On Writing Letters to Editors and Other Important Individuals One of the fun parts of attending a good graduate school like Harvard is being able to participate in Seminars with some of the great minds of the world as invited participants -- and being able to question them following their presentations. Almost like being Sam Donaldson or Barbara Walters pursuing one of their interviews with a top international figure. Another fun part, if you are half as lucky as I was, is going to work for an agency like the U.S. Department of State, and serving on an inter-agency committee or two in which you have the opportunity directly to affect policy, e.g. the Task Force on the U.S. Balance of Payments on which I served which revised the B/P presentation in several important respects; or the Task Force on Offshore Mutual Funds which brought U.S. funds operating abroad under the supervision of the S.E.C. for the first time; or the Task Force on Multi-National Corporations, which resulted in the collection of the first statistics on U.S. direct investment abroad, and publication of a couple of books which affected top-level U.S. Government thinking regarding taxation and related legal treatment of such economic novelties. But few are fortunate enough to be able to impact all three branches of the Federal Government, as well as State governors -- though the possibility exists to do so. Lola has always made fun of me for writing so many letters to Editors, Congressmen, Agency Heads, and Governors. And, admittedly, most letters go without response -- and apparently without effect. But the exceptions make the effort worthwhile. Over the years I have written any number of papers on topics on which I've had ideas which I believed worth consideration, a number of which have appeared in magazines and journals of general distribution. But I've written even more letters directed to heads of agencies, and others, regarding specific problems and policies. For example, I've written to three Secretaries of the Treasury suggesting that the time has come to declare the Dawes Moritorium on W.W. I Debt at an end, asking the Germans to use some of their enormous and continuing Balance of Payments surpluses to start repaying some of their debt to the U.S. -- or at least let the money pass through our hands on its way to assist Third World development so we'd get the credit instead of Bonn. I've written to the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and several Congressmen on his Committee, suggesting that the time has come for the U.S. to issue a revalued currency (studies have shown that the current dollar is worth about ten per cent of the pre-Great Depression dollar, so that simply knocking one zero off the dollar would restore the historic value of the dollar, giving it a new lease on life as the world's key currency). And I've written to the others suggesting that the U.S. adopt the practice of some of the Scandinavian countries to invest Social Security contributions in the stock market instead of spending them in support of the central government budget deficit, so that the value of Social Security holdings would appreciate with the growing number of beneficiaries rather than being dependent on the Social Security taxes of the decreasing number of active workers who have to support the growing number of retirees. I've written to the U.S. Trade Representative, sending him a copy of my published paper on The Theory of Second Best and U.S. Trade Policy , which I like to think stiffened his spine during the latest round of negotiations with Japanese Prime Minister Hata. I've written the Solicitor General and a couple of Supreme Court Justices regarding constitutional issues such as flag burning, using Indian tribal names in sports, and ceremonial drug use, citing the relevant (but not often reflected-upon) Reynolds vs. U.S. religious liberty case where it was held that there is a distinction in law between freedom to hold a belief and its practical implementation where this is contrary to law and offensive to the moral views of the majority. Regrettably, the Court allowed flag burning as a manifestation of freedom of expression (how, given the earlier Court holding that plural marriage, which was similarly an expression of freedom of religion, even more deeply imbedded in the Bill of Rights?); but it did accept the notion that use of peyote can be tolerated as a usage of native religion. Shortly after Mikhael Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the declaration of independence by the Baltic states -- with the imminent threat of Soviet intervention -- I wrote to National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft putting forward the suggestion that he contact both the Lithuanian and Soviet authorities putting forward the notion of a Commonwealth of Soviet States, along the lines of the French African Union or the British Commonwealth, to provide a decent cover for the breakup of the Soviet Union. Who knows how influential this letter may have been, but the fact is that the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was just the solution chosen. I also wrote South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha regarding a notion based on the thinking of John Calhoun that care should be taken in government not to ride roughshod over the strongly held views of a substantial minority by simple majority vote. Again, who knows, but I was encouraged by the reaction of the South African government in moving to allow Blacks to assume a majority position in government with the inclusion in the new South African Constitution that the White minority would have machinery power to veto future legislation which might negatively affect its strongly held views. I wrote a letter to British Prime Minister John Major enclosing a copy of my analysis of EU Progress towards a new form of political unification, something beyond confederation, but short of a traditional unitary state -- urging him not to settle for the solutions of unimaginative traditional thinkers, but taking full advantage of new forms of transportation and communication to arrive at something entirely new in history. And, above all, not to settle for a single currency which most unimaginatively consider the capstone of political union, referring him to Harry Mundell's AEA article on Optimum Currency Areas published some 30 years ago. At a local level, I've written three Governors of the State of Utah regarding ideas I've seen implemented abroad which could contribute to the beautification of the state, attracting additional tourists during the state's Centennial celebration. Having given up hope of influencing governors, House Speakers, Senate Presidents, Centennial Commission Chairmen, and State Road Commissioners, I finally started all over with John Welch who successfully won for Utah the 2002 Winter Olympics, hoping he might have the gumption to try to get the highway medians planted with prairie flowers, some roadside art installed, and FM repeaters at all Utah ports of entry carrying snippets of Utah history. And I've written to the Mayor of Salt Lake regarding the vandalized Only Tree in the Valley Monument suggesting that a replacement tree be planted (it was). I've also compiled and submitted to appropriate authorities what I consider significant notions for half a dozen constitutional amendments, without which resolving some of the major economic and social problems confronting the nation will, as it seems to me, be impossible. I've also written editors concerning misconceptions which have appeared in their columns regarding the LDS Church. While not quite the same thing, I've also written a few published papers which I think had some impact on policy. One of the early ones was on US Foreign Aid and US Policy Towards India. This was written while I was still at Harvard and was read by one of my professors, John Kenneth Galbraith, who commended me on it. Lo and behold, before the end of the year President Kennedy named him Ambassador to India. And I flatter myself in having seen a number of my recommendations incorporated in Ambassador Galbraith's innovative new programs. Later still I had published in the Foreign Service Journa l an article arguing for a US-Mexico Transborder Free Trade Zone. Copies were sent by the Journal to all Senators and Congressmen. Within a couple of years we'd started negotiating the North American Free Trade Area -- which, while it didn't take quite the flexible form put forward in my paper, accomplishes ninety per cent of the paper's objectives. Again, while still at Harvard, I wrote a paper analyzing the conditions under which Austria might consider joining the (then) European Economic Community (now the European Community). I went on to argue that if Austria found it possible to apply for membership, Finland and Sweden would be sure to follow Austria. While this paper was not widely circulated, its analysis proved sound when in early 1994 Austria applied for EC membership, immediately followed by both Finland and Sweden. A further paper (this one also sent to a number of influential Senators and Congressmen, argued for the adoption of a National Identity Card for the United States -- the only country in the world without one. It was pointed out that without such a card it was virtually impossible for employers, the Social Security Administration, the Immigration Service to determine who was a legal resident and who wasn't, and States to be in a position to admit students to school and determine who was eligible for public medical care. The July 14, 1994 International Herald Tribune carried an article saying that this very proposal was currently before Congress supported by exactly these same arguments. Now it is not being maintained that any of my letters or papers were individually determinative in any of these events. But while it is impossible to be sure just what effect anyone's letters may have had, it is generally acknowledged that as few as fifteen or twenty individualized letters regarding a given television program can have a disproportionate effect on the programming decisions of station managers -- either leading to the cancellation of certain programs or the continuation of others. And looking back, I flatter myself that some of my letters have actually had an effect on the thinking of those to whom they were sent. The Herald Tribune, for example, carried a piece of mine on Social Product Differentiation, drfawn from my doctoral dissertation, which gives, I think, the first and only explanation, based on the logic of economic theory, of why countries like France and Canada insist on reserving part of their movie industry and advertising for national companies, even at the expense of a somewhat lower GNP. I had, moreover, as noted been pushing for several years been pressing for a new U.S. currency in various colors and sizes (as is the case in most other countries) in order to minimize the possibility of confusing bills of different denominations, and adopting for convenience a quarter-size (but somewhat thicker) gold-colored coin as a substitute for paper dollars (as has been done in France, Denmark, and Britain for their francs, crowns, and pounds). Admittedly, dozens if not hundreds of others must have had thoughts along parallel lines. But when one reads that the Treasury and Bureau of the Mint are at last actively proceeding towards such changes, it is almost as ego-rewarding as having caused a distinguished graduate school seminar visitor to pause in reflection over the merits of a previously unconsidered question. (In this regard I was dissapointed when the Mint brought out the same sized, boring green/grey currency only modestl redesigned with larger images of Jackson and Franklin. Most recently, at national level, I've wondered at the possible effects of a paper I wrote four or five years ago (i.e. about 1988) called De-industrialization, The Welfare Burden, and Sump Industries (presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southwest Economic Association in Laredo and published in the SWEA Journal of Abstracts , as well as being widely distributed to members of Congress). The paper argued that a substantial portion of American society is, by definition, at least two standard deviations below average in terms of intellect (or any other measure of capacity). And that with the shift to a high tech and service economy, this group inevitably will find it difficult to find work whatever the normal job creating performance of the economy. I proposed establishing tax-payer subsidized low-tech "sump industries" to provide employment for this lowest fifth of the population as a substitute for the present system which does little more than institutionalize public welfare, hindering parents from providing a "work ethic" model for their children and thus perpetuating welfare dependency. The latest Clinton Administration proposal for welfare reform proposes just such subsidized employment to get welfare recipient off the dole and to work each day, to set a work ethic example to their children, breaking inter-generational welfare dependency. Depending on its details, I could support such legislation (if not claim credit for being at least its grandfather). One of my great satisfactions is having apparently persuaded the Director of the Smithsonian Institution, after several fruitless letters to his Public Affairs Director, to undertake a project along the lines of what has been done in Paris and London to enliven the metro system by installing large displays at selected metro stations with reproductions of some of the treasures of the Louvre (or British Museum). The July 30, 1995 Washington Post reports that a display of some of Whitman's poems has been installed at Archives. One can only hope they'll proceed to install some Indian, Arab, Oriental, and African artifacts at Smithsonian, some war painting near Pentagon, and some photos and artifacts regarding development of the national highway system perhaps near Union Station stop. And when one visits one's home state and sees the previously weed-covered traffic interchanges on the Interstate planted to flourishing drip-irrigated shrubbery as per one's suggestions made regularly to three separate governors since a first trip to Israel where one saw this being done along the coastal highway; prairie wildflowers planted along the verges of the Interstate. as was done in Texas a decade ago (with Utah-grown wildflowers!); and the spread in Utah of the "Adopt a Highway" movement one has been pushing for over twenty years, one begins to think that persistence in pressing good ideas may pay off. I finally seem to have hit pay dirt with the Executive Director of the Utah State Centennial Commission who wrote that some of my ideas had been accepted by the Commission, others were under review, including the notions I have been pushing for Utah to be the first state to adopt the placement of roadside sculpture along some of the more tedious stretches of the Interstate, as France has done between Reims and Strasbourg; and for installation of short-distance FM broadcasts along the Interstates at each entry to Utah recounting the version of Utah history appropriate to each entry (Trappers in Cache Valley, Donner Party and Mormon Pioneers from Wyoming, Donner Party on the Nevada border, and Father Junipero Serra and Jacob Hamblin mission to the Indians along the Arizona border -- as has been done near major tourist sites in Yellowstone National Park. The Director said that the Commission had however rejected at this time my idea for re-design of the Utah State flag to eliminate all the confusion of crossed flags and nonsense in favor of a simple golden beehive on a plain blue field underwritten with the state motto Industry, so it can be readily identified among the many other state flags as are the simple Bear flag of California, Bison flag of Wyoming, and Lone Star flag of Texas. He seemed particularly taken with my notion for inviting James Mitchener to add a Centennial history of Utah to his several state histories, and said he'd assigned a staff member to follow through with this suggestion. I similarly wrote a paper over a decade ago putting forward an idea for more flexible trade controls along the borders with Canada and Mexico (published in the Foreign Service Journal , with copies to every Senator and Congressman). And when one sees the ratification of the North American Free Trade Area treaty (though admittedly not quite as desirable, nor as flexible as my own model), one takes a certain amount of gratification in having contributed, if only marginally, to one of the important economic initiatives of the decade. I've also been pushing for the expansion of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to include regional filials for the Near East, Africa, the Far East, and Latin America. And when one finds that just such a grouping for regional economic cooperation has been formed for South East Asia, and that Mexico has been admitted to the OECD in Paris and the Organization is considering admission of Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and Hungary, one has a sense of having contributed to important policy decisions even though one is retired and now out of the policy-making circuit. (Again, however, one regrets not having been around to have done better. Mexico doesn't belong in Paris. It should have been the center piece of a new Latin American OECD, Mark III. We still need to see an OECD, Mark IV for the Near East to secure the Israel/PLO accord). And it would still appear more functional to have a new OECD, Mark V for Eastern Europe (to which the most interested Western European countries could be observers. Alternatively, perhaps the OECD should accept all economically qualified comers, simply forming regional Working Parties to keep member sub-groups to reasonable dialogue size, assembling all Heads of Mission or Minister-level delegates for annual Ministerials). The Economist magazine has written several misguided articles about Utah and the Mormon Church over the past decade or so. The Economist is one of my favorite magazines and in general one of the most accurate and well-informed journals around. But it seemed to have a hang-up over Utah and the Mormons. Home food storage to the Economist was hoarding. Utah was the most conservative state in the nation, and invariably elected only Mormons to office. Worse, Mormons were always characterized in its pages as slightly bizarre, if not outright peculiar. After broadsiding its Editor with historical facts regarding the many non-Republican, non-LDS mayors, Governors, Senators, and Congressmen whom Utahns have returned to office, and the names of the twenty or so Cabinet Members and agency heads, White House advisors, Members, Supreme Court Justices and Clerks, LDS Presidents of major U.S. universities, and the names of some of the top American (and other) government officials and business leaders, plus short bios of each of the impressive members of the Quorum of the Twelve, and the fact that the LDS Church is now the fifth largest denomination in the U.S. (and second only to the Catholic Church in half a dozen other countries) -- and projected by some as a rival of Buddhism, and Islam by the middle of the next century if its present rate of growth continues, The Economist seems to have gotten the message. Its last three articles on Utah and the Mormons have been really quite favorable. In a May 1994 issue it describes the Orem-Salt Lake-Ogden corridor as the Silicon Valley of the Rockies, cites Professor Stark's projection of the rapidly increasing importance of the LDS Church, and says that young Mormon graduates are in demand by top businesses because of their ability, honesty, and dedication. I'm still awaiting an Economist article about the LDS Church in Great Britain however (regrettably they ignored my suggestion for a piece on the LDS Sesquicentennial in 1987 when a U.S. journalist/publisher was President of the Scottish Mission and readily available for interview). The International Herald Tribune carried one of my Letters arguing that filibusters in the U.S. Senate, instead of being anti-democratic delaying tactics by futile minorities, are in fact one of the glories of the American consitutional system. They are the implementation of John Calhoun's contribution to political theory (the only one by an American), i.e. that it is wrong in a true democracy for a bare majority to be able to override the deeply held contrary views of a substantial minority. That if Calhoun's view had been understood and accepted, we might have avoided the Civil War. And that the Senate filibuster has emerged as the modern implementation of the Calhoun thesis -- having served in virtually every instance where it has succeeded in avoiding major civil strife over an attempt by a bare majority to impose its views regarding a matter of contrary morality deeply held by a substantial minority (in this case, by one-third of the Senate). One of my major satisfactions was to see the University of Utah alumni magazine -- which is called Continuum -- adopt in part a suggeston of mine to enlarge the U's so the title would read ContinUUm to emphasize the magazine's otherwise inexplicable relationship to the U of U. It took three letters to accomplish this, but the November 1998 issue finally appeared with the two (still lower case) u's outlined in red. I'm still pushing for them to buy a new masthead with capitalized U's -- ideally using U's with the clever little Ute Indian hangning don from them, as used in football and basketball adverts, to further underline the relationship of ContinUUm to the U of Utah . To sum up, writing letters is not always an exercise in futility. Indeed, if one is willing to take credit for ideas which quite probably parallel those of more influential others, one can even pat oneself on the back from time to time for having helped to push a good idea along. And letter writing provides about as good entertainment as one is likely to find after graduate school seminars and a few years in the trenches of the world of real affairs.