crats-in-uniform whose clearest sight ofna battlefield is a computer simulation.nOf course, governance-by-manipulationnserves the interests of thosenwho are expert in it. In the case of then”drug war,” professional therapists,nteachers, public-spirited entertainers,nyouth counselors, social scientists, andnthe army of PR technicians who jerknthe images and symbols of mass “education”nwill accumulate small fortunesnby battening onto the provisions of thennew drug law and digging into thenample funds it places in their hands.nTheir ideas, knowledge, and opinionsnwill provide the strategies by which then”war” is to be fought, and no doubtnMr. Bennett will have them in thenfront lines. How their onslaught will benreceived by the real czars of the globalnnarcotics trade — the Colombian, Jamaican,nAsian, and homegrown gangstersnwho murder whole families fornfun and command wealth and weaponsnthat some nations would envy — mayneasily be foreseen.nIn reality, there is no foe in the warnagainst drugs that could not be wellnmet by a county sheriff armed with anwad of Red Man, a couple of .12gauges,na local posse, and a few yards ofnstrong rope. But the Supreme Court,nthe ACLU, the Justice Department,nthe Congress, and the witch doctors ofnthe therapeutic-managerial state havenlong since taken care of that kind ofnresponse. Now we have to depend onnthe wit, wisdom, and collected memorandanof Mr. Bennett. I hope he’snsuccessful in giving up cigarettes.nSamuel Francis is deputy editorialnpage editor of The WashingtonnTimes.nLetter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednTalkin’ Freedom BluesnI was sitting here listening to the Universitynof North Carolina’s student radionstation play “Hotrod to Hell,”- a cutnfrom Elvis Hitler’s new albumnDisgraceland (you think I could makenthat up?), and somehow the timenseemed right for another round-up ofnSouthern news that they’ve probablynbeen keeping from you.nSpeaking of the higher learning, fornexample, I’ll bet you didn’t see thennote in the Chronicle of Higher Educationnabout the faculty-staff directorynat the University of Tennessee innKnoxville that lists under “Education,nCollege of” an entry for the “ReadinnCenter.”nThe lower learning made the news,ntoo. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reportednthat Mississippi ranks secondnonly to Arkansas in public-school paddlings.nIn a recent year nearfy fiftynthousand Mississippi students — one inneight — heard the tune of the hickorynstick. For what it’s worth, the MagnolianState also had the lowest percentage ofn”seriously emotionally disturbed” childrennin I its schools. Spare the rodnand—? No, surely not.nIn other news from Southern education,nback here in the soi-disantnSouthern Part of Heaven one of ournstudents recently reported the theft ofnhis license plate. Not his car, his licensenplate — a vanity number that readn”POONTANG.” Some innocent innthe state motor vehicle departmentnmust have let that one by, or maybe it’snprotected by the First Amendment.nBut the First Amendment cuts bothnways when it comes to license plates. Inread that ACLU types in Marylandnhave objected to plates with messagesnlike “GOD IS.” At last report, the statenwas going to recall plates with religiousnmessages. You figure it out.nNot long ago, on US 15-501 betweennChapel Hill and Durham (whatnused to be called the Jefferson DavisnHighway — and whatever happened tonthe signs?) I saw an evil-looking youngnman with a black goatee driving a carnwith license number “MB 666.” Ifnwe’re going to interfere with religiousnmessages, let’s start with that one, OK?nThis religion business does keepncoming up when people talk about thenSouth. In the November issue ofnChannels, a trade magazine for broadcasters,na writer of the television programnDesigning Women talked aboutnan episode in which one of the Southernnwomen of the title wants to becomena Baptist preacher but is turnedndown because she’s a female. Thenwriter, a Southerner herself, said thatneven though the show was critical ofnBaptist traditionalism, it drew “nega­nnntive comments within the industry” becausen”some people assumed that wenwere trying to do a Jerry Falwell thing!”nPoor Jerry. Another cheap shot. Butnthe woman has a point. Apparentlyntreating evangelical Protestantism at allnis viewed with suspicion. Certainly it isnunusual. “You would have thoughtnwe’d done a show about the leprechaunsnor something,” the writer said.n”No one has ever in the history ofnprime time television done a sitcomnabout Baptists. …”nBy the way, when the NationalnOrganization for Women recentlynpublished a book called The State-by-nState Guide to Women’s Legal Rights,nranking the states according to hownwell they comply with the liberal viewnof what women need, the three “best”nwere Washington, Massachusetts, andnNew York. Of the five “worst” onlynNevada is outside Dixie; the other fournare Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina,nand Georgia — setting for DesigningnWomen and Charlene’s thwartednvocation.nAh, Georgia. Did you notice hownmany of the news stories filed from thenDemocratic Convention last summernmentioned the number of “table dancing”nestablishments in Atlanta? It’snsurprising how many reporters foundntime to check out this traditional Atlantanart form. Andy Young’s municipalngovernment anticipated exactly the sortnof stories that were written, but attemptsnto close these places failed. It’snthat oF debbil First Amendment again.n(Freedom of expression? Of worship?)nYankees have always said that Southernnmen put women on pedestals, but Indon’t think this is what they meant.nIncidentally, I don’t know why peoplenhaven’t done sitcoms about Baptists.nLord knows they can be funny.nListen to the Reverend Joseph Chambers,nfor example. According to thenCharlotte Observer, he told a meetingnon AIDS that “Prayer always works.nCondoms work only 80 percent of thentime.”nPardon my free-associating, but thatnreminds me of a recent New YorknTimes story about a new champagne.nAre you ready for Marquis de SadenPrivate Reserve Grand Cru, vintagen1981, about $45 the bottle F.O.B.nParis? Its marketing director says: “Indon’t think it will be a huge success innthe Bible Belt.” But, he adds, “it willnMAY 1989/45n