iii I
Premier Richard Nixon's call for a "new American
Revolution" in his State of the Union address is convincing
proof that this nation no longer needs the outmoded
two-party system.
It is no longer necessary to change horses in the middle of
the stream - or any place else. The voters can now sit astride
the same animal for eight years and enjoy the benefits of a
change in direction (from 90 to 180 degrees) at least once
every two years.
Our revolutionary leader recommended an expansionary
budget featuring deficit spending to finance a federal-state
revenue sharing plan, guaranteed health care, a $100 million
drive to find a cancer cure, and proposals to check pollution
and noise and to expand the nation's parks.
We are still in a mild state of shock, so have appropriated
the words of a great American - an admirer of Richard
Nixon who is probably as close to him as any living American
- to assess the State of the Union proposals.
"We find lavish Federal spending pledged for present
programs, plus a host of costly new programs, all sworn to be
accomplished without refueling inflation or raising taxes.
Every one of us, including the very men who wrote this ...
know that this is plain nonsense.
"We find promises of increased consumption, side by side
with pledges that would increase production costs and
thereby reduce markets.
"We find a free economy promised but also pledges to
thrust the power, direction, and influence of the Federal
Government deep into the heart of our economic life.
"We find ... federalism run rampant in nearly every
significant area of local, state, and national life, ranging from
housing to education to youth training to city administration
to natural resources to labor management relations to
agriculture - all floated on a sea of taxpayers' dollars.
"It is a bureaucratic state platform - a centralization of
Federal power platform - a series of pledges that in the
aggregate would debilitate State and local government in
America, weaken personal liberty, and expend for the
individual, by Federal decision - or by inflation, funds he
feels competent, and is competent, to expend himself.
"In sum, it is a vote of lack of confidence in the
individual and a distortion of our delicately balanced system
of Federal, State, and local government."
°.~. ,i
.... • .
"We've decided to help President Nixon stimulate the economy
by spending as though you made $50,000 a year."
The above words, assessing the Democratic party
platform, were delivered in a speech in Roanoke, Virginia, on
September 15, 1960, by Vice President Richard M. Nixon.
He also had some additional choice comments to make that
year about programs identical to his "new American
Revolution."
"'This is the best medicine-man show that ever came to BY: ROBERT C. CUMMINGS leaders in the House of probably the mutual savings
town," he told an audience in Spokane. A lot of legislators are finding Representatives told a news institutions, are combining to
......... f~ult with the newDepartmentof coRference t~g~ all four were ~.~ppos,e ~eg~tion (HB 377),
"~" t m friend~, ¥~ re~~J~qse ~ rneat~n ~ial and i'le~,,~tvi¢~*)~-~'~, sui~.~ f~e~al hi~,:~hieh i~vO~i~mit savings and~
BU Y
used to come to town? They used to come in and, boy, created by the 1970 Legislature. court would rule the other waY) 'loan associations to engage in the
they really sold that medicine for a while. It would cure
anything, cure anything you imagined - snake bite,
bronchitis, pneumonia, anything you wanted - same
medicine; just a different label every time.
"And the medicine man got away with it for awhile, but
finally the truth began to catch up with him. The truth began
to catch up, as the people found out that what he was selling
didn't cure. In some instances it was a deadly poison - and
believe me, that's exactly what my opponent's program is. It
won't cure. It's a poison to the economic system of America.
"You cannot spend $15 billion a year more paying for
the promises my opponent has made - you cannot do that
and balance the budget; and you cannot do it without raising
taxes. You can't do those three things at the same time.
Anybody who says you can is an economic ignoramus, and
there's no question about it."
He also made a comment to that 1960 Spokane audience
that has proved accurate in light of his first two years in the
White House.
"I say that we cannot use the White House in these
critical periods as a training school to give experience to a
man at the expense of the American people."
Our leader is a prophet in his own time.
The question now, of course, is what Premier Nixon and
his White House politburo will produce in 1972 to top this
year's performance.
Would you believe a switch from a police-action economy
to a wartime economy to stimulate employment?
This is the department which
came into being through a merger
of the Departments of Public
Assistance, Institutions and
Health.
"Monstrosity" is one of the
terms most commonly used.
Validity of many of the
complaints is open to question.
Others might merit further study.
But none lend themselves readily
to snap judgment.
The department probably will
stand as presently constituted,
despite some bills to amputate
and restore independence to some
divisions.
The principal result of the
criticism will be measured by its
effect on other governmental
reorganization bills which Gov.
Dan Evans has submitted to the
present session.
Numerous legislators have
become extremely wary of
enacting any more reorganization
legislation.
Barnyard Law
The House Committee on
Revenue and Taxation is
withholding action on a proposed
constitutional amendment to
lower the property tax limit until
the U.S. Supreme Court rules on
legality of the "60-40" provision.
This is the provision which
requires 60 per cent voter
approval for a bond issue or
special levy, and a 40 per cent
voter turnout to validate the
election.
Though the Washington State
Supreme Court has upheld
constitutionality of the 60-40
requirement, the top_Republican
Of the four, Speaker Tom
Swayze, is a lawyer. The others,
Majority Leader Stewart Bledsoe,
Majority Caucus Chairman Irving
Newhouse and Speaker Pro Tem
Tom Copeland, are farmers. The
spectre of a few initiatives to the
Legislature possibly tying the
hands of some future Legislature
on a broad spectrum of legislation
has been raised by Atty. Gen.
Slade Gorton.
This has strengthened
determination of the House
Republican leadership to raise the
hurdles for qualifying initiatives
to the Legislature.
The present constitutional
requirement is valid signatures
representing 8 per cent of the
vote cast in the last presidential
election. This applies to both
initiatives to the Legislature and
initiatives to the people.
Initiative 44, the tax-limit
initiative, gathered about 20 per
cent in about six weeks.
But so far the law-makers
haven't decided on how high to
raise the hurdles. Figures have
been mentioned as high as 50 per
cent.
But it would require a
constitutional amendment, which
first would have to get a
two-thirds majority in both
houses; then winapproval of the
voters in the next election.
If the figure is set too high, its
chances would be in jeopardy.
And any significant boost in the
number of signatures required for
initiatives to the people would be
doomed from the start.
Commercial banks, and
installment loan business, and to
offer checking account and trust
services.
The banks will argue that if
the savings and loan institutions
are to offer banking services they
should be subject to the same
regulations and taxes as
commercial banks.
Meanwhile, the banks appear
to be headed for a battle among
themselves over legislation, still to
be introduced, which would offer
"open" branch banking.
The large national banks are
pressing for the legislation. The
state-chartered banks will oppose
it.
Under the existing law, a
national bank may establish a
branch outside its own service
area only through purchase of an
existing bank.
Replay Possible
A replay of the bitter floor
battles waged during the fifties
over off-street parking legislation
may be precipitated by a bill
which would authorize local
governments to establish "parking
and business improvement"
districts.
Such districts would be
financed through assessments
against businesses presumed to
benefit, with the amount of
assessment to be determined in
relation to the amount of benefit.
The bill (HB 365) would give
the local legislative body sole
authority to determine the
amount of benefits, and
assessments.
Powers of eminent domain
aren't included.
Don't Bet on Gambling
Don't bet on any form of
gambling legislation passin$, this
session of the Legislature, even if
you can get special dispensation
from the Attorney General, who
says betting is illegal.
There are two proposed
constitutional amendments on the
subject. One would simply repeal
the anti-lottery clause in the
constitution.
The other, supported by Atty.
Gen. Slade Gorton, would open
the door to non-profit bingo and
some other forms of fund-raising
for charity, but would ban
professional gambling.
Both measures are in the
Senate, where sentiment is
sharply divided. As either would
require a two-thirds majority, it is
unlikely either will pass.
Another Bridge to Cross
Governor Evans'
announcement of still another
Cross-Sound transportation study,
this is one to be conducted by the
Highway Commission, is being
received with mixed reaction by
the Legislature.
And speaking of politics, as
late as a year ago, it seemed
apparent that Governor Evans
already was running for a third
term.
Now it seems equally
apparent that he doesn't plan to
try again.
His legislative program and
various other moves all seem to
negate the idea of any attempt to
upset the third-term jinx.
He has admitted privately that
he wouldn't let the governorship
go to the Democrats by default.
But he apparently believes there
are other Republicans who can
carry the banner successfully in
1972.
On one of the busiest thoroughfares in the
United States -- New York City's 42nd Street - the
final step beyond total nudity in entertainment has
now been taken. For the price of a movie ticket,
customers can see in full color and on a large screen
all the sexual variations of which human anatomy
and ingenuity are capable. For those who feel the
screen offerings are too pallid, any number of halls
or auditoriums on the same street offer live
performances. Reports from other cities indicate
that New York is far from being unique in providing
this form of entertainment.
Defenders of the new trend argue that questions
of morality are relative and that any adult should be
allowed to see or do whatever his curiosity or needs
demand. They contend there is no evidence to show
that sex exhibitions are dangerously provocative or
that they lead to random and irresponsible sexual
behavior,
This misses the point. It is possible to oppose
censorship but still be severely critical of sex
exhibitions - not because they lead to promiscuity
or irresponsibility but because they lead to
desensitization. The problem is not that they arouse
lust but that they tend to produce impotence. By
detaching sex from love, they separate sex from its
basic sustaining power. In making sex mechanical,
they contribute to the malfunctioning of the
machine. By annihilating privacy, they rob sex of
delight. Feelings are not merely bypassed; they are
obliterated. The danger is not that the explotitation
of sex may create sex fiends, but that it may spawn
eunuchs. What is even worse, an infallible formula
has apparently been found for making sex boring.
People who insist on seeing everything and doing
anything run the risk of feeling nothing.
It is a serious error to suppose that the
depersonalization of sex is unrelated to other things
that are happening to the society. The propensity
for violence, whether between individuals or
nations; the decline of respect for life, whether as
manifested by children's games and playthings or
Pag? 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, February 4, 1971
the foreign policies and weapons of government; the
casualness toward human hurt, as glamorized on
twenty million television screens or as demonstrated
at Mylai and in the search-and-destroy military
policy in Vietnam; the craving for heightened
experience, whether through pills or shots or smoke
- all these are symptomatic of desensitization. What
is most damaging of all is that the process itself
obscures what Is ha enm so that our hi
• PP "g' k "ghest
responses are being blunted without our nowing it.
It is easy enough to be appalled by the reports
of young Americans machine-gunning infants and
other non-combatants at point-blank range in
Vietnam; but where is our indignation OVer the
authorized dropping of powerful explosives from
the air on villages - or is it proper to kill babies so
long as you don't see their faces? And what about
the use of poison chemicals to condemn the land?
The highest expression of civilization is not its
art but the supreme tenderness that people are
strong enough to feel and show toward one another.
Art proceeds out of an exquisite awareness of life.
The creative spirit and the compassionate spirit are
not things apart but kindred manifestations of
response to life. If our civilization is breaking down,
as it appears to be, it is not because we lack the
brainpower to meet its demands but because our
feelings are being dulled.
What our society needs is a massive and
pervasive experience in re-sensitization. The first
aim of education should not be to prepare young
people for careers but to enable them to develop
respect for life. Related lessons would be concerned
with the reality of human sensitivity and the need
to make it ever finer and more responsive; the
naturalness of loving and the circumstances that
enhance it or enfeeble it; the right to privacy as an
essential condition of life; and the need to avoid the
callousness that leads to brutalization. Finally, there
is the need to endow government with the kind of
sensitivity that makes life and all its wondrous
possibilities government's most insistent concern.
Norman Cousins in the Saturday Review
l~l~l~l~l~l~ll~l~l~lll~l~l~ll~l~l~~
--by Ray Hailinan
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Credit Office
Muck & Meser Dept, Store
Dear Sirs:
Please find enclosed your billing to me for the month
you will please look very, very closely you will see
count, including balance forward even, is payable in thel
$0.00.
I think, perhaps, there has been a mistake. While it
I owe you, as your statement suggests, exactly
to pay you in this amount. I am sure that your
thing merely got confused and I trust that, crediting
cent stamp, we can call everything even.
Yours in automation,
Eberhard Faber
Credit Office
Muck & Meyer Dept. Store
Dear Sirs:
Imagine my surprise in receiving in the U.S. Mails
litely worded letter from you. Not acknowledging your
had hoped, but rather informing me that my payment
past due and perhaps I had forgotten or mislaid my
thing.
I haven't.
In fact, if I may refer you to my previous
July 7, you will note that I had pointed out to you howl
necessary it was for me to pay you $0.00.
But I will try to explain it in more simple terms so
derstand. You see, in not paying my bill I have paid
LY nothing, as I'm sure you'll agree. Now, if
your third grade math workbook, you'll see that
can you guess? -- $0.00. So by not paying you, I have,
you.
Thank you.
Arithmatically yours,
Eberhard Faber
Credit Office
Muck and Meyer Dept. Store
A'FrN: Computer
Dear Mr. HAL:
I am writing you this letter because the secretaries
out your instructions do not seem to understand.
er, that a machine of your unquestioned
fathom the intricacies of the problem at hand.
You see, about a month and a haft ago you sent
$0.00. Now, I want you to know that I'm not
tion. For, indeed, I do owe the store exactly $0.00 as
ceptively pointed out. However, I find that in this
the store the fail amount of my billing by the very act g
ing them, as I'm sure you'll Immediately see.
However, I have now been sent one nicely woi'ded and
ening message informing me that I haven't paid
it is true, is equally untrue. Will you please print out
or something telling everyone to please lay off?
cooperation.
Beseechingly yours,
365414-1967-379-0
P.S. Congratulations on winning the industrial
Collections Dept.
Ruination Credit Bureau
Felicitations:
I cannot believe you really meant it. Do me a
please, and 10ok back on the record of your
dated Aug. 31, 1970.
Do you see how much you're trying to collect from
Muck and Meyer Account? See it, $0.00?
Repeat, ~.00.
That's why I can't believe you're going to take me l
garnish my wages or any of the other horrtbles you
mentioned.
Trusting in your rationality, I remain,
Eberhard Faber
III III iii
Finance Office
Krackerbocks Homes, Inc.
Dear Sirs:
I am in receipt of your letter of Sept. 8 informing
application for financing on one of your "beautiful
homes" has been turned down dee to
rating.
I know it's not your fault, bat the
the amount of $0.00.
Does that mare any difference to you?
Skeptically yours,
Eberhard Faber
Finance Office
CARnage Automotive
Sirs:
Well, a car would have been nice and I now know
any good to try to explain, but thanks anyway.
E. Faber
Credit Office
Muck and Meyer Dept. Store
Dear Sirs:
Thank you for accepting my check, no. 259, in the
$0.00. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your
everything even with the payment of my account
with late fees of 10 per cent.
I have seen the error of my ways and
thank you for taking pity on a wayward soul and for
felt effort to pull me back into rite fold. ,
I hope to hitch-hike down there from the Y some day
you personally.
Yours in redemption,
Eberhard Faber
Mailing Address: Box 430, Shelton, Wa. 98584
Published at Shelton, Mason County,
weekly, except two issues during week of
Entered as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office,
Member of National Editorial Association
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers'
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $5.00 per year in Mason!
in advance --Outside Mason County $6.00
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER .....................
