Politics

Welfare Is Integral to Our System

Los Angeles Times, March 13, 1995

SOME POLITICIANS say that ending welfare will improve the character of those who depend on it—make them think twice about having kids, getting divorced or just being lazy.

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TVA After 40 Years

The New Republic, November 10,1973

WHEN THE TENNESSEE Valley Authority was created by Congress in 1933, it was conceived of not only as an effort to revitalize an impoverished region, but also as an experiment in public enterprise.  Forty years later the returns on TVA are pretty much in.

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Socialist Experiment In Canada

The New Republic, October 13, 1973

THREE of the four provinces in western Canada — Man­itoba, Sas­katchewan and British Columbia — are gov­erned by socialist parties.  With the over­throw of Salvador Allende in Chile, these are now the only democratic socialist governments in the Western Hemisphere.

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Review of “The New Populism” by Fred Harris

The New Republic, September 8, 1973

BOOKS BY POLITICIANS tend to be boring, staff-produced efforts designed to dis­play The Boss as a thoughtful public servant.  What sets Fred Harris’ apart is his unique angle of vision.  He is the only major politician who says publicly and indeed vo­ciferously that American capitalism is a shuck.

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Elites and Alternatives

The New Republic, March 31, 1973

Our economy is controlled by an extremely small, largely unaccountable set of elites operating on behalf of a wealth-owning minority.  To alter this pattern of own­er­ship and control is politically unfeasible at the moment, but so are many things until enough people decide they want them.

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Withholding War Taxes

The New Republic, April 10, 1971

THE OTHER DAY I received a telephone call from a harried civil servant named Wayne Thrush.  Mr. Thrush works in the department of the Internal Revenue Ser­vice that tracks down delinquent taxpayers, of whom I am one.

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Oregon for Oregonians

The New Republic, March 20, 1971

The New Republic, March 20, 1971

MOST STATES in America welcome population growth. They like the clout it adds to the local economy, to representation in Congress and in the electoral college. Not Oregon.

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The Army and the Airwaves

The New Republic, December 20, 1969

TO RECTIFY the preponderance of military recruiting on the airwaves, San Francisco peace groups have asked TV sta­tions to broadcast anti-recruitment ads (“See your draft counselor, not your recruiter”) as well.  Their basis is the Fairness Doctrine.

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An Outcry: Thoughts on Being Tear Gassed

Newsweek, June 2, 1969

LAST TUESDAY, I was gassed twice in Berkeley.  It hurt.  The police and National Guard no longer bother with simple tear gas.  They are using a chemi­cal called CS — the kids call it pepper gas — that the Army uses in Vietnam.

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