movement...

...His international success in the eighties should come as no surprise to those of us familiar with his pioneering work on population in the sixties and seventies...

...Best of all, after nine terms in the House he has lost neither his sense of humor nor outrage...

...Few public policy areas are as crucial as population and development and few afford so little immediate political benefit...

...At the very time your September issue was hitting the newsstands, Jim Scheuer was leading a congressional delegation to the International Conference on Population in Mexico City...

...Rothenberg also misstates my criticism of his chapter on trade...

...The Global Committee is the first association to bring together world parliamentary leaders, former heads of government, and experts from international organizations to provide parliamentarians with program knowledge and organizational resources to enhance their participation in population and development policymaking...

...Kaus seems not to understand this...

...He organized the opposition to the official, Reagan-appointed delegation there, which had been promoting a short-sighted policy of curtailing family planning resources in Third World countries...

...Jim's record of accomplishment is impressive by anyone's standard...

...Many of your graduatesFallows, Branch, Lemann, Bethell—have continued to do the kind of work that first inspired me as a fledgling journalist...

...Jim was also the original sponsor of the Family Planning Services Act of 1970, which later became Title X of the Public Health Service Act...

...Be that as it may, there is a darker side to l'affaire Kaus...

...How we sank the Bismarck Mr...

...But you now seem incapable of self-criticism, let alone of accepting objective analysis from the outside...

...Jim was also the original sponsor of legislation which provides federal funds for states to establish antifraud units with 'both investigative and prosecutorial power to combat Medicaid fraud and abuse...

...Mickey Kaus's review of my book, The Neoliberals ["Too Much Technology, Not Enough Soul," September], was one of the most profoundly dishonest pieces of criticism I have read in quite some time, a mix of half-baked notions and unoriginal thoughts masquerading as insight...

...I could go on and on, but I think the point is clear...

...The Bismarck was then put out of action by naval gunfire and left sinking...

...As a foundling in the early seventies, this magazine was part of a classic reform tradition...

...That Act was, and is, the only program designed to help poor women and teenagers avoid unwanted pregnancies...

...the principles of neoliberalism, as defined by me, are "dry" and "technical ." Kaus further faults me for mentioning him only twice...

...And The Neoliberals, unlike the recent fare of this magazine, is not a manifesto...

...PAT SCHROEDER Washington, D.C...

...Rothenberg implicitly chose to ignore it when he was pulling together his "definition," just as he ignored the tensions between "Atari Democrats" and other neoliberals...

...Jim authored legislation which created an office of drug abuse control in the White House and of legislation which established a drug rehabilitation program with a priority for Vietnam-era veterans...

...Torpedoes from the cruiser Dorsetshire completed the sinking after the Bismarck crew had abandoned ship...

...Rothenberg did not just go out and talk to "neoliberals" to find out what they were thinking, the way other journalists might go out and talk to readily identifiable groups like southern state Democratic chairmen...

...MARIO BIAGGI Washington, D.C...

...Much of it is good, of course...

...Your recent article ranking members of Congress stated that "consumer activists really weren't sorry" to see Jim Scheuer lose his post as chairman of a consumer protection subcommittee...

...One sin, however, is unforgivable: Kaus's review is dumb...

...What's more, common sense indicates that the biggest obstacle to such a bureaucratic monstrosity is that it is organizationally impossible, and that there is no proof it would do anything more for the poor than past public works programs have done...

...Troublesome as they may seem, both are realities of the modern post-industrial state...

...Gary Hart has made a similar proposal...

...Michael Pertschuk is a former member of the Federal Trade Commission...

...Isn't this just what has happened to liberalism...

...His record of effectiveness on health, environment, and on law enforcement has earned him the respect of his colleagues...

...He refers to me, somewhat facetiously, as "Comrade" Rothenberg...

...Easterbrook pronounces in your September issue ["What Caspar Weinberger Could Learn from the Falklands"] that the German battleship Bismarck was "sunk by aircraft ." This is a most imaginative interpretation and would support your journal's defense policy were it true...

...Jim's tenacious and effective leadership in this area over 20 years has earned him the 'respect and admiration of his colleagues...

...One factual error I would like to correct is my statement that FDR tried to "corner the ice market in his early years ." It was lobsters, not ice...

...His support has been there on virtually every major consumer issue to come before Congress...

...Then again, most of them don't benefit from the luxury of having their businesses subsidized by fat cats...

...Congressman Scheuer has the respect of his colleagues...

...In 1977, Jim was the original sponsor and later chairman of the House Select Committee on Population...

...Nice sentiment, but most entrepreneurs I know aren't so complacent about money...

...Kaus peppers his review with many similar silly statements and ideas...

...You believed that knowledge was power, and with knowledge of the bureaucracy, we would have the power to understand and correct its flaws...

...It may come as a surprise to your reviewer and editors, but—gasp!—I did not set out to flack for The Washington Monthly...

...I argued that Rothenberg gave a "stunted" picture of neoliberalism, emphasizing the arid, pragmatic hightech proposals of the "Atari Democrats," failing to discern in them any distinct neoliberal values, and failing to reconcile them convincingly with what he himself calls "neoliberalism's communitarian theme...

...I am simply a journalist, who has attempted to define and analyze a burgeoning phenomenon...

...While I do not disagree with many of the sentiments he expressed, and believe that they do have a place in contemporary political discourse, a book review is no place for personalized homilies...

...I believe your article rating members of the House of Representatives in your September issue missed the mark...

...He has been a tireless advocate of women's rights...

...I am, for instance, unhappy with the style and organization of the book...

...many of the ideas detailed in it are "bloodless...

...It would be pleasing for your staff if Bismarck had been sunk by cheap, effective jump jets using cheap, effective bombs taking off from cheap, effective cargo ships, but regrettably this did not happen...

...He would extrapolate from his own disinterest in economic policy to a doctrine for an entire movement, not pausing for a moment to consider that maybe, just maybe, the politicians associated with the new liberalism focus on economic policy almost exclusively...

...This committee was widely acclaimed for its landmark work on domestic and international population issues...

...For example, economist Lester Thurow, in his book, The Zero-Sum Society (hyped by Rothenberg as a "bible to neoliberals"), proposed a WPA-style jobs program two years before this magazine wrote about it...

...It was Jim's legislation which established the National Institute for Criminal Justice...

...In fact, not one mentioned a revived WPA at all...

...Many of his subjects probably did not know they were "neoliberals" until Rothenberg called them that...

...Kaus would substitute the inventions of his own and his editors' minds for research...

...But if The Neoliberals is a legitimate exercise in political trend-spotting, it is also legitimate to criticize it on the grounds that it leaves out a large chunk of the trend and so misses what may be significant or appealing about it...

...This bothers Kaus, and he proceeds to rectify my errors by parading his own uninformed biases across your pages...

...The focus on the economy is "disappointing...

...Oh, and your readers may be interested to know that I also cite, on the free trade issue, Bill Bradley, Lester Thurow, Robert Reich, and Gary Hart, among others...

...Today, however, your journal seems more intent on creating its own knowledge, and uses its resources to promote your "Gospel' i—as it was once known with humor but now with misplaced reverence— as if it truly was inspired doctrine...

...And Kaus would do well to study the problems of our trade deficit, capital mobility, and uncoordinated international monetary policies...

...much of it needs rethinking, and much of it is just plain bad...

...He makes bold assertions like, "[Neoliberals] are angry that the biggest obstacles to the revived WPA-style work program that would do the most to help the poor are now the construction and municipal unions...

...To Kaus, neoliberals promote entrepreneurship because it is "fun," not really because it creates wealth— "Money is, after all, only money," he writes...

...And while the sentiment behind a revived WPA is a noble one, it does your magazine no good to lead a cavalry charge while riding a hobby horse...

...Rather, you have grown complacent, smug in your already developed answers, disdainful of outsiders with questions and solutions of their own .. . just like any other bureaucracy...

...Pat Schroeder is a representative from Colorado...

...Nor did I suggest that entrepreneurs don't care about money, only that many also seek psychic rewards...

...Let me try to summarize the reasons Kaus disliked The Neoliberals...

...He fought for the FTC's funeral rule, he fought for preserving the FTC against crippling amendments, and he prevailed...

...He may find my phrasing inelegant, but he should know that our autos are uncompetitive not only because of bad corporate decision-making but because the dollar costs so much...

...Charles Peters has publicly called me a "neoliberal journalist ." In case there's any confusion—in the event some Senate committee in the distant future intends to investigate this thing called "neoliberalism"--let me state plainly that I am not now nor have I ever been a "neoliberal...

...I've known and worked with Congressman James H. Scheuer for nearly 20 years...

...EUGENE H. BALOF Florence, Alabama...

...DON EDWARDS Washington, D.C...

...The idea is on the table, so to speak...

...I won't go on...

...Them and what army...

...This misstates the nature of both his book and my criticism...

...As a result of Jim's efforts, the Reagan delegation backtracked and released a substantial amount of family planning funds they had previously withheld...

...I'll admit that it has faults...

...As a member of the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, I can attest to his hard work as chairman of the Population and Development Task Force...

...The case for Scheuer I take strong exception to much of the article on the House of Representatives which appeared in your September issue ["The Best and the Worst of the House of Representatives," Timothy Noah...

...But all this I could stomach...

...I fear The Washington Monthly has become what it once decried, an insider, susceptible to the same petty jealousies, suspicions, and rages as other members of the Washington journalism clubhouse...

...Finally, I thought it was the necessary and honest thing to disclose whatever petty professional rivalry I might have with Rothenberg, letting readers know what my biases might be so they could make up their own minds about my review...

...It simply isn't true that the ideas Rothenberg left out are espoused only by Washington Monthly employees or members of their immediate families...

...Yeah...

...Funny, no neoliberals mentioned those obstacles to me, and I interviewed a few dozen...

...A member of Congress doesn't pass legislation if he doesn't have the respect of his colleagues...

...Mario Biaggi is a representative from New York...

...RANDALL ROTHENBERG Princeton, New Jersey The author replies: Rothenberg charges that I criticize his book out of pique, because it doesn't pay enough attention to my, or The Washington Monthly's, ideas...

...It is, rather, an effort at objective journalism...

...This last, though a half-joke, is really quite telling, because it encapsulates Kaus's primary complaint: I do not pay enough attention to the ideas expressed over the years by The Washington Monthly, ideas like a new WPA and merit pay for teachers and elimination of the Davis-Bacon Act...

...I said that "human capital" theory, not the theory of "comparative advantage," tends to undermine a pure free-trade position because nations will try to build up the knowledge of their workers ("human capital") behind trade barriers...

...He trots out the theory of comparative advantage to prove that neoliberals can't possibly be free-traders, and then criticizes me for citing only Reuben Askew as a supporter of the concept...

...I might suggest that your writers employ a method others have found useful—research—but that would handicap your editorial campaigns and render your magazine less amusing and entertaining...

...Ideological infidelity," Kaus calls it...