him, has buckled under the burden ofndie realities of power. He has resorted toneuphemizing tax imposition as “revenuenraising,” and, in foreign policy, chosenflashy, media-oriented successes insteadnof supporting probity. In the MiddlenEast, he rescued the nerve center of thenbestial political gangsterism that servesnour most implacable enemy. To pleasenthe financial gougers in the West andnEast, he destroyed any possibility ofnAmerican influence in Eastern Europe,nand he still plays footsy with primitive—butnawash in money—tribal monarchiesnwho wish us ill. And in the FarnEast, he apparently prefers not to follownthe good advice of those who knownChina better than the country-clubnmavens that mle the White House, andnwho know also that giving up too muchnearns nothing but profit for a couple ofnmultinationals.nWhich all leaves us pretty aggrieved.nPeace on Earth Without HeavennInitiating cmsades is nothing new fornCatholic clergymen; they’ve been at itnfor almost a millennium. Their latestncmsade, however, does not seem likely tonredound to the glory of God. The city thenCatholic clerics wish to conquer is nonlonger Jerusalem but Washington, andntheir enemy is no longer the infidelnSaracen but rather the nuclear Minuteman.nThat priests should share in thenwidespread concern about the possibilitynof a nuclear war is understandable, as isntheir insistence that they have a right tonvoice opinions concerning Americannarmament policies. What’s disturbing isnthat many Catholic leaders represent asnreligious a political stand which clearlynevinces a profound failure of faith.nReligion has always believed its primarynconcern to be redemption in eternity,nnot preservation in time. Thisisnottonsay that the faithful do not value humannlife highly and fervently decry its violentnextinction. But mortal existence andntemporal peace are relative, not absolute,ngoods in the pious mind: if then48inChronicles of Calturenantinuclear Catholics are sincere in theirncreed they must allow that no believernshould wish to cling to the earth anynlonger than it affords opportunities fornworship and spiritual growth. Such annattimde does not imply any impositionnon those who do value earthly existencenabove all else, but a true-to-himself clericncan hardly afford to ignore this basicnChristian assumption. If he does, henserves neither God nor life but somethingnelse—something quite sinister tonboth.nIndeed, Western Christianity may bendeeply gratefijl that the soldiers who defendednthe gates of Vienna againstnMoslem invaders in 1664 were not catechizednby the sort of prelates who nownagitate for American nuclear disarmament.nWithin their political gospel,nphysical destmction, not spiritual deprivation,napparently constitutes the ultimatenevil. To hear them speak, onenwould suppose that the shadows cast by anSoviet ideology threatening the destructionnof all extraterrestrial faith are notnnearly so dark as those cast by the Americannmissiles which keep that ideology atnbay. One Catholic bishop has announcednthat he will refuse to pay half hisnfederal income tax as a protest against thenAmerican manufacture of nuclear arms.n(Considering that nuclear-arms productionndoes not account for even antwentieth of the federal budget, thisnseems a rather generous withholdingnSeven Wonders ofnthe Corporate WorldnV e wonder whether the GeneralnMotors PR and promotion executivesnhave ever read publications in which theynplace their opulent ads that reek of corporatenpecuniary sinfulness. In The Nation—thenpremier organ of anticorporatenJorRN.M.ISMnnnplan.) Another is publicly denouncingnall those employed in making Americannnuclear arms as “sinners” and urgingnthem to repent by seeking other employmentnin the midst of a recession, therebyndemonstrating, rather inconsistentiy, annutter contempt for material concerns.nYet a third recentiy denounced Seattie’snnew nuclear submarine base as ann”American Auschwitz.” Even more marvelousnthan the mental contortions ofnthese shepherds, however, was the declarationnby a speaker at a recent DisarmamentnConference sponsored by thenBoston Archdiocese who averred thatnnothing—not liberty, not religion, notndemocracy—is precious enough to fightna nuclear war over. If that is not sufficientlynclear, Lenin will dispel any lingeringnconfusion: “As an ultimate objectivenpeace simply means Communist worldncontrol.”nCertainly, unilateral disarmament bynAmerica would bring peace—the peacenof a spirimal cemetery. Religion wouldnbe put into an unmarked grave, togethernwith freedom, justice, equality beforenthe law, and habeas corpus. In a recentninterview. Bishop Leroy Matthiesen explainednthe ecclesiastical preoccupationnwith antinuclear activism in these terms:n”This is the politics of survival. It wouldnbe surprising for the Church not to saynsomething.” What he expects would survivenunder Pax Sovietica he did not makenclear. (BC) Dnideological convulsions—we found anlush General Motors spread that includedna motto:nGeneral MotorsnThe future of transportation is herenIn all probability, what GM paid for thatnad would finance two issues of ThenNation. If General Motors’ decision-n