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AMERICAN ATHEIST
A Journal of Atheist News and Thought
,
\
ATHEISTS
P.O.BOX 2117
AUSTIN,
TX 78768-2117
Send $40 for one year's membership. You will receive our "Insider's Newsletter" monthly.
your membership certificate and card, and a one year subscription to this magazine.
"Straw Gods"
[on the cover]
CONTENTS
Editorial: "Change
and Fear" -
Merrill Holste
Isaac Asimov
11
13,
14
18
......
Louis Parle
Managing Editor
Jon G. Murray
Poetry
Robin Murray-O'Hair
Angeline Bennett
Gerald Tholen
Production Staff
Art Brenner
Bill Kight
Richard Smith
Gerald Tholen
Gloria Tholen
Non-Resident Staff
G. Stanley Brown
Jeff Frankel
Merrill Holste
Ignatz Sahula-Dycke
Fred Woodworth
The American Atheist magazine is publishedmonthly at the Gustav Broukal American Atheist Press, 2210 Hancock Dr., Austin, TX 78756, and 1982 by Society of
Separationists, Inc., a non-profit, non-political, educational organization dedicated to
the complete and absolute separation of
state and church. Mailing address: P.O. Box
2117/Austin, TX 78768-2117. A free subscription is provided as an incident of membership in the American Atheists organization. Subscriptions are available at $25. for
one year terms only. Manuscripts submitted
must be typed, double-spaced and accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The editors assume no responsibility
for unsolicited manuscripts.
The American Atheist magazine
is indexed in
Austin Texas
23 .
27
c----v~~.
Editor-in-Chief
21
October, 1982
Page 1
Page 2
October, 1982
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
A. US intervention in the Soviet Civil War of 1918-20
"The western powers, including the US, ... intervened with strong military forces in
the Soviet civil war in an effort to destroy the Soviet government ... Bolshevikleaders
had clear proof, if they needed any, that the western powers meant to destroy the
Soviet government if given the chance ... Probably 99%of American citizens are
ignorant of our intervention. One reason is the silence of our histories."
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 3
"The enormous losses by the Soviets in World War IIprobably did not become widely
known to the US public until President John F. Kennedy mentioned them in his
famous American University speech on June 10, 1963. Kennedy said that "atleast 20
million (Soviet citizens) lost their lives."
ment," and subsequently an alternate proposal for partial
and gradual disarmament. Neither proposal was adopted.
When Hitler took Germany out of the League of Nations
in 1933, the Soviets joined in 1934 and became the best
Great Power member the League ever had. In the opinion of
Sumner Welles, our Deputy Secretary of State:
"When the Soviet Union entered the League, even
the most obstinate were soon forced to admit that it
was the only major power to take the League seriously. The Soviet government seemed to believe that the
Covenant of the League meant what it said ... (and)
was not to be regarded as a screen for the achievement of each country's individual and selfish purposes
... It should never be forgotten that the Soviet Union
did not desert the League. It was the Great Powers
which dominated the League in its later years who
deserted the Soviet Union."
During the 1930s, the Soviet Union repeatedly proposed
a workable Grand Alliance with France and Britain to resist
fascist aggression. If the proposals had been accepted and
acted upon, World War IIcould have been averted, even as
late as 1938, without the firing of a shot or the loss of a life.
Sumner Welles said:
"Great financial and commercial interests of the
western democracies, including many in the United
States, were firm in the belief that war between the
Soviet Union and Hitlerite Germany could only be
favorable to their own interests. They maintained that
Russia would necessarily be defeated, and with this
defeat Communism would be destroyed . . . This
stupendous lack of realism on the part of the so-called
realists did incalculable damage in its effect upon the
sentiments of the Russian people and the policies of
the Soviet government. By the end of 1938 the Soviet
government had reached the conclusion that it could
not expect any sincere assistance from the western
powers."
During the war, Winston Churchill said: "This war could
easily have been prevented, if the League of Nations had
been used with courage and loyalty by the associated
nations." Our Secretary of War Stimson wrote after the
war: "Our refusal to catch up with reality during (the years
between the wars) was the major source of our ocnsiderable responsibility for the catastrophe of World War II." By
1942, an American historian noted a "pervasive feeling of
guilt" among Americans that the Second World War
resulted to a significant degree from US failure to play its
proper role after the First. By May 1943, a Gallup poll
learned that 74%of American people endorsed US participation in an international police force to keep the peace. Thus,
America must accept substantial responsibility for failing to
prevent the outbreak of the most devastating war in history,
and acknowledge that we should have accepted Soviet
initiatives which, if acted upon, could have prevented that
war.
Page 4
October, 1982
"Niels Bohr, the Danish nuclear physicist and 1922 Nobel Laureate, urged Roosevelt
in 1944 to inform Stalin about our work on the atom bomb (though not construction
details), to allay possible fear of a postwar Anglo-American alliance supported by an
atomic monopoly, which would surely motivate the Soviets to choose the path of an
atomic arms race. Bohr believed that postwar cooperation and ultimate world
survival were impossible unless his proposal was adopted. Roosevelt agreed with
Churchill to retain the Anglo-American monopoly."
accepted an American compromise, whereby the Great
Powers retained a veto in the Security Council, arid
Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to support the admission of
two or three constituent Soviet Republics to the General
Assembly. But Stalin pointed to a "more serious question"
than an international organization. One should not worry
too much about small nations. "The greatest danger was
conflict between the three Great Powers," he said. The
main task was to prevent their quarreling and "secure their
unity for the future."
The Yalta Conference marked the high tide of Allied
unity. By and large, the Soviets made more concessions
than the West; and when they presented their own proposals, they were in fact sometimes simply returning proposals delivered to them at earlier dates by the western
powers. Roosevelt was a realist; he knew that everything
depended upon implementation of the accords, and that
would depend upon intentions and future alignments.
Back home again, Roosevelt delivered a speech to
Congress that was pure in its Wilsonianism, in which he
declared that Yalta spelled the end of unilateral action,
exclusive alliances, spheres of influence, power blocs, and
"all other expedients that had been tried for centuries -and
have always failed." But out of public earshot, he continued
to stress the realities of power and the basic structure of a
Austin Texas
Yalta, America created a self-fulfillingprophecy. Believing that the Soviets intended to take advantage of
any opportunity at the expense of the United States,
Washington tried to renegotiate the zonal agreements
(in Germany) and held western troops in Soviet
occupation zones as a political pressure tactic. Fur. ther, the American government changed its interpretation of the Yalta decisions on Poland. After deserting
the original American-Soviet viewpoint, the United
States accused the Soviet Union of breaking the Yalta
agreements. Finally, the Allies decided, contrary to
Yalta, not to support reparations. In doing so they
abandoned the Soviet Union. These decisions, and
many others, left the Soviet Union with no alternative
than to substitute unilateral action for a policy of
cooperation which they had hoped for, but which had
never emerged - except briefly, at Yalta.
"The Yalta Conference has been more condemned
than commended by western commentators. Under
most of these condemnations lies the implicit and
unexpressed premise that the Soviet Union is in
essence evil while the West embodies the virtues of
the ages; and, further, a belief that the Soviet Union
has and can have no interests which the West
considers legitimate. American policy during the war
October, 1982
Page 5
"The US was the first nation to create atom bombs, use them in a war, and use the
threat of using them in atomic diplomacy. The US has led in maintaining a world-wide
network of military alliances and bases, military assistance to other countries, and
military sales. The US has introduced every major new weapon system since World
War IIin the strategic field, except for some medium-range missiles in the 1950s and
the rather small ABM deployment of 1964. The US has been the initiator and leader of
the arms race with the Soviet Union. Just as our unilateral actions are in large part
responsible for the current dangerous state of affairs, we must expect that unilateral
moves on our part will be necessary if we are ever to get the whole process reversed."
and afterward has been studied in terms of what the
United States failed to do to foilSoviet aims, or else in
terms of w"hatthe United States could have done to
alter a decision acceptable to the Soviet Union. The
policies based on this ideological bent attributed false
motives to the Soviet Union and created a situation in
which the Soviet Union increasingly defended herself
from western hostility.
"Roosevelt's departure from America's moralistic
and anti-Soviet bias, combined with Churchill's usually consistent realism, served diplomacy for the week
the leaders met at Yalta. But the postwar world bears
little resemblance to what these men worked to
achieve. Broken promises, bad faith, misperceptions,
and self-righteousness have forced new and different
policies upon the nations. We are living with the
problems of a world that did not benefit from the
experience at Yalta.
"It is perhaps relevant to ask what the world would
have been like if the spirit of Yalta had triumphed."
Page 6
October,
1982
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 7
this conclusion: Our military-industrial complex will ALWAYS use its enormous political and economic power to
prevent our government from EVER entering into ANY
agreement with the Soviet Union that will require that the
US significantly reduce its military research and development program or scrap any significant weapons ..
F. The, Cuban missile crisis
. The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 is an excellent illustration of our government's reluctance to negotiate honestly
and sincerely with the Soviet Union. The Soviets did try to
introduce missiles into Cuba, but consider the provocations! The US economic blockade had driven Castro to
seek Soviet economic and military assistance. In April 1961
. the CIA had clumsily tried to invade Cuba, and the Bay of
Pigs was a humiliating disaster for Kennedy. Thereafter, the
US mounted a secret campaign of sabotage against Cuba
with orders to the CIA to wreck the Cuban economy,
foment resistance to the Castro regime, and - if possible
-assassinate the Cuban leader.
"I do not consider the Soviet Union as a benign power. It has frequently used its
military, political and economic power outside of its own borders in ways considered
reprehensible by Americans and others. We, too, have been guilty of many
reprehensible foreign policy actions. 1have not yet found a scholarly and objective
balance sheet of the two superpowers in this respect. If one exists, 1doubt that any
objective and internationally-minded Americans could feel any pride from the
..
"
~arlson.
More significant than these threats to Cuba, however,
were our direct threats to the Soviet Union. By 1957 we had
increased those threats by installing intermediate-range
ballistic missiles in Turkey, Italy, Germany and Great
Britain; and by 1960 Wehad deployed even more threatening Polaris submarine missiles in the Mediterranean Sea.
After President Kennedy announced to the US the discovery of the construction of missile sites in Cuba, the Soviets
proposed both (1) comprehensive negotiations of all outstanding issues between the two nations, and (2) the limited
proposal of mutual withdrawal of missiles from both Turkey
and Cuba, with a mutual pledge of not to invade, or interfere
in the internal affairs of, Turkey and Cuba, respectively.
Kennedy had previously ordered the removal of our
missiles from Turkey because they were now obsolete, and
he assumed this had been accomplished when the crisis was
arose. Kennedy was angry to learn that those missiles had
not yet been removed from Turkey. He realized that the
specific Soviet proposal for mutual withdrawal of missiles
from Turkey and Cuba was reasonable, that our position
was extremely vulnerable, and that it was our own fault.
Nevertheless, his final decision was an ultimatum delivered by Robert Kennedy to Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin: .
either you remove the missiles from Cuba very promptly, or
we would remove them by military force, with no quid pro
quo of our making a corresponding withdrawal of our
missiles from Turkey. The Soviets withdrew their missiles
October, 1982
"Weare already faced with several other dangers even more disturbing ... not just
the grave conflicts ... of the Middle East and southern Africa ... (but) even more the
worldwide problems of energy shortage, environmental deterioration, overpopulation, and the urgent need for international collaboration in protecting the seas from
overexploitation and pollution ... But if we can shift to their solution some of the
attention and resources now devoted to military defense against international
communism, and if we could gain cooperation of some of the Communist countries in
this task, then I think not only would we be using our energies and resources in a
more realistic way, but we might find that the problem of international communism
would itself be diminished with the shift in our attention, and theirs, away from the
fears and habits that divide us and toward the problems that are common to us all."
of the two superpowers in this respect. Ifone exists, I doubt
that any objective and internationally-minded Americans
could feel any pride from the comparison.
It is nearly impossible to find in our mass media any
reporting which is favorable toward the Soviet Union with
respect to its achievements under socialism. That is the
major reason for the widespread ignorance in America
about what any objective and internationally-minded citizen
must regard as solid achievements: widespread free education and very high literacy; free medical care and high
standards of health; housing of low cost, if unavoidably
crowded but steadily improving under a massive housing
construction program; and full employment with substantial fringe benefits. Of course, the Soviet Union has some
very serious economic problems to solve. That is a universal situation in which we find ourselves.
The Soviet Union is ridiculed by our press because of its
relative shortages of consumer goods. That problem would
easily disappear ifthe Soviet Union did not find it necessary
for its national security to spend so much on armaments.
Professor Paul E. Zinner of the University of California at
Davis, who is an expert on the Soviet Union, said in
response to a question after his speech at the World Affairs
Council of N. California on April 6, 1977: "The armaments
business is good business for the capitalists in a capitalistic
economy, and is extremely deleterious for a socialistic
economy." Our economy and the well-being of our population would be far better if we had not spent several trillion
dollars on wasteful military expenditures since WW-II, and
our economic problems willseriously grow if we accelerate
our military spending as planned by the present administration.
Probably the most important fact about the Soviet Union
is that its people want peace even more than we do.
Professor Zinner at the same meeting answered another
direct question as follows: "I believe that the Soviets know
that we don't want to use these weapons. Even less do the
Soviets want to use them, because they have suffered so
much in war. Our military leaders don't really want war,
because that means death. Even more, the Soviets don't
want war." Any visitor to the Soviet Union becomes quickly
aware of this fact.
Gunnar Myrdal is a Swedish statesman and economist
who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 1974. His wife is
Alva Myrdal, Sweden's former Minister of Disarmament
and author of the authoritative book, The Game of
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 9
Page 10
October, 1982
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 11
"It'sa little depressing, if you come to think of it. By the Reagan Doctrine, there is no
such thing as a person who keeps his word just because he has a sense of honor. No
one tells the truth just because he thinks that it is the decent thing to do. No one is
kind because he feels sympathy for others, or treats others decently because he likes
the kind of world in which decency exists."
" .In every country, you'll find large numbers who claim that the United States
fought a cruel and unjust war in Vietnam and that it is the most violent and crimeridden nation in the world. They don't seem to be impressed by the fact that we're
god-fearing. Next they'll be saying that Ronald Reagan (our very own president)
doesn't know what he's talking about."
Page 12
October, 1982
MerrilfHolste
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 13
Page 14
October, 1982
(602) 623-3861
Only For
Atheists
by Aubin Tyler
ters.
And several rely on "bootlegged"
Goeringer tapes.
"That's fine with me - we cut a
very good tape," he said.
His comedy skits - humorous
recitations against "religious ignorance, foolishness and stupidity" are enormously popular, he said.
The whistle and laugh-box supply
intriguing sound effects, of course.
One such skit begins with the
swelling strains of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," while the voice of Bill
Carton, an occasional collaborator
of Goeringer's, issues the following
commercial-style message with evangelistic fervor:
"And now, from the people
who brought you hell, it's
three, three, three gods in one.
That's exactly right, folks; only
Page 15
.r--.:::!
The Protest.
Goeringer's
Page 16
those of human freedom and vol un, tarism, rather than social regimentation and exploitation.
But he was quick to point out that
not all Atheists are Anarchists. Atheists as a group are politically diverse,
even "eclectic," he said.
Although he directed the Tucson
chapter of American Atheists for
about
three
years,
Goeringer
stepped down to spend more time on
Dial-an-Atheist
and his own freelance writing.
Atheists "are the kind of people
who are difficult to organize because
they don't have the herd instinct," he
said.
"Atheists by and large are extremely intelligent, independent,
self-sufficient people," he added. "It's like
trying to have an organization
of
individualists. "
Goeringer himself is no intellectual
October, 1982
DIAL- THE~ATHEIST
DIAL-AN-ATHEIST
Tucson, Arizona
Sacramento, California
S. Francisco, California
Denver, Colorado
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Tampa Bay, Florida
Atlanta, Georgia
Chicago, Illinois
Evansville, Indiana
Lexington, Ke-ntucky
Boston, Massachusetts
Detroit, Michigan
Eastern Missouri
Austin Texas
(512) 458-5731
989-3170
974-1750
692-9395
584-8923
577-7154
577-7344
772-8822
425-1949
278-8333
969-2682
721-6630
771-8894
October, 1982
(505)
(518)
(704)
(405)
(503)
(412)
(713)
(801)
(804)
(703)
(804)
884-7630
346-1479
568-5346
677-4141
287-6461
734-0509
664-7678
364-4939
993-2525
370-5255
428-0979
Page 17
Page 18
October, 1982
..
V4'.'~I'"
::'"
!. -..
"Long before the sepher tolduth jeshu was published, in our modern sense, it was known to the
lear'ned. The work came to light in the dawning after
the Dark Ages, but-'it was kept secret, fest the sightof-
it should excite tumults, spoliation and massacre.'
Those who know how flamingly the evidences of
christianity have been written on the tear-washed and
blood-stained pages of jewish history will appreciate
this cautious reserve.
"It was doubtless the jeshu story which was denounced and prohibited by pope Valentine in his bull
of May 11, 1514, under the title of mar mar jeshu.
-
\.
;,.-
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 19
)(.
/.
"
Page 20
October, 1982
REAGAN
AND
THE
RELIGIOUS.
RIGHT
Among the Atheists there are supporters of Reagan and of the radical right in our permitted one-party political system
(the left wing of which is the Democratic and the right wing of which is the Republican). From time to time The American
Atheist Center receives letters from these Reagan supporters admonishing of the need for a total commitment to their
hero. It is our considered opinion that the Reagan supporters are not reading his record in respect to Atheism and the right
Atheists have to be free from religion. To emphasize his entanglement with thereligiou5 right, we reproduce his speech to
the knights of columbus, delivered on August 3rd, '82, our transcript of the speech having been received directlyfrom the
White House.
Our position is that politics is your business. Left, right, or middle of the road, where you come down politically is a
personal conviction which you can implement at the polls. American Atheists are unwilling to dictate any political
position. However it is our business, our commitment, to point out to you where any of these colorations of politics sit in
respect to religion. And, the more wacko the religion, generally speaking, the "right-er" it gets. All of the raving, foaming'
at the mouth, bible thumping maniacs are on the very far right of the political spectrum. And, Reagan has more than his
finger in their pie. It is a problem for any conservative Atheist to sort out a political position when everything on the radical
right is premised on biblicalfundamentalism and blabbering born-again insanity. If the conservative Atheists can't clean
up the act of their conservative heroes, they simply need to take the flak that is directed at those heroes who are
contaminated with the irrationality of militant non-think evangelism.
Our radical right Atheists must take into account, in their evaluation of Reagan, that he has quietly been taking into
governmental positions the most extreme fundamentalist religionists visible (and invisible) in the nation. Many are
graduates of Bob Jones University which is a disgrace, a blot upon the educational system of the United States. Bob
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 21
Billings, a former director of the "moral majority" is one such and he is now ensconced in the Department of Education.
Here, he brags that he is influencing and reshaping the educational standards to be in accordance with his grossly insane
religiousfundamentalism. He actually holds a weekly prayer meeting in his office at the Education Department. It is easy
for him from this perch to demand that the National Institute of Education investigate any package of sex education
material which he quickly labels "smut." Our Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, is an evangelist who opposes abortion
on religious grounds, not on medical grounds, and imposes that criterion on his department. Richard Leiter is now reading
grant applications for programs aimed at bringing minorities into graduate institutions when the "university" business
school of which he is dean (Bob Jones University) practices racial discrimination. A grant watcher, Susan Phillips, is
actually a $52,000-a-year consultant for the Conservative Digest which regularly runs lily white, if not anti-Black, raving
fundamentalist columns attacking homosexuals and "other perverts." Other Bob Jones faculty members have positions
with the Education Department - one as an evaluator of grants for women's educational programs, another as a special
department assistant, a third as a member of a Presidential advisory panel on education matters. They all view their
positions as a chance to influence governmental positions and brag that they do. Morton Blackwell, a "White House
liaison to conservative groups" spends his time running back andforth between the White House and tapings of Falwell's
"old time gospel hour" while he sets up meetings between right wing conservative religious leaders and his boss, Reagan.
This man is so spaced out that he labels the solidly pro-Republican American Bar Association as "left-leaning," and foams
at the mouth over the Audubon Society and the League of Women Voters. He has been instrumental in cutting funds to all
such "advocacy" groups while, of course, he and his friends fight for the tax exemption of the racist Bob Jones University.
Enough has been said about James Watt, Secretary of Interior, who is raping our natural resources since he believes
that the only thing which needs to be conserved is the nation's belief in heaven - where there are no natural forests, wild
li/e, sea coasts, or other environmental non-necessities to be protected.
But, we are just getting to know JoAnn Gaspar now in charge of reviewing government regulations concerning
domestic violence. One of her first acts was to approve a very controversial regulation requiring notification of parents
when minors receive contraceptives from Federally financed clinics - which forces the question to our good conservative
Atheists: when you first experimented with sex did you want a government agency to notify your parents that you were in
the back seat of dad's car doing your thing? Maybe you had money enough for the condoms you used on your first try but
many of our impoverished youngsters do not.
The news media covered a little of Reagan's speech to the roman catholic knights of columbus, but not all. We feel it is
important enough that you read the entire thing. Remember that Reagan was addressing not only the knights' officers and
dignitaries, 481 delegates from state and regional councils, but 150 bishops of the roman catholic church who had come to
join in the centennial and the vatican secretary of state who had come to accept the first payment of $10 millionpledged to
one of the most reactionary popes in world history. (The first check was for $1,225,934.) The knights are notoriously
fundamentalist in their catholicism. Indeed, it was the knights which intervened in the case of Mars a v. Metuchen Borough
Council. (That was the case, you will recall, of the Director of the New Jersey Chapter of American Atheists attempting to
stop prayer at the opening of the borough council meetings in Metuchen, New Jersey.) The knights, one of the world's
largest and most successful fraternal societies has 1,375,000 members and is the self-appointed monitor for "the moral
standards" of television programming. If you want to know why your T. V. guide or your local cinema has ratings listed for
programs or films, read Chapter 5 of Freedom Under Siege, the bo~okwritten by Madalyn O'Hair. The roman catholic
church, with the knights of columbus avant, has been censoring what you can see or read for the last 50 years in the
United States.
The key to all knight activity is the quietness - and the thoroughness - with which it is done. While the media focuses
on the pageantry, the plumed hats, the bingo games, the ritualistically bizarre funerals, the knights' main thrust continues
with low visibility and wide ranging consequences for allof us. An example of this is a classic "Did you know question. " Did
you know that the knights operate one of the largest (allegedly non-profit) insurance agencies in the nation, the profits of
which are poured into the vatican?
Those outside of government capture the media with their antics; those inside insidiously destroy any hope for real
participatory democracy in our land as they shape policies of administrative agencies to reflect their fundamentalist and
basically insane retigious ideologies.
Recently we have seen the emergence of "liberal left" churches and religious organizations being openly critical of the
"radical right" born-againers. The criticism is not directed at their goals so much as it is at their methods. The powerful
roman catholic, baptist, presbyterian, lutheran, mormon and jewish religious organizations in our nation have always
influenced, even badgered, the politicians to get what they wanted. The entire difference is that the "established"
churches did it quietly, discreetly and invisibly. The born-againers shout it from the rooftop. The established order
exchanged mutual rubbings of the back; the born-againers demand dominance as a right with no reciprocity. The current
hostility between the two camps is over the game being played in the open by the come-lately born-againers with their
deliberate affront to the sensibilities of all, which then brings attention to what is occurring. The establishment religion has
more finesse. It desires to control you covertly. The Reaganite religious right wants to do it overtly - with flourish. And,
Reagan agrees.
The proof is in the pudding as in the following speech by Reagan when he opines that there is no room, or no basis for
freedom from religion in our land.
Page 22
October, 1982
Austin Texas
October, 1982
. Page23
basic values, is overlooked in a society of high technology , the police got there and elbowed their way through the
crowd that had gathered and they said, 'What happened?',
and mass communication and bewildering everyday events.
"I guess what I'm trying to say was put very well by that
they said, 'We don't know. When we got here, he seemed to
great Catholic essayist G.K. Chesterton when he warned
be all right. But by the time we had his head turned around
straight, he was dead.' (Laughter.) (Applause.)
about the modern habit of those who try to put the heavens
in their heads rather than their heads in the heavens. Or as
"Since we've been in Washington, we've tried, and I
Alfred North Whitehead observed, 'There is danger in believe, have brought an historic change to Washington. I
clarity, the danger of overlooking the subtleties of truth.'
can assure you we've replaced that old doctrine of tax and
"Those subtleties of truth - the belief in the importance
tax, spend and spend with a new philosophy that says that
of the family, of community and church - the realization
there is one overriding cause for our economic troubles:
that the Western ideas of freedom and democracy spring
government is too big and it spends too much money.
directly from the Judeo-Christian religious experience (Applause.) Now, I know that you've heard and read a
are not often publicly discussed. Yet they- every place I go variety of accounts almost every day of what we're trying to
lately there's an echo. (Laughter.) (Applause.) These things do, many of them quoting unnamed but highly placed
that are publicly discussed still remain the foundation for sources in the White House. I wonder if you'd put up with
our concepts of social justice, our political system, our very another account, this time from a highly placed source who
way of life. They are the values that ennoble man, making
doesn't mind if you know his name.
"T 0 begin with, what we call our economic recovery
him something more than just the plaything of hedonism or
the vassal of dictatorship; they entitle him to personal
program has already cut the rate of growth in federal
dignity and to the individual liberty and representative
spending nearly in half. And it has already cut away billions
in taxes for individuals in businesses. And, for the first time
government that dignity enjoins.
"Now, perhaps some of you remember that just a few in history, taxes are going to be indexed to the rate of
years ago these basic values were being forgotten in the inflation, a reform that takes away government's hidden
highest levels of our government. Indeed, the machinery of profit from inflation. We have cut through the growing
thicket of federal regulations that was stifling business and
government at times actively opposed them. Government
industrial growth. Vice President Bush heads up a Task
intrusion into the life of the family and the local neighborhood - federally financed abortions, forced busing, HEW Force that deals with this. And already we've made savings
regulations and rules on many matters that government had of nearly $6 billion annually, just in changing regulations.
And this year alone, there will be 200 million fewer manno business dealing with - had reached unparalleled
hours of paperwork imposed on American citizens. (Apheights. In a similar vein, the prerogatives of local communities and state governments were slowly being eroded as plause.) Our Economic Recovery Program has been in
more and more decisions were made in Washington and effect for only 10 months, but its impact has already been
felt. Last quarter's rise in the Gross National Product is an
government grew ever more distant and beyond the control
encouraging sign. Our dollar is stronger than it's been in 10
of the people. Federal spending sent inflation skyrocketing
years. Inflation, which a little more than a year ago was the
and the tax burden increasing to the point where rewards
number one economic concern of most Americans, has
for honest work and extra initiative were evaporating.
"It is this latter problem that we had to confront when we taken an impressive turn for the better. And in the last six
months has run at less than half of what it was in 1980. And
came to Washington 18 months ago. In the last 10 years,
federal spending had tripled. In the last 5 years, federal we're going to keep it going down. (Applause.) We've
brought to individual Americans the first comprehensive
taxes had doubled. The philosophy of government seemed
to be tax and tax, spend and spend. Now, no one can tax cut they've said- had since John F. Kennedy's tax cut
quarrel with the motive behind all this. It was well; 20 years ago. (And, incidentally, some of the critics of ours
were criticizing him then for trying to do what he did.) We
intentioned and done in the name of humanity. The budget
said we were going to cut spending, reduce the tax burden,
for the Department of Health and Human Services became
, the third largest budget in the world, right after the entire rebuild our national defenses, strive for legitimate arms
national budgets of the United States and the Soviet Union. reductions, and be firm with totalitarian powers. And I
The federal debt reached one trillion dollars; and our believe the record shows we have kept those promises.
interest payments on that debt, in the range of $100 billion, (Applause.)
"But our promises about working to clean up the federal
are more than the entire federal budget of about 20 years
fiscal mess and cut the size of government were not made
ago.
"You know, I have to stop and interject here that 1- as I just in order to get the economy moving again, as important
said before, this was all done with the best of intentions, all as that is. Government can't interfere with economic
of this was designed to help. But when you set out to help, freedom without restricting the political and personal
you'd better have a pretty good idea of what you're doing. freedom of individual Americans. That's what we mean to
You know, there was a fellow riding a bicycle one cold restore. John Stuart Mill put it very well: 'A state which
winter day- motorcycle, I should say- and the wind dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile
coming in through the buttons of his leather jacket were instruments in its hands, even for beneficent purposes, will
chilling him and finally he stopped, turned the jacket find that with small men no great thing can really be
around, put it on backwards, took off again. Well, that accomplished.' The intrusive hand of government can only
solved the wind problem but he hit a patch of ice, his arms hinder creativity, stultify growth and suffocate enterprise,
were kind of restricted, he skidded into a tree. And when initiative and diversity.
Page 24
October, 1982
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 25
Page 26
October, 1982
*.*
W'e have a drive to get a U.S. stamp for Ingersoll.
We need lots of people to write in asking that a
stamp be issued for the sesquicentennial of this
great orator's birthday. Write to:
Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee
c/o Stamp Development Branch
U_S. Postal Service
Washington, D.C. 20260
* **.*
The American
Atheist
Austin Texas
October, 1982
Page 27
Page 28
October, 1982
Membership: $20/year
($1 O.OO/yr. for students and senior citizens)
Send to the same address for subscriptions to the
GALA Review. Subscriptions $1 O.OO/yr; $11.501
yr in Canada and PUAS; elsewhere $12.50/yr.
If you've
seen one ,."
AMENDMENT I
CONGRESS
SHALL MAKENO
LAW RESPECTING
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