The Week

■ That did it. The FDA’s saccharin ban crystallized a well-nigh universal anti-regulatory sentiment that had hitherto been confined to highbrow journals (ahem!) and scattered, plaintive mumbles. Even the New York Times joined the roaring masses: “Consumers want safety, but total, absolute safety—assuming that were possible— would have as its price a bureaucracy of staggering cost, reaching into every corner of American life.” Hardly a soul could be found to defend the FDA, but NBC finally came up with one. From the FDA itself? Guess again. She was a young schoolmarm type, introduced on the Today show as an associate of, yes, “consumer advocate” Ralph Nader. If there’s anything the American consumer would dearly love to consume right now, it’s probably Ralph.

■ No President has done more than Mr. Carter to convince each of 200 million Americans that they are entitled to personal access to him. Unfortunately, the odds against a given unarmed citizen’s getting a call through to him were about a quarter-million to one. So Mr. Cory Moore of Ohio, saying, “The forgotten man, c’est moi,” or words to that effect, took a hostage, whom he threatened to shoot unless the President phoned him. Carter handled it skillfully: the hostage was released, unharmed, and Moore was jailed before Carter spoke with him. Nobody can really prevent the sort of thing Moore, the Hanafis, and multitudes of other terrorists have been doing lately, but one of the things Mr. Carter might do is to be a little more aloof. It is part of his job, after all, to preserve a tone of respect for republican institutions and their necessarily deliberate functions and precedures. What is ironic is that the more he tries to de-imperialize his (his!) office, the more vainglorious seems his humility. Besides, the American nut shouldn’t be encouraged to think the President is only a phone call away.

Featured Tags

William F. Buckley Jr.

■ That did it. The FDA’s saccharin ban crystallized a well-nigh universal anti-regulatory sentiment that had hitherto been confined to highbrow journals (ahem!) and scattered, plaintive mumbles. Even the New York Times joined the roaring masses: “Consumers want safety, but total, absolute safety—assuming that were possible— would have as its price a bureaucracy of staggering cost, reaching into every corner of American life.” Hardly a soul could be found to defend the FDA, but NBC finally came up with one. From the FDA itself? Guess again. She was a young schoolmarm type, introduced on the Today show as an associate of, yes, “consumer advocate” Ralph Nader. If there’s anything the American consumer would dearly love to consume right now, it’s probably Ralph.

■ No President has done more than Mr. Carter to convince each of 200 million Americans that they are entitled to personal access to him. Unfortunately, the odds against a given unarmed citizen’s getting a call through to him were about a quarter-million to one. So Mr. Cory Moore of Ohio, saying, “The forgotten man, c’est moi,” or words to that effect, took a hostage, whom he threatened to shoot unless the President phoned him. Carter handled it skillfully: the hostage was released, unharmed, and Moore was jailed before Carter spoke with him. Nobody can really prevent the sort of thing Moore, the Hanafis, and multitudes of other terrorists have been doing lately, but one of the things Mr. Carter might do is to be a little more aloof. It is part of his job, after all, to preserve a tone of respect for republican institutions and their necessarily deliberate functions and precedures. What is ironic is that the more he tries to de-imperialize his (his!) office, the more vainglorious seems his humility. Besides, the American nut shouldn’t be encouraged to think the President is only a phone call away.