Letters
Letters Pyromedla James Fallows' article ["Rush to Judgment," January/February] reminded me of a parable by the Danish philosopher, S0ren Kierkegaard: Commenting on journalistic opinion peddlers...
...Clinton cannot...
...However, it was the New Deal and its progeny that made such organizations possible...
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...Punditry may have its dangerous tendencies, and the main point of Fallows' article has merit, but the pundits were around long before the Woodward and Bernstein era...
...just as Huey P. Long threatened the survival of the Roosevelt's New Deal far more than the GOP...
...Reprints of articles are available to individuals or schools at $2.00 each (prepaid...
...At the most basic, like Huey P. Long, Limbaugh is engaged in the unapologetic and relentless pursuit of money and power...
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...I would be a fool to deny that there were not obvious benefits to the increased role of government in the economy...
...It passes no laws...
...It's difficult to take such a claim seriously, but it's been said or implied, not only by Democratic consultant James Carville but by the editors of National Review...
...Increasingly Limbaugh's radio show is consumed with a discussion of Limbaugh himself and what others are saying about him...
...Henry Fogel Lexington, MA Raw Deal In his paean to FDR and the thirties ["What Will Rogers Could Teach the Age of Limbaugh," January/February], Jon Meacham unwittingly points to FDR and the New Deal as evidence that Americans can once again overcome their worst tendencies and pull together...
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...However, considerations like these have never stopped the Monthly from considering a possible solution before...
...Rogers, unlike Limbaugh, was not motivated by personal aggrandizement...
...Eventually they will have to unmask Limbaugh as the Democrats were forced to do to Long in Louisiana, or be content to suffer the partisan and political consequences...
...And this being our dominant idea, direct utility is scarcely more regarded than by the barbarian when filing his teeth and staining his nails...
...If the government is willing to intervene in the economy and change market outcomes, spending resources to influence government decisions is profitable...
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...Cisneros' office assures us he is not guilty of being a lawyer...
...As, throughout life, not what we are, but what we shall be thought, is the question...
...Meacham's essay is a small step in that direction, but I'll rest easier when such essays become commonplace in outlets for conservative opinion...
...But Meacham fails to understand that the attitudes and institutions of the thirties no longer exist precisely because of FDR...
...The only obstacle we face in passing more legislation like the New Deal, the argument goes, is the lobbying organizations which now inhibit Washington...
...These organizations are part of the FDR legacy...
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...so in education, the question is not the intrinsic value of knowledge, so much as its effects on others...
...The similarities between these two American demagogues are profound and abundant...
...But what are we to make of Limbaugh qua Limbaugh, someone identified by many on the right and left as the leading intellectual of the Republican party...
...David Thielen Redmond, WA R6sum6e and War Paint Your criticism of society's blind faith in credentials, particularly in education ["Tilting at Windmills," January/February], echoes a complaint made by Herbert Spencer in his book, Education, published in I860: "It is not the savage chief only, who, in formidable war paint, with scalps at his belt aims to strike awe into his inferiors, but the scholar, the historian, the philosopher use their acquirements to the same end...
...However, he apparendy has looked no further than the borders of the U.S...
...Otto A. Sotnak Chassell, MI Chinese Food For Thought I read with interest David Segal's article on congressional oversight ["A House Divided," January/February...
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...This not only gives you the separation of legislation and oversight Segal points out is so necessary, it also gives you an independent body to handle all investigations of the legislative and executive bodies...
...Such an author, upon whose head is deposited something phosphorescent (the suggestion of a project, a hint), one takes up by the legs and strikes him on a newspaper, and out there comes three to four columns...
...Like Long, Limbaugh has developed a loyalty among his followers which is personal, linked only tenuously to political principle or party ideology...
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...Ultimately then, Limbaugh is part of the legacy of FDR...
...As representatives of a public mood or political culture the stark differences between Rogers and Limbaugh couldn't be greater...
...According to Meacham, there are now 20,000 lobbying organizations in Washington...
...and possessions: one year, $38...
...So you have a separate body dedicated to investigation...
...This would eliminate both the fights over appointing special prosecutors and the conflict of interest with Congress ' ethics committees...
...And the premise-authors have a really striking resemblance to sulphur matches—both explode with a puff' (On Authority and Revelation...
...May be likened to sulphur-matches which are sold in bundles (like matchbooks nowadays...
...By emphasizing the costs of increased lobbying activity, Meacham gives libertarians something to cheer about...
...Not what knowledge is of most real worth, is the consideration, but what will be the most imposing...
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...in his search for workable alternatives...
...Rush Limbaugh is at least in part a product of that cynicism...
...Frankly, this tendency poses a far greater threat to the viability of the Republican party than it does to the Clinton administration in the months ahead...
...senator, and presidential candidate from Louisiana...
...Granted, adding a fourth branch of government is no trivial task...
...Nor is it one to be entered into lightly...
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...Limbaugh is best compared instead to Huey P. Long, the former Democratic governor, U.S...
...We are none of us content with quietly unfolding our individualities, but have a craving to impress them upon others, and in some way subordinate them...
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...Limbaugh speaks in terms of principle and ideology, but only on his terms...
...Yet policies that provide benefits often have unintended negative consequences...
...Nevertheless, Meacham's essay constitutes a penetrating assessment of what currently ails the American body politic, although it regrettably stops short of proposing a remedy not worse than the disease...
...He notes that "FDR could appeal to a nation that had not yet organized itself into chain-link fence manufacturers and mohair farmers...
...Mark P. Petracca Irvine, CA Correction An item in last month's "Who's Who" column mistakenly listed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros as one of the 11 lawyers in President Clinton's cabinet...
...And this it is which determines the character of our education...
...Now it should not be surprising that many Americans are cynical about the Washington money chase...
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...Letters Pyromedla James Fallows' article ["Rush to Judgment," January/February] reminded me of a parable by the Danish philosopher, S0ren Kierkegaard: Commenting on journalistic opinion peddlers who have an instant viewpoint on everything, he suggested that they...
...And I think the Control Yuan is a place where we can learn from the Chinese...
...Republicans realize this too, though they are hesitant to say so publicly...
...Don Vandergrifi Boston, MA Party Pooper No doubt Jon Meacham's article will be greeted by an outpouring of vitriol from Rush Limbaugh's loyal votaiy, self-identified—apparently so—as "ditto-heads...
Vol. 26 • January 1994 • No. 3
