There has been much discussion about what Hillary Rodham Clinton 
knew--or did not know--about Whitewater.  The debate has continued about 
her involvement in the infamous Travelgate affair at the White House.

	One area that has not received the attention that I feel it 
deserves is the content of her book, "It Takes A Village and Other Lessons 
Children Teach Us." (1996, Simon & Schuster)

	I have a well-read copy with copious notes in the margins and a 
greater respect for her ability to seize an issue and mold it to achieve 
the means to her end.

	As First lady, Mrs. Clinton is presented by the general media as 
the "first" spouse, "first" hostess and "first" mom of this country.  Her 
book is written to present her expertise as the last.

	As she writes, "It is a statement of my personal views, a 
reflection of my continuing meditation on children."

	The central theme of her commentary is the essential role of the 
government in individuals' lives.  The village or government is good; the
natives--citizens are unable achieve good without control by the village.

	"In terrible times when no adequate parenting is available and 
the village itself must act in pace of parents, it accepts those 
responsibilities in all our names through the authority we vest in 
government.  That means our city, country, and state social welfare 
services are not only the province of their employees.  They intervene in 
families to protect children on our behalf."

	For those of you readers wondering what this has to do with "Women 
& Guns", I suggest that you pay close attention to the causes that our 
First Lady is championing.

	It takes  her just 10 pages to start spouting Handgun Control 
Inc.'s spurious statistics.

	The first is the fallacy that 135,000 children bring guns to 
school each day.

	She follows this theme telling of an occasion when an older boy 
chased her, and the effect the incident had on her.  She says of her 
mother, "She calmed me down...and talked with me about how I could avoid 
that boy and take better care of myself in the future."

	The very next paragraph is a statement that begins "with fewer 
guns around."  The assumption that fewer guns would have stopped an older 
boy from chasing her carries all the logic that made the Crime Bill law.

	The entire paragraph reads:
	"With fewer guns around \, a stranger's desperation or a family 
member's sudden burst of anger was less likely  to have lethal 
consequences than today.  Children's disagreements generally ended with 
no injury more serious than hurt feelings or, at worst, bruises from a 
fistfight.  Friends of my generation who grew up in inner cities or 
isolated rural areas recall moments of fear or danger, but nothing like 
the pervasive anxiety about safety that has seeped into every corner of 
our country's psyche."

	This last comment I am in agreement with--but the availability of 
firearms has nothing to do with the lack of safety.

	Continuing, she rambles about danger to children from too soft 
mattresses that suffocate babies, to an occasion when she drank fermented 
mare's milk in Mongolia.

	She returns to the gun control theme stating, "Accidental gun 
injuries have become so prevalent that the American Medical Association 
advises doctors to make a point of talking with patients who are gun 
owners about using safety locks on their guns and storing ammunition 
separately."

	Mrs. Clinton quotes a letter from a nine-year-old from New 
Orleans who wrote the President on April 29, 1993, asking him to 
"...Please stop the people from deading."  The young boy was later killed 
in a Drive-by shooting.  She states "a number of efforts are under way to 
recreate that sense of freedom" that she experienced as a child.

	She cites the Brady Bill claiming more than forty thousand people have 
been stopped from buying guns and follows with the success of the 1994 
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (also know as the Midnight 
Basketball Debacle).  The first did not stop the boy form being killed 
and there is little likelihood that the second would have, either.

	There is no concept or sense of self reliance recognized in 
Hillary Rodham Clinton's writing.  There is no idea of self 
responsibility or freedom.

	Mrs. Clinton quotes Alan Ehrenhalt's "The Lost City". "The 
unfettered free market ahs been the most disruptive force in American 
life in the last generation, busting up neighborhoods and communities and 
eroding traditional standards of social life and personal conduct..."

	I agree that there has been a serious decline in what can be 
called the values of the American society--but governmental control of 
individuals has been the culprit.

	While Mrs. Clinton wails that some people see the government 
limited to "functions like national defense and law enforcement," the 
people who agreed would insist "individuals, families, and communities 
must exercise their own initiative and develop their own resources to 
maximize both public and private good."

	I believe that individuals should have the choice to make these 
decisions--not the village.


Julianne Versnel Gottlieb
Publisher


Personal Parting Shots...

Another gun range, Wade's, has 
opened just 10 minutes from my 
office.  Welcome to Jamie.  To
the esses, I can't wait to go 
beaching. AMG-Happy Anniversary!
(Do you know which one?)