Book Reviews

A REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK JOHN CHAMBERLAIN __A Program for the 70's-THE TITLE of William F. Buckley Jr.'s Four Reforms: A Program for the 70's (G. P. Putnam's Sons, $4.95) is a slight misnomer - ac tually, with characteristic lar gesse, Mr. Buckley offers his read ers six reforms. Save for the proposal that the American Presidency should be limited to a single six-year term, the Buckley prescriptions will hardly satisfy libertarians who distrust government to mitigate its own present and past depreda tions. Those who called the late Senator Robert Taft a socialist because he sponsored "lesser evil" public housing and education bills will see in Mr. Buckley's approach only a Taftian echo. But there is one difference: where Bob Taft really believed that government had a minimum duty to provide houses and schools for the lag gards in society, Mr. Buckley pro fesses no such concern beyond a wish to avoid a charge of "mis anthropy." Mr. Buckley describes 184 his reforms as "entirely proce dural in character." They are not designed as "solutions," but as devices that "seek to free up con stricting molds and to flush out accretions of government, so as to induce a greater freedom of move ment."

In brief, the idea behind the reforms is th.at it might benefit the antistatist cause if the battle fields were to be changed. Mr. Buckley is not proposing that social welfare subsidies should be abolished forthwith. His proposed Welfare Reform reads this way: "Congress shall appropriate funds for social welfare only for the benefit of those states whose per capita income is below the na tional average." The "procedural" effect of such a reform would be to continue twenty-two states, be ginning with Iowa and ending with Mississippi, as Federal wel fare wards. In the twenty-eight above-average states the fight for welfare payments would be trans1974 A PROGRAM FOR THE 70's 185 ferred from Washington to the state capitals. Presumably the local welfarists would have to make compromises in order to keep taxpayers from moving to those states that threatened them the least. Thus "procedure" would favor the retention of the old Brandeis-Frankfurter idea that states should be prepared to pay for their. own social laboratory ex periments. Incidentally, the ad ministrative savings under the Buckley plan on the back-and-forth passage of tax money between the twenty-eight above-average states and Washington might be con siderable.

Education Vouchers On education, Mr. Buckley re frains from making the effort to eradicate the memory of Horace Mann. He proposes an Amendment to the Constitution that reads: "N0 child shall be denied admis sion to a public school . . . on ac count of race, creed, color, or na tional origin, notwithstanding any provision in the Constitution of the United States or of any State. Nor shall any relief authorized by any legislature for children at-, tending nonpublic schools be de nied by virtue of any provision in the Constitution of the United States or of any State." This would allow for voucher systems, and might save a lot of private~ schools, both sectarian and paro chial. Libertarians would still ob ject that vouchers issued to par ents for presentation as tuition money at private schools would lead to state control of curricula. ("He who pays the piper calls the tune.") But at least the voucher aided schools would have a little immediate money to live on during a period in which they could or ganize to send their own defenders to state legislatures.

Shifting the Battlefield Once again the Buckley "pro cedure" would shift a battlefield. As it affects parochial schools the Buckley Amendment would, of course, be mere supererogation, for freedom of religion, as guar anteed in the First Amendment, must, under any proper interpre tation of the law, cover the right of churches to establish their own standards of education and the concomitant right of their parish ioners to keep their share of the education tax money to pay for it. Our judges, in taking a Catholic's or a Jew's school money, have been effectively infringing the re ligious guarantee of the First Amendment all along. So maybe there is need for a Buckley clari fying amendment to supplement the present language of the Bill of Rights. When it comes to tax reform, 186 THE FREEMAN March the Buckley "procedural" change actually does amount to a signifi cant change in philosophy. With a bow to Friedrich Hayek's Con sMtution of Liberty, a great and greatly overlooked book, Buckley proposes that Congress should eliminate the progressive feature of the income tax along with "all deductions except those that relate directly to the cost of acquiring income." With exemptions gone, Congress should also eliminate the corporation tax. In order to coun ter the discriminatory features of special taxes, Congress should re imburse taxpayers below the pov erty line by giving them a rebate on Federal taxes that are regres sive in impact. Mr. Buckley figures that a uniform income tax of fifteen per cent would raise enough to run the Federal government even with the repeal of the corp oration tax.

Criminal Justice As for reforming the system of criminal justice, Buckley suggests that no great harm would be done by repealing the Fifth Amend ment, which is periodically in voked as protection against self incrimination. The Fifth was orig inally adopted to prevent brutal beatings by police, Star Chamber excesses, and other Nazi-like prac tices designed to force confessions. Modern technology, however, could be invoked to prevent torture; .all that would be necessary would be to compel the legal authorities to keep tape recordings, oral and vis ual, of the interrogation of suspects. As a matter of fact, the Fifth Amendment is already ignored in government practice. It is not ac cepted by Internal Revenue as an excuse for refusing to admit in come derived from smuggling, theft, cheating or extortion even though the declaration of such "earnings" would obviously be self-incrimination.

Only one of the six Buckley re forms does not involve any change in the law. Feeling that something must be done about the problems posed by the longer life-expectancy of old people, Buckley would have the trustees of the ten top-rated private colleges and universities announce that beginning in 1976 nobody would be accepted into the freshman class until he had passed one year in public service, pre ferably in charitable and religious homes for the elderly. This would not only save on the relief bills, it would also help ,with the "re establishment of a lost circuit: of spirit, and affection, and under standing." A nice idea, since it involves nothing more than voluntary non Statist action. But can you see it happening by 1976?

1974 OTHER BOOKS 187 • THE LIBERAL MIDDLE CLASS: MAKER OF RADICALS by Rich ard L. Cutter (NewRochelle, N.Y. : Arlington House, 1973) 255 pp., $8.95. Reviewed by Emerson P. Schmidt THIS WORK is the result of face-to face experiences and encounters by Dr. Cutler as professor at Berkeley and Ann Arbor, vice president of' student affairs and for some years as practicing child psychologist. The author's experience as vice: president at Michigan separated him from his earlier "impractical liberalism." (p. 52) . Now he is a self-made dedicated conservative~ in politics and economics and in his understanding of the human condition and student psychology .. He defines neither liberal nor rad·· ical, but adequately characterizes and describes them. His account of personal experience with Tirrl Leary, Tom Ha.yden, and other rebels tends to confirm confidence in the author's diagnosis and pre·· scriptions which pervade the book.

Middle class liberal parents, heavily occupied with their exten sive away-from-home a.ctivities, entertainment, fun, and indulg ences, provide few solid anchors and values for their growing chil dren. Their affluence showers their offspring with vast quantities of toys and other playthings, baby sitters, exciting amusements at theaters and via TV, and unlim ited streams of edibles and bev erages. Permissiveness at home, school, and in the community gen erates a wildness or spirit of re bellion. Drug addiction easily fol lows. This satiation of every desire and want develops in the young ster a strong feeling that he· is entitled to such quick response from all others. The young child need only ask, and .it shall be pro vided by the loving parents. When he encounters the real world out side, such readyresponse no longer occurs. As he grows up his desires and wants multiply. They become more expensive to fulfill. At some stage deep frustration may occur.

Most of the book is concerned with a small minority of students and parents; yet these students are deeply ·distressed and' become extreme activists. Why the major ity remain calm and studious is not clear. Yet a. small minority "is able to terrorize a high school, radicalize a portion of junior high school students, intimidate teach ers and principals, and effectively disru pt the process of education at almost any level." (p. 46). On a campus with 30,000 students, a mere one per cent, 300, can para lyze the institution, take over the president's office or that of a dean, and disrupt an invited speaker. The radical student is not easily 188 THE FREEMAN March defined. He may be New Left, Maoist, Stalinist, collectivist, state, welfarist. Yet, generally he is not devoted to government centraliza tion, or massive government own ership of industry. He is anti-es tablishment with a strong flavor of anarchism, nihilism, and authori ta.rianism. He is often more crit ical of government than of our capitalist system. He rarely exudes a coherent philosophy on produc tion and distribution, on law and order, or on government. But al most anything is worth a try - at least on paper.

The author discovered that deep anxiety, fear, and individual help lessness runs through the radical's consciousness - often without the victim's awareness. These traits abound: arrogance, self-impor tance, intolerance for any frustra tion, impatience, fascination with off-the-top-of-the-head solutions, need for immediate relief from tension, intolerance of authority (police and judiciary) , strident demands for total freedom with no sense of responsibility. Non-nego tiable demands are advanced. (p. 50). Antagonism extends to the family, schools, the church and re ligion (not merely indifference). All is boring and irrelevant in cluding parents, teachers, law and order, government, the judiciary. Anyone over 30 is passe. Political attitudes are usually extremely juvenile and superficial, consisting largely of slogans. Much of the ranting and sIogan eering calls for revolution, but without a program. Force rather than persuasion, and emotion rather than reason characterize the radical activists. Position-pa pers are drawn up which are re plete with sophomoric rhetoric about war, defense, taxes, money, work, the ghettos, the poor, and minorities. The author does not analyse separately the black activist radical. I The radical places himself above the law; hence he is justified in using violence, arson, and murder; he blocks traffic and the orderly process of government and eco nomic life. Freedom of speech be comes the foundation for all man ner of assemblies, speeches, and publications, using language with out taste or civility. No outsider merits consideration.

A special chapter "Why the Uni versities?" shows how they have served as the major staging and recruiting area for the revolution minded minority. (p. 183). Appar ently institutions which adhered to the traditional functions of teaching, maintained standards of rigor and intellectual discipline, and dealt forthrightly with un reasonableness as it began to oc cur and recognized the reality that they cannot be the allies of every 1974 OTHER BOOKS 189 infantile or noxious demand, have had the least difficulty. The hard science divisions of the schools have produced relatively fewer violent radicals than the arts and social sciences. Liberal, left of center teachers, clergymen, and news media spokes men have often nurtured and fos tered this counterculture. The au thor provides many constructive insights and countermeasures for the concerned parent, teacher, edi tor ,and clergyman. Marked changes are required. If the diag nosis and corrective steps provided by the author are ignored, the vio lent minority may increase, and continue in its troubled and trou blesome course.

• NATIONAL SUICIDE: Military Aid to the Soviet Union by An tony C. Sutton (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House) 283 pp., $8.95. Reviewed by: David A. Pietrusza DR. SUTTON proves conclusively that the technology imported from the West by the Soviet Union has been vital to its military capabil ities, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. His newest book is required reading for anyone studying or debating the topic of East-West trade. Take, for example, the instance of Soviet mechanized military vehicles: There are over 300,000 trucks in the Soviet military ar senal - all built in American con structed plants. Until 1968, the largest of these was the Gorki plant built in 1929-1933 by the Ford Motor Company and the Aus tin Company. Aside from simple cars and trucks, the Gorki plant has produced armored cars, Red army staff cars, half-tracks, ar mored personnel carriers, amphib ious carriers, truck-mounted weapons, rocket launchers, and the first Soviet wire-guided anti-tank system.

Then there is the Soviet ZIL auto factory, built by the Arthur J. Brandt Company of Detroit in the 1930's, the "Togliatti" plant built in Volgograd in 1968-71 largely with American equipment, and the Kama truck plant built in the late '60's with help from a large number of American com panies and lending institutions. "The tractor plants at Stalin grad, Kharkov, and Chelyabinsk, erected with almost complete American assistance and equip ment," writes Sutton, "and the Kirov plant in Leningrad, recon structed by Ford, were used from the start to produce-Soviet tanks, armored cars, and self-propelled guns. . . . Since 1931, up to half of the productive capacity of these 'tractor' plants has been used for tank and armored-car production."

190 THE FREEMAN March Direct military aid, of course, was given to the Soviet Union dur ing World War II. Since the Sov iets were then our ostensible allies, there was some rationale for this aid - but not for the massive scale of it. Soviet requests for aid were given priority over all other Allied fronts - even those where U.S. soldiers were engaged. Let the scope of thi5 aid speak for itself. The Soviets received 14,018 aircraft, 466,968 vehicle units - including 1,239 light tanks, 4,957 medium tanks, 47,728 tanks, 47,728 jeeps, 182,928 two-and-a half-ton trucks, and 491 ships in cluding 77 mine sweepers, 28 frig ates, 175 torpedo boats, and 46 submarine chasers. The Soviet Navy, thanks to Lend-Lease, doubled in tonnage during World War II. Only a few of these naval vessels have been returned to the United States de spite agreements which required their return at war's end. During the Vietnamese War, a number of these Lend-Lease· merchant vessels were observed on the Haiphong run - supplying the killers of American soldiers.