No, no and no. It’s that old farceur,nProf. Dr. John Kenneth Galbraith. Nownwe are, of course, delighted with hisnborn-again faith in the free market, butnwe are a little disturbed that he callsnoptimism about capitalism a bit of hisnwisdom. If his wisdom tells him thatnthings are O.K., we may have somenreason to worry.nLovable CultismnStrange how liberalism—once thenfearless debunker of fundamentalistnsorceries and seedy faith healers, thenimplacable foe of the Elmer Gantrys ofnthis land—has changed during the lastntwo decades. We now have the tendernremembrance of Reverend Jones, whonflourished among the liberals and innthe most liberal of all cities. Cultismnis in the fold of liberal virtues, defendednas the people’s right to “know” andn”feel,” draped in the pseudoscientificnchutzpah of Werner Erhard and adorednby New York publishers. And The NewnVol. 3, No. 1, January/February 1979nAccentuate the NegativenVol. 3, No. 2, March/April 1979nOn Conscience & Related ConcernsnVol. 3, No. 5, September/October 1979nNormalcy—Our Sixth SensenRepublic loves Mrs. Ruth CarternStapleton.nWe know it’s quite a change, but hownelse can we explain this journal’s reviewnof Mrs. Stapleton’s opus, entitlednBrother Billy, which calls it a “mostnamiable anecdote and family reminiscence.”nAnd nothing else, in the entirenreview, is said that would justify Mrs.nStapleton’s portraiture of herself andnher brothers as the most refined productsnof the evolution of the species.nWe are not liberals, thus to us Mrs.nRuth Carter Stapleton symbolizes thenworst in America. Rarely have obscurantism,nignorance and pushy stupidityn—common to all mankind, but unfortunatelynbest observable in certainnsegments of our society—achieved anbetter expression than in Mrs. Stapleton’snbook. The vaunted liberalnfumigators never notice the smog ofnlow-brow “dialectics” which infusesneverything about the Carters; the liberalnmedia call it a lovable warmheartednessnand concern for the people.nVol. 3, No. 3, May/June 1979nThe Oldest ConflictnVol. 3, No. 4, July/August 1979nThe Ugly Beautiful PeoplenTyrmand: Editor’s Comment; Pradl on Scott (The Secret Six)-. Mosernon Lasch {The Culture of Narcissism); Navrozov on Richards (SweetnCountry)’, Rice on Stans (The Terrors of Justice)-, Carson on Neiern(Defending My Enemy)-, Kolson on Weyr (Reaching for Paradise)-, Walshnon Truscott (Dress Gray); Schwartz on Johnson (Lying Low)-, Levine onnColebrook (Innocents of the West)-, Steinman on Hill (Hanta Yo); Pietruszanon Drucker (Adventures of a Bystander)-, Commendables; Waste of Money;nScreen; Correspondence; Libera! Culture; The American Proscenium;nJournalism; Polemics & Exchanges.nF-rratumnhi iHir [irci()ij.s isMii- (ScpicnilxT Oiiolvr iy~9l in thi- (..)rri-snponilfiK (.• M’clion. cntillcii “Lcirci FroJri I’aiis.” Ii Leo Rjilif;.!.non pafjf •^^ thf line which riacj “. . . Poland, (or which l-lnjiland jnilnlidmc alli’^cdly went to \d.” •.Iioiild liasc said “. . . PoUnd. fornwhich Kn^land and [“laiuc wc-iil lo war.”nnnHow things have changed. Today,nwarlocks make the scene in the wealthynliberal salons of Georgetown andnGotham and in the pages of liberal journalsnonce devoted to reason. Today, wennonliberals are the defenders of man,nhis dignity, his intelligence and hisnright to freedom from warlocks wherevernthey come from—political fanaticism,nwitchcraft, psychotherapy,ngrotesquely perverted religion.nStrange Days . ..n”Strange days have tracked usndown . . .”an ancient poet complained,nmourning the failure of the Latin sensenof reason. One could agree with such anlament now, when a person who wishesnto atone for his sins is insulted by learnednACLU lawyers, the self-appointed consciencenof America, who call himn”quitter” and “chicken.” The causistsngo into hysterical fits on TV and accusena convicted murderer who demands hisnown execution of cowardice. The ACLUnpundits seem to think that expiation forncrimes, even having the courage to asknfor one’s own death, is antisocial andnimmoral. “Fighting thestate and society”nis moral, even if the fighter is a heinousnmass-murderer. The odd case of JessenBishop, who was executed in Nevadanfor killing one man, sheds a bizarre lightnon the compassion business in America.nIt was revealed after his execution thatnhe had also confessed to killing some 19npeople just for a fee.nFinally, We’re All There!nAccording to UPI, a topless femalenpassenger boarded a downtown Manhattannsubway train on a recent sultrynAugust night. Only one citizen let himselfnbe heard, screaming: “Cover yourselfnup . . .” The female passenger, confidentnin her right as someone who hadnpaid the fare for transportation, unperturbedlyntook a seat and smiled.nNone of the rest of her fellow ridersncould understand what all the fuss wasnabout. nni43nXovcmbcr/Dccembcr 1979n