Does ADA Run the New Frontier?

Suppose you were told that an organization—call it “the XYZ Committee”—has a membership of about 40,000. XYZ (we will go on supposing) is interested in politics, and has an elaborate program covering both domestic and international affairs. Much of this program is out of line, some of it way out of line, with what most American citizens believe. However, the citizens have never had a chance to express their judgment as voters on XYZ and its program, because XYZ has never entered any election under its own name. In fact, the majority of citizens have never even heard of the XYZ Committee. Very few outside its ranks know anything about its plans, goals or methods.

Now suppose you were told further that hundreds of XYZ members are to be found at the high and middle echelons of our government: eight or ten in the Senate and several dozen in the House of Representatives; one sitting on the Supreme Court (along with several colleagues who have often addressed XYZ functions and been lauded in XYZ literature) ; at least two in the Cabinet; three on the top White House staff; four Under Secretaries of departments plus at least half a dozen Assistant Secretaries; the Solicitor General of the United States; chiefs of such key administrative agencies as the National Labor Relations Board, the Export-Import Bank, the Housing and Home Finance Agency; commissioners of the Federal Power Commission and Federal Trade Commission; four major ambassadors and scores of embassy attaches, among others.

JB

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James Burnham

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Suppose you were told that an organization—call it “the XYZ Committee”—has a membership of about 40,000. XYZ (we will go on supposing) is interested in politics, and has an elaborate program covering both domestic and international affairs. Much of this program is out of line, some of it way out of line, with what most American citizens believe. However, the citizens have never had a chance to express their judgment as voters on XYZ and its program, because XYZ has never entered any election under its own name. In fact, the majority of citizens have never even heard of the XYZ Committee. Very few outside its ranks know anything about its plans, goals or methods.

Now suppose you were told further that hundreds of XYZ members are to be found at the high and middle echelons of our government: eight or ten in the Senate and several dozen in the House of Representatives; one sitting on the Supreme Court (along with several colleagues who have often addressed XYZ functions and been lauded in XYZ literature) ; at least two in the Cabinet; three on the top White House staff; four Under Secretaries of departments plus at least half a dozen Assistant Secretaries; the Solicitor General of the United States; chiefs of such key administrative agencies as the National Labor Relations Board, the Export-Import Bank, the Housing and Home Finance Agency; commissioners of the Federal Power Commission and Federal Trade Commission; four major ambassadors and scores of embassy attaches, among others.