Reflections on a
Dying Society

. by Bernard $3,1qu  



One scans the ?y news-
papers. (Rea' them is a
.bit too ove ering). Cuts
in welfare, medicaid, ethica-
tion, and hospital care
throughout the country. The
?liberal? governor of New
York, who has hundreds of
millions of dollars in person-
al wealth, represents the cur-
rent pdtieal viesqsoint when
he says ?there just it
enough money to balance the
budget if the cuts aren?t
made. Billions are spit on
the continued destruction of
the Vietnamese people, and
billions more are contemp-
lated for S.S.T. planes
ABM systems. Taxes are up
(although we read that the
wealthiest people in the na-
tion seemto be tax exempt)
while government numeracy
emails, in some places, to al-
most unmanageable inef?ci-
encv.

In the cities of the nation
the process of gradual deteri?
iorauon mtinues. _The air

1* In the km-
1. litres: hardy. conduc-
Itd It?s the dismiss: of
 ifbmas A.
C. sir-I'm, cf a
mhyiwaed'pqs?on
is mi-?m him.
we to be ?'mpa?ted
Inch-Insults" ?Isms
from ?matted for-
an??osrxo?outright Maci-
union.?

The food that the popula-
tion cats is unnu-
 if notpositivel; dan-

?gerous. (For example, at
least ten chemicals listed as
recently as 1956 by the Na-
tional Academy of Science
in The Use of Chemical Ad-
ditives in ?Food Processing
are currently inspected of

 

pie die from gunshot wounds
every day, a higher figure than
average Viet Nam death tolls.
Since 1900 nearly 800,000 A-
mericans not in military sefvice
have been killed by firearms.

-In 196":' there were 6,500
gun homicides in the US, and
accidental shootings and suicides
brought the figure up to 19,000
In Japan and England homicides
in each country for that year
Were less than 50.

Totaling it up. the gun lob-
bies still have it their way. Only
four states require some regis-
tration of firearms. Just eight
states demand a permit to buy
- a handgun. in the phrase of Joe
Rigert. editorial writer for the
Minneapolis Tribune, ?The gun
continues as the god and the
dull of American societV.

Page 8

and.

being cancer causing agents.
These include a cheese pics-
ervntive (S?Hyquuinb
lune), a ?avoring agent :for
root beer (nah-ole), a chase
stabilizer 'Wyl
cellulose). and several coal-
tar dyes. 

Ecologically, the people of
the United States and the
planet Britt am, wreaing
havoc on their home muslin.
Without planning or for-exight
millims of of .produc-
tive soil and watershed are
being converted into urban
use every year. Streams and
rivers in America are pollut-
edto um.ade_ that in

many places wa er life "is un-

able to be supported. In New
York City with a popula-
tion-of eight- raillion people,
it is almost impuible to find
a clean swimming area and
people regularly ignore the
?dangers-polluted water"
signs. In Barre, Vermont,
the people are told to boil

_iheir water before drinking

sick last sits-timer, a local
it: Children were becoming

doctor investigated, and it
_wasfound that the water was

unclean.

The timed 01 nuclear an-
 or-death by poison
layers ehse is every
lhalt. (he thus-do of
shew die in
Univ-d the-US mn-
mu-is funny burrito Cl:-
1n?n, after as he
its way out cl-i, that. ?the
will Inviting the mug
lay" ami We link of
its fantastically lethal nerVe

gas did escape the labora-
loryz)
But, no fear. There al-

ready exit an earth 
nuclear bombs to datmy
mankind many times over, so
the fear of poll?! gas dim?
inishes. This year, the Presi-
dent of the United States
thinks nuclear war is a bad
thing. but a few years ago he
wasn?t so cautious and next
year.??

in any case, China, accord-

to Mao, is ?capable? of
absorbng a ices of tens of
millions in nuclear war ?for
socialism", while Herman
Kahn, a ?brain trust" adviser
to the US. military, informs
its that nuclear war is not un-
thinkable and that the United
States, like China, can also
"survive" nuclear war
if most of the population is
destroyed. .

The stress of living in the
modern world, and in Ameri-
ca, is great, and it is taking
its toll. Although the statis-
tiCS show that 'our life span
is longer than it has ever
been, they also show that in
many ways the population is
sicker than it h_as ever been.

even 

While modern medicines
has and: gran demos in
triad'mal melt-clog- it has

context of this socier means
next to nothing) is rampant,
and half of the hospital beds
in America are filled by
those emotionally unable to
cope with life on the outside.

While such diseases as
smallpox, influenza, tubercu-
losis, malaria, and polio have
been greatly reduced by mo?
dern science, the so-called
diseases such

tis, alcoholi-n, and many
others have resisted the at-
tempt: at prevention by mo-
dernmedicim and are on the
rise. Res-etch by such in-
vestigates as Reich.
List, Kissen. 

Kirkner and many others
suggest that even cartcer
must be looked upon as a

(which would not
than being contributing fac-
tors such as smoking, etc.).

The United States is the
?best educated? nation on
earth. State after state re.
quires children to stay in
school until a minimum age,
and more of our young peo-
ple attend college than in
any other country on earth.

Nonetheless, people have
little confidence in them-
selves and are fearful -of

freedom. Mothers with twen-
ty years of education are
fearful of holding their chil-
dren without ?consulting
their physician" and "ex-
perts" are 'assuming control
everywhere. (It is clear that
the people are not ?expert?
enough 'to control their own
lives). Year after year the

population receives more and 

more education. and year
after yearthc people have
less control over their own

destinies.

in one study after another
it is shown that Americans
(who will die for ?freedom")
think that documents such as
our Constitution are far too
radical, and when confronted
with the writings and ideas of

WEEKEND AUGUST 1-3, 1969



Jefferson think that he is an
out and out anarchist. A
study done in Sacramento,

California, for example, (and

discussed in the Vermont
Freeman of April 5, 1969),
showed that more than 5000
people out of 7500 con?
tacted refused to sign a peti-
tion which asked for support
of shortened Versions of Ar-
thles the Bill of Rights, as well as

a paragraph of the 14th
Amendment. Some pwple
refused to sign for ?patrio-
tic" rcasqns. 

Many forms of coercion,
subtle and otlsenvise, are be-
coming conunonplace. Ree-
pect for  freedom
in America is certainly not
on-the increase. If it is one
thingtoseeonthescreen of

for people to become accus-
tomed to the fact that they
can be stopped a, anytime by
the police who conduct ?rou-
tine car checks."

It is obvious that in the'
name of "public safety? the
State is usurping the rights
of free choice in many do-
mains of life. To get an
FHA loan one MUST build
with speci?ed lumber and
materials; to drive an auto-
mobile one MUST have in-
surance and a car which has
no rust going through; to
run a farm and sell milk??one
MUST have a bulk tank; to
drive a one
MUST have a helmet-to cite
just a few examples. The
idea that ALL children
MUST attend school until 16
years of age, even if some
would rather do other things,
is now treated as as given a
fact of life as the sun rise.
The ?uoridation of water
and the giving of medicants
to children in schools are
pm~whan of man)'
worse things to come.

Obviously, the point of all
this is not that on specific is-
sues the state position may
not be the correct one, 
good brakes D0 prevent auto
accidents, and helmets do
prevent head injuries?bin
that if democracy and a res?
pect for individual choice is
to prevail, coercien must not
be the means by which
"correct" policy is pursued.

In general, the American



i

Nsdonnlw? advertised shoes
?Ilddoth?atbwedw-

economy is, to a large de-
gree, based on the produc-
tion of goods which are use-
less, designed to breakdown,
or used for the Slaughter of
people. Our military budget
is currently 80 billion dollars
ayear,anddueto goup.
While millions of workers
sweat their lives away iu.fac-
tories producing the can, ap-
pliances, and machinery of
the nation, the engineers and
manufacturers have 
them so that they break down I
inafewyeanorgo?orttof
style."

The function of the hun-
dreds of millions of dollars
spent in the advertising in-
dustry ism encourage peo-
ple to buy what they don?t
need, and the circle is com-
plete when a worker, who
spends his?life'in a Mary
making produts to
when
he can't afford to buy . his
child a junk): toy advertise
on TV's Captain Kangamo.

The general social situa-

tion, to say the least, does
not look good. Wherever we

.look the merchants of death

holds power, and our very
existence is dependent upon
people whom we have little
trust In.

The depth of our plight is
hand to ascertain. Fifty years

ago Freud introdsmd the
phrase "death instinct" into
modern and the
term still rubs hard on the

mind. Although few now be?
lieve, as Freud did, that the
impulse toward death arid

?n in man-ls-oflblo-
logicalrcansatiou (and, hence,
not subject to amelioration
by improvement of the hu-
man condition), there can be
little dollJt'that the human
spirit has been a cruslni by
the society in which it exists,
that the geneml will toward

 

8:30-6:90 Fri. k?
mus
bum groan

Isle pr'ees.

Middlehu'y, Vented

 

 

 

 

each year?

  

. -- 

on 

do thousands of hassling Americans
5 head fertile WESTON tourism.

  
   

ROUTE =ioo ursrou, vemom 05151 


of Vermont lusts anatomist: to he found anywhere."

Open the year 'round

Sundays 12-5

 

1- Daily 95

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if you can?t visit us this year, send 12? in
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Home of year 'tound exhibition sf West River Artists.

 

VERMONT FREEMAN

 

 



 

POVERTY 

 

concluding a serles

World Poverty,
and Its Consequences

by .lames R. McGurn, Jr.

This ,eoncludes a two?part
article utilizing David Horo-
witz?s Hemispheres North and
South: Econoaaic Disparity
Among Nations, (Baltimore;
The John Hopkins Press,
1966) to look at world pover-

 

Iife is not very strong. it we
begin to interpret such death
and pain proddcing pheno-
mena as wars, . 
disease, "accidents" (automo-
bile and other), not to men-
tion open suicide, as more or
lesg intentionally willed (un-

. conscious or otherwise) oc-

curences, the conclusions are
frightening. We are forced to
ask such questions as?How
much do human beings really
want to live? How much
pain can the human organism
absorb, and continue to pre-
vail? 

The circle is a vicious one.
Society breeds misery, and
the sons and daughters of
misery give forth the new
society. 

In recent years we? have
'seen exceptionally clear in-
stances of the strong social
impulse toward death?and
the lack of concern for life.
Seven years ago, the "Cuban
missile crisis" brought the
world to the brink of disas-
ter. A whole planet stood on
the edge of annihilation, with
the nuclear war 'being avert-
ed only by a hair?s breadth.
And today, seven?years later,
there are moie nuclear
bombs,_in more countries,
than ever before. 

And the majority of peo-
ple throughout the world

seem not to care very much.

(In America, those who do
care are isolated and give the
name "pcacenilts"? a
strange group of fellows who
actually care whether they
live or die. Odd bunchl).
People seem not to be inter-
ested in the fact that if yes-
terday?s ?Cuban crisis" is
over with, that tomorrow a
?Chinese crisis", or a ?Rus?
sian crisis", or a this ?crisis?

or a that "crisis" will surely

arise, and that one of these
days the bombs will go off,
and they and their children
(will be dead.

VERMONT EREEMAN

-takeover
gerous and

Alternatives to Poverty

It is evident that the poor
countries are in desperate
need of capital. Their plight
has so advanced that they can
not develop their own capital,
as we did in rapid economic
progress That would require
forcing the people to save
what they do not have, in or-
der to invest it. They would
also have to restrain con-
sumption, where they do not
have enough to consume in
the first place.

If at all possible, this meth-
od would require a strong
totalitarian government to re-
press the people. Such a gov-
ernment might save capital by
removing the population?s
access to its bare essentials.
Surely, we rich nontotalitarian
nations can find an alterna-
tive to the slaughter of our
less fortunate neighbors.

The only other way to
pump capital into the devel-
oping countrics is to more or
less do just that, and give
them the Capital. Mr. Horo-
witz realizes that the import
of capital is the only feasible
method, and that even that
?intake at least one genera-
tion to produce satisfactory,
wide-spread results:

?The task is to extend the
scope of this transfer of capi-
tal so that it will be commen-
surate with the urgent needs
of the underdeveloped na-
tions.? 

There has been a slow and
selective trickle of aid to the
poor. It has been too slow and
too selective, with our ex-
pecting a return on our invest-
ments too soon; and our un-
willingness to make the small
saCrifices that may be neces?
sary could, if continued for
long, make world peace and
prosperity an impossible con-
dition to attain for ages.

Colonialism has failed.
?Laissez-faire" capitalism
has failed. Totalitarianism
would be a dan-

inhuman answer
to this humanistic problem.
We must give more. 

What Is Needed? 

The transfer of capital
from developed to undevel-
oped_ areas must be on a scale
proportionate to the urgent
demands of the world?s star-

ving children, too hungry to
cry.

We, can not expect to be
repaid immediately, and we
must be prepared to sacrifice
a percentage of our gross na-
tional product for the cause.
During World War Two, the
percentage of ?our annual
wealth given to _the
War effort was thirty to fourty
percent. The post-War Mar-
shall Plan was a sizeable at-
tack on poverty, for the re-
construction of Western Eu-
rope. only cost us 1.5 per
cent of our annual gross na-
tional product, and though it
came on the heels of a costly
war, it did not seriously im-
pair the American economy.
It built a sound Europe from
a shambles.

What is now needed to
eliminate global poverty and
starvation is only 1.5 percent
of the annual gross national
products of the industrial na-
tions of the world,- all of
whose resources are larger
than ever. This would furnish
the minimum of $50 billion
in capital per year, which
would allow the poor nations
to save as much as 15 percent
of their gross national pro-
ducts for their own capital
accumulation and develop-
ment. They now receive only

about $9 billion per year,
with strings attached. Mr.
McNamara?s World Bank

could only pry the rich coun-
tries loose from $1.78 billion
(a record) for the last fiscal
year. . 

In a generation, perhaps,
they would be able to enter
the world market on an equal
basis. Until then, we would
have to establish unilateral
free-trade. Their 'taxes and
expenses must be kept at a
minimum level to allow them
to use their capital to develop
infrastructures educational
and health systems, irrigation.
power, housing, transporta-
tion, etc. They must also
adopt new programs to level
and reduce the demographic
explosion, including birth-
control and abortions in many
cases.

Sweeping Ehanges clearly
are in order. The World Bank
has an International Devel-
opment Association (IDA),
which gives some' ?easy?
loans. The corild be

On this shrunken globe,

men can no longer  as 

Our prayer is that men everywhere

shill learn, finally, to live as brothers,

to respect each other?s di erences,

to heal each other?s wounds,

to promote each other?s progress,

and to benefit

from each other?s knowledge

Adlai E. Stevenson

greatly expanded to function
as a mediary for the massive
transfer of capital, vital for
any degree of lasting success.
The rich nations must loosen
their purse strings, and tight-
cn their belts, or aggravate
wrathful, frantic attacks from
a starving mass of humanity,
who will tolerate their de-
plorable conditions no longer.

The Urgency of Reform

11 is indeed a strange, but
altogether too familiar sight
to see a man pass by. idly
engrossed in his own riches,
while his brother lies blecding
and dying in the roadside
gutter.

Mora! teachers have tried
to instill the lesson of the
Good Samaritan in men for
centuries. The failure to rec-
ognize and act to extinguish
the suffering of our fellow
man is shameful and hateful.
Mr. Horowitz realizes this,
and gives us solemn warning
that we must eliminate pov-
crty soon. or the impoverish-
ed will literally overrun us.
It is past the point where the
underdeveloped nations can
help themselves. They can
not produce for themselves,
or compete in the werld mar-
ket.? We must offer them
more than palliative
tance. and give them some-
thing substantial to sink their
teeth into.

Underdeveloped countries
outnumber developed coun-
tries'in the United Nations.
Bases of political power are
shifting from West to East,
and noticeably from North
to South. Between Sudan and
Japan. more than half of the
human race starves in twen-
ty-four hates.

War is hated in our time i

more than ever before, be-
cause of the threat of final-
ity, which atomic power has
infused in it. War can no
longer be a means to attain

WEEKEND AUGUST 1-3, 1969

assis- 

an objective. It is simply too
dangerous. To court any type
of large-scale conflict in the
modern world, is to risk
thermonuclear annihilation.
For this reason Mr. Horowitz
feels that the rich will finally
be forced to help the poor.
He exudes optimism, and
hopes for the establishment
of true ?human solidarity"?-
the cessation of war and fam-
inev-not necessarily for moral
reasons, but because eco-
nomic and political condi-
tions have forced men to
become terribly frightened of
one another.

Such terms for peace are
not the ideal ones of the
philosopher; rather, they are
the real ones, which David
Horowitz, the economis?Lsays
will govern a halt in global
hostilities, and determine the
future course of mankind

 

BFGoodrich 

mt arsr BUYS
snap THESE 

A. BROWN, Inc.


STORES
Burlington 
172 Lake St.
Barre 
395 N. Main St.
St. Albans 

N. Main St.
Enosburg Falls, Vt.
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When In Town
See? A. Brown

 

 

 

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