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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, AUGUST 14, 1981
PAGE 17
people look to government to improve their lot, regularly, every year.
And they, the people, can become unpleasant if they find their standard
of living is actually going down, or is even being threatened with a
decline.
Today's younger generation does not realize how remarkable this new
condition is, or indeed that it is new. What is the first function of
government today? Why, of course, to maintain employment and income.
When I came into the practice of journalism in 1929 such ideas of gov
ernment responsibility simply did not exist in "respectable" quarters
in the U.S. The accepted function of government was to maintain the
armed forces, fight wars when necessary, conduct diplomacy, and collect
such taxes as people were willing and able to pay.
The idea of the federal government going far outside those activities
was novel and highly controversial.•••It was all right to raise tariffs
to protect American industry. But it
was
not all
eight
for wockers
to
go on strike to try to improve their terms of labor. The idea of a
strike� still a radical�·
� � � -
The great change came during the depression••.•Franklin Delano Roose
velt was a radical because he conceived of making jobs and supporting
them out of the public revenue. Most newspapers, including this one,
thundered against the assumption by government of the responsibility of
trying to keep people at work. Employment was the function of private
enterpr�se, not of government. What�long way� have £2.!!!.! in
.!!!£!1 �
short�..•.
The air traffic controllers had every reason to think that they could
strike and win. That has been the pattern for so long that nothing else
seemed credible. Suddenly, it becomes possible, and credible, for a
President to !2Y !!2.· _!!.!.!�turning point. It ilieans that bringing
down the inflation is conceivable. It means that there may be a way out
of the stagflation bog in which all of the modern industrial democr
acies have been wallowing for too long.
Labor strife is not limited to the
u.s.
by any means. Canada, in some re
spects, has become a "new-world Italy" as far as labor unrest is concerned.
When I was in Canada recently, the postal system was shut down (this strike
has since been settled on highly inflationary terms), CBC technicians were
on strike, as were policemen in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The entire forestry
industry in British Columbia--a particularly strike-prone province--was shut
down. Governmental authority on all levels seemed too weak to rein in radi
cal labor union leaders.
(NATIONAL REVIEW magazine, looking at the coun
try's manifold problems, called Canada "the soft over-belly of North Ameri
ca.")
As a footnote concerning President Reagan and his economic reform program,
UPI carried this refreshing story on July 28:
President Reagan, sitting in the Oval Office with visiting Cardinal
John Krol of Philadelphia, said Tuesday "the Lord" had a pretty good
tax plan of his own. When a reporter jokingly asked the prelate if "the
Lord" had an opinion on the President's tax cut proposal, Krol said,
"I'll leave that to the experts." But then Reagan volunteered: