middle class was given the hard sell.nCommon School Journal informed diencitizenry: “Our fathers encountered thenperils of the ocean, and endured the privationsnof a wilderness, nay, they sufferednand died for the great cause ofnequality …” Surely, no student ofnhistory would require any comment onnthis outright fabrication. Today the hardnsell is no softer; the deceit, lies and chicanerynare no less prevalent.nAcceptance of public education hasnbecome so ingrained in the Americannpsyche that the average citizen—andneven those who ought to know better—nfirmly believes there could not possiblynbe any other workable system; the ideanof free enterprise in education escapes allnunderstanding. While Mr. Blumenfeldndoes not campaign for free-market education,nit seems to me that his documentationnmakes it clear that there is no othernalternative to the mess that is calledn”public education.” Dnlin; MI:KI(w TKOSC IMI MnPoor John Wilkes BoothnJohn Hinckley, Jr., who tried to assassinatenPresident Reagan in the presencenof dozens of people, and in plain sight ofnthe entire American nation, has been declaredninnocent by an American courtnand jury. This confirms our suspicions:nthe courts have become the captives ofnpsychiatry, a shady power which, overnthe last half-century, has succeeded innenslaving the American legal process,npublic opinion and democratically electedngovernmental bodies.nThe psychiatrists’ argument onnHinckley’s behalf was that, at the momentnof the attempted murder, he didnnot understand what he was doing. Annenormous amount of evidence to thencontrary—both factual and objective—nwas presented in the courtroom. But todaynneither empiricism nor fundamentalnmorals are sufficient against the might ofnpsychiatric platitudes. It’s now obviousnthat no one is exempt from the horrorsninflicted on this society by the alliance ofnfanatical scientism and freakish pseudohumanitarianism—neithernan innocentnwaiter nor a President. We are quite certainnthat someday we’ll hear once morenfiom Mr. Jack Abbott (whom we havendiscussed in previous issues) and Mr.nHinckley, the white knights of knowl­n50inChronicles of Culturenedge gone berserk.nThe venality of lawyers was already oldnhat in 15th-century France, when LanFarce de Maistre Pierre Pathelin wasnstaged. When the principle of lawnbecame the sacrosanct glue of Westernncivilization and the ultimate measure ofnorder and justice in parliamentary democracies,nendless possibilities for sophismnbecame available to lawyers. We continuento believe in the necessity of havingnprofessionals to interpret the law, butntheir credibility has been greatly impairednby the last two centuries of philosophynand literature. Now, relief is innsight: for decades psychiatrists have beennravaging every cogent notion of free will,nsin, vice and moral responsibility—nwhich removes a lot of odium fromnlaywers.nThe venality of psychiatrists is of verynrecent vintage, but, by the very nature ofnhis vocation, the psychiatrist is the vociferousnenemy of any moral code or normativenethics—religious or secular. He is anrabid zealot of his findings, which henplaces beyond any touchstone of good ornevil. As such, he is an implacable enemynof Lord Shaftsbury’s moral sense. If thisnsense is extirpated from human souls bynjudicial verdicts grounded in psychiatricnmadness, no organized society will benable to survive.nnnPoor John Wilkes Booth. Had he beennborn a century later, he would not havenneeded to perish in a burning barn. Ancontemporary, well-paid lawyer in aclosenworking relationship with a team of garrulousnpsychiatrists would have had himnoff the hook in any Washington, D.C.ncourt of our time.nPolitical PhilosophynNow that the Reagan administration’ sntwo department officials who are chargednwith dealing with the outside world—nthe Secretary of State and the Secretary ofnDefense—are both former top executivesnof the Bechtel Corporation, perhaps wencan finally come to grips with one of thencrucial questions of American politicalnphilosophy. Is what’s good for GeneralnMotors good for America? Or—is what’sngood for America good for GeneralnMotors? The Bechtel Group, Inc., anhighly esteemed partner of the richestnHouse on earth—the House of Saud,nsomething of a tribal corporation—hasnnow become a catalyst for the examinationnof one of the most elusive enigmasnever to oppress the American mind.nmAtoEjpnMr. David Broder, a Washington Postncolumnist, enjoys the reputation of beingnan intelligent man. His eulogy fornthe ERA makes us wonder why. In it, henmakes the point that the ERA’s demisenmeant a defeat for women, but that theynwill rise from the ashes and resurrectionnwill follow through “political power.”nThis sounds as if the ERA were an issuendividing women (a solid homogeneousnbloc of humans) from all others innAmerica, e.g. men, children, plants, cattle,ncomputers, etc.—that is, all notncategorized as women. As anyone whonhas read newspapers and watched TVnover the last ten years can easily recognize,nthe ERA was trounced by womenn(Mrs. Schlafly, Eagle Forum and count-n