European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 7, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns William f. Buckley Catholic Bishops miss the Mark with ski criticism the american Catholic Bisho shave now officially come out against the strategic defense initiative. That a congregation of men dominated by moral hierarchical reasoning should reject the search for a shield to use in place of sword defies penetration. That their line on what the United states should do a distinguished from what the soviet Union is doing is also the line being urged by the soviet Union is a crowning anomaly causing National review Srichard Brookhiser to comment that perhaps during All these decades the communists have been praying for the conversion of the Church. The tactical reasoning of men of the cloth is never especially interesting Given that they May be Good at it the May not be Good at it but they Are certainly not trained As analysts. The Only area in which they have any leverage at All on Christian thought has to do wit the moral question should the United slates labor energetically to develop space shield to this the Bishops sait no but the supported that conclusion As we shall see by using primarily analytical rather than moral arguments. Their Burden in Short was to overwhelm the moral argument so clearly favourable to defense rather than offence by analysis. Their failure is Manifest. On the moral Point one wonder whether in their researches the Bishops Ever stumbled on a statement made in1967 by soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin. Those were the Days when the soviet Union was urging anti missile development while we were heading slowly fatally toward the moratorium on defense technology incorporated in the abm treaty. We were motivated not by moral calculations but by a political Anomie brought on by the Vietnam War. If in 1972 the Congress had had the Power to repeal the invention of the wheel it would probably have done  desperation the Nixon Kissinger team terminally scared by the anti mis Sile program s having been voted in by a scarce one vote decided to try to see i there were Means to slow Down soviet George will  has happened of course is that the soviet Union having devoted a dec Ade and a half to developing a crushing superiority in nuclear strategic arms swathe first genuine threat to its achieve ment in president Reagan s Call made i March 1983, for the development of a strategic defense initiative. What would be the use finally of All those ss-18s and 24s and 25s if the United states succeeded in developing an anti missile technology that would make a nuclear threat nugatory the entire soviet propaganda machine turned 180 degree from the statement of Kosygin and now it has persuaded american Catholic Bishops that to proceed with a dismounts to an act of aggression. The arguments used by the Bish Ops were three. The first is that ski poses an obstacle to effective move ment on arms  the clearest response to this is since when the Bish Ops professed themselves As hugely gratified by the inf treaty and no on denies that that treaty love it or hate it was the direct result of the installation i Europe of Western theater nuclear weapons Over the violent protests of the soviet Union. Every turn toward peace taken by the soviet Union since the War has been a reaction to american Resolution. The Bishops fear that the development of ski although conceived of As defensive in motivation could in the future be turned to aggressive use. It is difficult to comprehend that argument. If the United states turns into an aggressive monster we have weapons right now sufficient to wipe out the soviet Union. It is strange to plead in opposition to ski the possibility that the United states should be tempted to a first  finally and incredibly the Bishops pleaded other uses for the Money. In fact Reagan has asked that a Mere 5 percent of what we Are planning to spend on our defense be allocated to the development of ski. The end of ski would not mean More free lunches or better Day care for children. But the end of ski could mean a return to life in the catacombs where the Bishops would face a flock most sorely perplexed. C Universal press Syndicate you have any Ida How Rar away those private clubs should have right to be left alone in a Case More interesting for its sociological con text than its constitutional Content a few women have won what is sure to be a famous Victory in the supreme court. Its Fame will grow in telling about it until it stands As a Milestone on the rising Road to the full emancipation of women. Too bad it also Marks another contraction of what Louis Brandeis called the right most valued by civilized people the right to be let  the Case concerning new York s private not really private any More clubs will be applauded most warmly by Liberal groups who fancy themselves trib Unes of the common people. The Appl auders will in clude people who consider themselves immune to an scourges of the crass commercial aggressive self aggrandizing spirit of the Day a spirit often denoted by such people As the climate of  but the Case is really intramural rough housing in the ruling class Battle Between two briefcase brigades. In 1965, new York City enacted a human right Slaw prohibiting discrimination in any place of Public accommodation resort or amusement but exempting any institution or club that is distinctly  in1984, the City amended the Law with language designed to define a Lew private clubs As substantially Public in nature and thus covered by the Law. The amender of the Law had some male Only clubs in mind. The City Council declared a compelling interest in guaranteeing to All a fair and equal Opportunity to participate in the City s commercial life. The Council said that women and minorities Are seriously Holdback by discrimination at clubs where business deals Are often made and personal contacts valuable for business Are formed. Now the supreme court has unanimously an correctly held that nothing in the Constitution pre vents new York City from doing what it did. However it remains for the rest of us to do what the supreme court should not do for reasons of dignity Guffaw. Some men desire havens from women. Some me believe that mixing of the sexes inhibits certain kinds of discourse. Such men and women whose clubs also can now be stormed May be Peculiar or mistaken but they have founded institutions where they would like to have a right to be let  and today s Emancipatory seem so lost in abstraction that they Are utterly embarrassed by this they have used government Power to override first amendment value Freedom of association and have done so in the name of  the women who will Benefit by being admitted to clubs Are part of a Small privileged class and their desire to get into the clubs presupposes that the clubs will remain Safe havens for privileged elites. Where is Karl Marx when we really need him itis time for american reformers to learn to talk the language of class. Interesting is it not that the right to discriminate on the basis of class is the Only right so inalienable that it is unquestioned even unnoticed. The improves who amended new York s Law can not see the moral ambiguity of their Handiwork. The Law Cranks up the clanging machinery of civil rights enforcement on behalf of a few Hundred Well tailored women with briefcases they Are eager to Park next to the briefcases of men from the same class. These peo ple would lose All interest in these clubs if once inside they found there men and women who Are not Well you know the better sort folks like us with deals tomake. The clubs Are enticing precisely because they Are selective. What s that you say of no not at All. Being. Selective is not like being discriminatory. Discrimination is declasse. It is what Tacky people do people like Lester Maddox. Being selective is what the Best people do in order to network with their own kind. Charles Paul Freund of the new Republic has ii right the struggle Between women and private clubs smacks of the Iran Iraq War neither Side is very appealing. Certain Rich women want to get Richer. Good for them. But what about the rest of us these women Are Happy to keep the clubs class discrimination. In fact that s sort of their Point. Do we really want to trash remaining notions of privacy Over this this episode involves the hijacking of the civil rights tradition. It is the exploitation by Strong and socially adept people of a Legal vocabulary fair and equal Opportunity. Barriers to advancement writ ten to protect the weak. It illustrates the decline of the moral weight of the Label civil  c Washington Post writers group