mination of all American military alliancesneverywhere, and to “condemn thengrowing alliance between the UnitednStates government and the People’snRepublic of China, just as we condemnnthe previous alliance with the Republicnof China on Taiwan.”nA political philosophy which generatesnfaulty positions must have somenbasic flaws. Two of these may be worthndwelling upon.nThe first is what might be termedn”atomism,” or the implicit assumptionnthat each individual and each nation isnan entity unto itself, without obligationsnto other individuals or nationsnbeyond transitory ones of mutual convenience.nChodorov nowhere says so,nbut I suspect he would advocate thenabrogation of freely adopted agreementsnbetween individuals if changed circumstancesnmade it inconvenient for one ofnthem to keep his commitment. Thisn”atomism” is quite visible in the libertariannview of abortion, which considersnonly the potential mother’s convenience.nWe have already seen the intrinsic contradictionnin the libertarian position onninterrelationships between nations: thatnnations can be economically interdependentnand at the same time politicallyncompletely independent. If man is ansocial animal, so, too, are nations: theyncannot function properly without bothnpolitical and economic alliances.nThe right-to-life issue throws intonrelief a deeper flaw in the libertariannposition: its desire to divorce moralitynfrom politics. “The free market,” Chodorovnwrote once, “is mechanistic andnamoral”; but politics has a moral dimension.nClearly this was one reason for hisnhostility toward politics—politics raisesnmoral questions which must be resolvedncollectively. But Chodorov also knewnthat the moral posture of politics had angreat deal to do with the success of thensocialist collectivism he opposed, andnon one or two occasions he attemptednto provide a moral underpinning for thenprinciples of the free market. Thus innan address of 1958 he linked the freenmarket with free will:nMany of the persons who would abolishnfree choice in the marketplacenlogically conclude that man is not endowednwith free will. . . . This premisenineluctably leads them to thendenial of the soul, and, of course, thendenial of God.nBut Chodorov was uncomfortable withnthis attempt to inject morality into economics,nand present-day libertariansnseparate morality from poUtics entirely,nwith one exception: they deny the rightnof any “individual, group or governmentn[to] initiate force against anynother individual, group or government.”nThe source of morality must be the individual,nthey argue:nMembers of the Libertarian Party donnot necessarily advocate or condonenany of the practices our policies wouldnmake legal. Our exclusion of moralnapproval and disapproval is deliber­nIn the Mailnate:.. . the wisdom of any course ofnpeaceful action is a matter for the actingnindividual(s) to decide.nOo, in the end, Chodorov saw thingsna little more clearly than do his closestnfollowers now. Recognizing that politicsnsimply cannot be separated from morality,nas an individualist he sought tonwithdraw from the political sphere, andnimprove society through the power ofnexample alone:nIf I do a good job on myself in the waynof improving my fund of knowledgenand my understanding, and of maintainingna sense of responsibility towardnmy judgment, the result mightnstrike the fancy of a fellow man; if henis activated by the example to go tonwork on himself, my personal effortnwill have burgeoned into what we callnsocial improvement. DnEerdmans’ Concise Bible Handbook edited by David and Pat Alexander; Wm. B.nEerdmans; Grand Rapids, Michigan. A pocket-sized paperback abridgment of Eerdmansn’ Handbook to the Bible. It contains book-by-book commentary, separate articles onnbiblical history and interpretation, niaps, charts and line drawings which portray everydaynlife in biblical times.nEerdmans’ Concise Bible Encyclopedia edited by Pat Alexander; Wm. B. Eerdmans;nGrand Rapids, Michigan. Information from Eerdmans’ Family Encyclopedia ofnthe Bible, attangei alphabetically. Includes historical, geographical and cultural informationnin simplified, nonacademic language, as well as scriptural cross-references for furthernstudy.nA New Beginning by Ed Clark; Caroline House Publishers; Ottawa, Illinois. Thenideas of the 1980 Libertarian Party candidate for the Presidency on inflation, taxation,npoverty, education and other current issues.nYou Can Improve Your Child’s School by William Rioux and the Staff of the NationalnCommittee for Citizens in Education; Simon & Schuster; New York. Questionsnfrom parents and answers from the committee on possible solutions to variousnproblems in today’s schools.nThe Dragon Thread by Laura Beheler; Hyst’ry Myst’ry House Ltd.; Garnerville,nNew^ York. A futurist, feminist fantasy.nTransylvania and the Theory of Daco-Roman-Rumanian Continuity edited bynLouis L. Lote; Committee of Transylvania; Rochester, New^ York. Seven essaysnon the history of Transylvania, written in English, French and German.nFor Better or Worse: The American Influence in the World edited by Allen F.nDavis; Greenwood Press; Westport, Connecticut. A collection of essays by men andnwomen from around the world, commenting on the influence of America in culture,neconomy, agriculture, education, etc.nnn^^M^SlnMay/Jttne 1981n