Letters

Sojourners, Nov/Dec 1998

Dwayne E. Eutsey

Frederick, Maryland

PETITIONING

FOR CLEAN ELECTIONS

BRAVO ON THE insightful article by Bill Moyers, "Hostile Takeover" (JulyAugust 1998)! As one of the trenchworkers in the "clean elections" campaign in Arizona, I rejoice. We gathered the needed 150,000 signatures to get on the Nov. 2 ballot-yes, in conservative Arizona.

Getting signatures at the post office, the local grocery stores, and at church has been a liberal education: More than half of those asked are not registered voters; about every 50th man says, "I can't vote, I'm a felon"; many say, "that's useless, they are all crooks"; and every 20th says, "thanks for doing this!"

Our late Sen. Barry Goldwater said, "Senators and representatives... weigh every decision against the question, `How will this affect my fundraising prospects?' rather than, `How will this affect the national interest?"'

Roger W. Axford

Tempe, Arizona

BiG MONEY IN THE PEW

BIG MONEY IS influencing politics, it's true ("Hostile Takeover," by Bill Moyers, July-August 1998). I wish that there was more coverage of the way in which big money is attempting to influence religion as well. From the Presbyterian Lay Committee to the IRD, right-wing foundations are funding an attack on the social witness of the mainstream churches. See Leon Howell's book, published by the United Church of Christ, Funding the War of Ideas (1995).

Britton W. Johnston

Santa Fe, New Mexico

POET RITA DOVE

YOUR ARTICLE featuring Rita Dove ("The Poet's Obligation," by Scott Robinson, July-August 1998) was by far one of the most moving I have ever read. It taught me to appreciate poetry again. Thank you.

Winifred Lewis

Mishima City, Japan

SEND IN THE MENNONITES!

I AM GRATEFUL to Jim Wallis and others at Sojourners for taking a considered, independent position on the sanctions issue. I see honest minds differing but I'm sure the hearts are all good ("Letters," July-August 1998).

To throw out the sanctions baby with the anti-American bathwater seems so knee-jerk to me, so partyline, when we celebrate the notion of sanctions as a major implement in the nonviolent tool bucket. Our history from the Montgomery bus boycott to the farm workers lettuce and grape boycotts to the boycott of South Africa all militates for the continued consideration of sanctions rather than violence when we confront violence.

But ought we only regard citizenbased sanctions as legitimate, rather than nationally adopted measures? Perhaps. It is very hard to support international policy led by a country with a history of use of weaponry of mass destruction, such as the use of biological "over-the-horizon" weapons (smallpox-infected blankets) against the indigenous peoples of our land, chemical weapons in Vietnam, land mines in many countries, and nuclear weapons against Japan in 1945.

Perhaps we need to start with smart sanctions, directed against all those who possess those kinds of weapons. In the United States, all those who pay federal income taxes really must remember that they cannot in good conscience call for sanctions on any other nation until they take the risk of sanctioning this nation, this arsenal, by refusing to pay for it.