United Nation Reforms Worse Than Doing Nothing
September 21, 2005
To the editor;
Mr. Journo’s cogent article (The UN’s “Virtue” Is Its Vice) hit the nail right on the head: what is wrong with the UN is not economic corruption, improperly orgainzed institutions, or a corrupt Secretary-General. These issues can only mask the irredeemable evil at the heart of the UN: moral egalitarianism, the equation of freedom with slavery, and constitutional government with dictatorship.
This is why the attempts by conservatives to reform the UN–such as the Bush plan, which is intended to save the UN–are worse than doing nothing.
They mask the true nature of the UN, and bury its essential evil beneath the veneer of bad accounting practices. But, as in every other area of life, attempts to compromise with evil can only serve to prop up the evil, and to give it a new opportunity for a new crime. In this case, it will mean granting to every two-bit dictatorship the “right” to nuclear energy, and ultimately to nuclear bombs.
J. David Lewis
Red Star Over Hollywood: The Film Colony’s Long Romance With the Left
Dear Editor:
The book (Red Star Over Hollywood) was an important statement regarding the blacklist and the true intentions of the Hollywood 10 and Communist Party USA. It was very informative especially the chapters relating to Dalton Trumbo’s sense of what really happened before, during and after the blacklist and Lillian Hellman’s duplicitous conduct to the very day she died.
Liberals and Hollywood types for years have dominated the media/airwaves and interpreted the Blacklist era in black and white tones. The communists, especially those who failed to cooperate with the Committee (HUAC) have been presented in heroic terms while former communists who renounced their party affiliation and named names, i.e., Elia Kazan, are castigated as informers who betrayed a cause. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
There are a number of erroneous comments made in the book that should have been corrected before it was finalized for publication. They are as follows: Walter Huston did not portray Joseph Stalin in the Movie “MISSION TO MOSCOW” (1943). Mr. Huston portrayed Joseph Davies, the Ambassador, author and initiator of the movie project. Another actor portrayed the dictator; Martin Dies of the temporary committee of Congress, HUAC is referred to as a “stalwart Republican.” He was a Democrat from Texas; There are two references (Pages 151 and 200) regarding Sam Goldwyn that are erroneous. He was no longer affiliated with MGM any more. Mr. Goldwyn was an independent producer who made his own films. The “Little Foxes” (1941) was a Goldwyn production, not an MGM movie.
Other than these historical misrepresentations, the book counters many of the myths and misconceptions of this period in American history. Ronald and Allis Radosh are to be commended for a long overdue accounting of what really happened.
William L. Esposito
Bay Shore, USA
War on Terrorism Has Yet to be Waged
September 16, 2005
Dear Editor:
Four years have passed since the Sept. 11 massacre by Islamic terrorists, and the threat of yet another attack still looms. That’s because a real war on terrorism has yet to be waged.
Islamic terrorism was and is made possible by the dictatorial regimes–including Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia–that sponsor terrorism. Although the United States ended the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, it has done nothing but appease the biggest sponsor of Islamic terrorism, Iran, which is rapidly trying to build a nuclear bomb while its mullahs chant “Death to America!”
After Afghanistan, the United States committed the tragic error of radically shifting priorities from fighting terrorism to “bringing democracy” to Iraq. Although the Bush Administration wants us to believe that the latter is the logical next step to defeating terrorism, it’s not. Allowing regimes like Iran to exist to orchestrate an insurgency has emboldened the terrorists and their supporters, and demoralized the United States. Furthermore, there’s a chance that Iraq will eventually vote itself into an Islamofascist state like Iran.
History demonstrates that the way to defeat an enemy and achieve peace is to destroy its capacity and will to fight by bringing the war into its heartland. That’s how Japan and Germany were rendered peaceful.
The Bush Administration must refocus its energy on ending the bomb-building, terrorist-sponsoring dictatorship of Iran. Let the real war on terrorism begin, before it’s too late.
Glenn Woiceshyn
Ayn Rand Institute
U.S. Should Eliminate All Barriers to Free Trade
September 15, 2005
Dear Editor:
In his recent address to the U.N. World Summit, President Bush said that the United States is “ready to eliminate all tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to the free flow of goods and services, as other nations do the same.”
But why wait for other nations to “do the same”?
Eliminating all tariffs and quotas on imported products would benefit Americans even if other nations kept their own quotas, tariffs and subsidies. Why? Because without protectionist measures Americans would benefit from the freedom to buy cheaper goods. Leaving aside the case of enemy nations, if Americans believe it is in their self-interest to buy from foreign producers, they should have the right to trade with them without restriction–and to pocket the savings.
Forcibly depriving Americans of the benefits of unrestricted trade is not only bad economics, it is a violation of their rights.
David Holcberg,
Ayn Rand Institute
Republicans and High Gas Prices
September 1, 2005
Dear Editor,
Walter Williams, in his op-ed What To Do About Gasoline Prices, forgot the “contribution” of the Republicans. It was Richard Nixon who started the economy-wide price controls in 1973, just as inflation was coming under control. Then all controls were recinded except those on gas and oil which caused the shortages and lines of 1974. These were finally recinded by President Ford, who also vetoed 55 bills in a desperate attempt to stem the orgy of government spending. Then the controls were reimposed by Carter.
Jack Crawford
Silver Spring, MD
USA
