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PARTISAN REVIEW
Commi ssion are the Carter Administra tion , we may recall that the
Commission ori ginall y spoke for the more sophisti ca ted elements in
the Ameri can corpo ra te elite. They disliked th e bull ying of Nixon,
Kissin ger and Connall y- on the pl ausibl e grounds tha t those who
have become appreciabl y thinner should refrain from throwing their
weight around. Their new world stra tegy for the United States en tails
cooperation with the Wes t Europeans and j apanese, accommoda tion
with everyone else. After the fall of Vi etnam, but before th e Shah 's
defeat, the group led by Vance saw tha t we might with luck bu y off a
good many potential adversa ries from the Brezhnev faction to Castro
to an assortment of revolutiona ri es. We could hardl y, any longer, count
on extirpating them.
The current deba te on foreign policy is a stupefying amalgam of
contradi ctory analyses, systemati c falsifi cation , desperate ideali sm, and
anxious rapacity. The real intenti ons and streng th of the Soviet Uni on,
the nature of the forces with which we must contend in an inchoate
world , seem no t to interest some of those who shout the loudes t. Their
primary concern is with our loss of na tional substance. The traditi onal
advocates of Ameri can military supremacy, the Congressional Hawks
and the Pentagon lo bby, repea t the traditional arguments. One remem–
bers Ei senhower's comment
to
the effect tha t the j oint Chi efs, if g iven
the chance, would fortify the moon (contingency planning is, no
doubt, in hand ).
The Coaliti on [or a Democra ti c Majority speaks for those who
have made it virtua ll y to the centers of Ameri can power. T hey are
indeed alli ed with substantial segments of the Ameri can uni on move–
ment, abo ve all the Mean y-Kirkl and group in the AFL-CIO. This
group is skeptical of the Tril a teralists' economi c
bona f ides,
and to its
credit, does not think tha t our na ti onal mi ssion is exhausted by making
the world safe for multina tional Ameri can enterpri se. The diffi culty is
tha t the program of thi s group appears to have been arres ted in 1968.
It
is vi gorous in defense o f the interests of both union labor and ordin ary
Ameri cans gen erally.
It
has no project for dea ling with the altered
world positi on of th e Ameri can capita lism whi ch it has so eff ectively
defended-often enough against the short- sightedn ess of the capitalists
themselves. The recourse to an aggress ive foreign po li cy, in the
circumstances, is beside the po int.
It
will no t solve the probl ems of
infl a ti on and unempl oyment, may even heighten some of them.
Moreover, there are limits
to
the alli ances the AFL-CIO can contract.
john Connall y speaks for the p ro tecti oni st sectors of Ameri can indus–
try, and has invo ked racist imagery in commentin g on trade negoti a-