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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 6, 1984
PAGE 11
sador to the U.N. during the Carter administration. (Young also made a con
troversial trip to South Africa.) At that time, the U.S. "tried to be nice"
to all the countries of the world that hated it. The result was a disas
trous fall of the U.S. position in the United Nations. In the General As
sembly, overall support for American positions plummeted by 14.4%. Because
of the tough line taken by current U.S. ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, it
has gone up to roughly 25%.
Should there be a change in administrations, there would be a return to this
policy. Indeed, a leading liberal Democratic academic, Richard J. Barnet,
writing in the July 5 LOS ANGELES TIMES, asks whether a minority President
might not better serve American interests in the world:
Just suppose the American people elected as President a black or
Latino of progressive leanings. Would that make a difference?
Could a President drawn from this nation's minorities overcome
the hostility that America so often encounters in the world?
Would a black or brown face on the U.S. side of the table change
other nations' attitudes toward us? ••. It could indeed.
An American "Third Worlder
h
in the White House•..who represented
the unemployed, the working poor, victims of discrimination and
recent immigrants would probably doubt that the nation should
continue to sacrifice investment in decent housing, education,
medical care and jobs on the altar of
a
false "national secu
rity."...
A person who felt comfortable walking in the barrios of Latin
America or in the mud of African villages would be less likely to
fall for the trap of treating poor countries as nothing but pawns
in a geopolitical chess game with the Soviets.
A new U.S. leader would challenge the Soviets to a competition in
non-intervention. This new approach would try to insulate the
process of internal change in Third World countries from the Cold
War. [It's not a new approach. President Carter tried to iso
late Central America from the East-West struggle--and the Cubans
took advantage of him.] By altering the way
in
which
the
United
States looks at revolutionary turmoil, such policies would reduce
the ability of the Soviets to exploit it. A President who felt
ties of brotherhood with the peoples� whom� coexist on the
planet m1ght well assert a higher nat1on"alpr1or
1
ty than the
bizarre holy war against communists in which non-communist
Nicaragua shows up as an enemy and
communist China
an
ally.
This new sort of President might understand that American secu
rity would be enhanced by negotiation rather than by tough-guy
confrontation.
Because of the rapidly diverging
views
of the Administration now
in
power
and the opposition determined to unseat it, the election coming up will
have an enormous impact in America's role in the world.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau