Herbert W Armstrong

Strauss — Very Much Alive: One of the questions I'm most frequently asked is: "What is Franz Josef Strauss doing these days?" Except for occasional broadsides he fires at what he considers the ineptitude of the Kohl coalition government, it is true that the "King of Bavaria," as he is sometimes called, doesn't make many headlines in the United States. But Strauss is still a formidable figure on the world stage. (He recently made another trip to China where he conferred with Deng Xiaoping.)

Franz Josef Strauss, wrote Frank Johnson of the TIMES of London (September 9, 1983), continues to be "that large and important national politician without a large and important national job." Just how important he is was revealed in the extraordinary (10-day-long!) birthday festivities held in his honor this past September when he turned 70. The following account, published in the September 12, 1985 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, was written by Elizabeth Pond, one of the best media observers of the German scene.

There's been nothing quite like him since, well, since Ludwig II, Maximilian I, and Albert V, who held their receptions in the glittering Rococo ballrooms of Bavaria during the 16th­ century Counter-Reformation. The comparison with monarchs is not unwelcome to Franz Josef Strauss, premier of Bavaria, the only politician left who has been prominent since the postwar founding of West Germany. He wears many hats: self-made millionaire; ex-minister of atomic science, defense, and finance; failed candidate for the chancellorship; bogey man of the left; sharp-tongued scourge of his own conservative allies as well as of his ideological adversaries; and — at 70 years old — an only slightly-tamed enfant terrible.

The birthday festivities going for 10 days (Sept. 5 to 14) — a personal festival without precedent in democratic Germany. Most of the celebrations are taking place in the Free State of Bavaria, which last elected Strauss with an overwhelming 62 percent. Strauss did, however, take his movable feast for one day to the West German capital that scorned him and selected Helmut Kohl as chancellor, a far­ less-qualified conservative, in Strauss's opinion.

Dr. Kohl himself joined the birthday party on its first day-­ in the seven-hour reception line at the Prince Carl Palace in Munich, where all the homage began. President Richard von Weizsacker was in Munich, too.... Ex-Presidents Karl Carstens and Walter Scheel were on hand as well, the former to present praise for Strauss from the likes of President Reagan, Henry Kissinger, ex-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, and Strauss's elder sister.

East German leader Erich Honecker sent his best wishes. The Italian and Israeli ambassadors presented theirs in person.... More than 3,000 Bavarian musicians paid their respects en masse. Some 300 mountaineers from the various Alpine hunting clubs in Bavaria and South Tyrol fired a salute with their carbines. The BAYERN KURIER, his party's newspaper, devoted 70 pages to pictures and reportage about every state of Strauss's development, from precocious altar boy who insisted on knowing what the Latin mass meant to star pupil at the renowned Maximilianeum School to almost­ chancellor. [Gold and silver coins were even minted in Bavaria to mark the anniversary.]

The impression is clearly conveyed that Herr Strauss remains a powerful figure whose time either has not yet come — or the responsibility to match his enormous energies and talents has not yet been created.

Green Light for Senator Kennedy? Here's another political personality to keep track of. According to syndicated columnist Carl T. Rowan (LOS ANGELES TIMES, September 19) the senior senator from Massachusetts has all but thrown his hat into the 1988 Presidential ring:

I had a private luncheon with Senator Edward M. Kennedy this week, and left his home certain of this: The 53-year-old Massachusetts Democrat is going to run for President in 1988. During two hours of conversation, Kennedy made it clear that he is "concerned" about where the nation is heading in terms of arms control, foreign policy in general, civil rights, trade policy and more. And he is troubled by the rot that has been spreading within his party.... Kennedy is embracing the idea that he can save both his party and the nation....

The luncheon talk led me to a conclusion that Kennedy doesn't see anyone else within the Democratic Party with the charisma and the record on the issues.... No, not Gary Hart, not Mario Cuomo, not anyone else now being mentioned.... So the last possible President of "the Kennedy dynasty" is inclined to run because...he thinks that he can beat any of the Republicans who are already campaigning for the 1988 nomination.... Trust me, Ted Kennedy is not out front in the Senate on the issues of South African sanctions, arms control, peace in Central America, immigration reforms and even "Republican" issues like budget reduction and a presidential line-item veto just because he likes to work hard....

Canada's Changing Makeup: In the last "On the World Scene," we ran several articles describing the changing demographic makeup in some of the leading modern day nations of Joseph — Britain, the United States and Australia. America's northern neighbor is also affected by this altered state of affairs. In the October 28, 1985 issue of MACLEAN'S (Canada's leading newsweekly), there appeared a column written by Barbara Amiel entitled "Canadians as Endangered Species." The issue involves not only the influx of nonnorthwestern European immigrants, the author writes, but the drastic impact upon the white birthrate of state taxation and social policies, the decline in the central role of the family, feminism, abortion and widespread material affluence.

Canada may need to go on the fertility pill.... Canada has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. We reproduce at the rate of 1.4 children per family. In order to maintain the existing population level, families need to average 2.2 children — to allow for babies or children who don't survive to adulthood. Why are Canadians having fewer children?... The relative affluence of developed society has made the family more of a liability than an asset. Once upon a time, children could be sent out to work at an early age and later in life would support their parents. Today, the state provides pensions, health insurance, home care and other social services for the elderly.... At the same time, it has become increasingly difficult to accumulate real wealth within a family.... [Exorbitant inheritance taxes play a role in stripping away this wealth.] Ordinary families don't think of themselves as an extended economic unit, all helping to build up the family's worth....

What industrialized societies around the world have are a lot of people who can best be described as "affluent poor." They live on decent salaries but own very little real property.... What is left for the affluent poor? The family has been whittled away by the state. There is little hope of building [family] empires. Understandably, these affluent poor turn away from procreation and embrace hedonism. They save up for a charter trip to the Caribbean or a laser compact disc. They would rather spend their money on a new car than on new unnecessary children. The exceptions are the very poor, who tend to have large families, and the very rich, who have pride in bloodlines and something tangible to pass on which would otherwise go to strangers — and who can afford the liability of children.

This situation existed before women's lib and statism, but those two impulses certainly aggravated it.... The feminists have told people to stop centering their lives around the "slavery" of the womb.... People should not become patriarchs and matriarchs anymore — they should become "senior citizen" instead. The result of this has been the population decline. If the trend continues unaltered, speeded up by abortion and the growing medical problems of infertility, certain groups in industrialized society will disappear. In Canada, while our geographical space would obviously be filled by some other people, most likely from the overpopulated areas of the world, Canadians — as we know ourselves — may be an endangered people in a few centuries....

AIDS: Now a Financial Worry: The spread of AIDS — resulting from the condoning of perversion — is not merely a public health problem. It now represents a threat to the financial health of society. The health insurance industry, which controls multiple billions of dollars of investments in the economy — is deeply worried. Health insurance officials, citing the high cost of treating AIDS patients, are pleading that their companies be allowed to screen individuals for the presence of AIDS antibodies before deciding whether to insure them. As the November 2 LOS ANGELES TIMES reported:

Dr. Donald Chambers... testifying [before a congressional subcommittee] on behalf of the Health Insurance Assn. of America, said that the association's 335 companies are "exploring the possibility " of using blood tests "to protect our policyholders" from high premiums that result when companies pay out AIDS benefits. The average hospital cost for fill AIDS patient is $147,000, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Chambers, criticizing recent laws in California and Wisconsin that prohibit insurers from using the antibody tests, said that such legislation results in "unfair subsidization of the higher -risk group by the low-risk population.”....

Amid forecasts of a continuing AIDS epidemic, concern has grown among insurers that mounting claims could put them out of business. Also, hospitals around the country assert that they are losing money on AIDS patients who are unable to pay because they have lost their health insurance along with their jobs.... [But] Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the subcommittee, said that "when an epidemic strikes, special responsibilities arise," adding that hospitals must not "hide from the costs" of caring for patients, and insurance companies “should not be permitted to use guesswork to underwrite risks." [Mr. Waxman's district has a sizeable homosexual community.]

Leaders of Character: Two of the most remarkable political leaders on the world scene today are in Asia — 81-year-old Deng Xiaoping, top man in China, and 67-year-old Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minster of Japan. What both leaders possess in common is a supply of human humility unique for men occupying such exalted positions. One thing that particularly struck me about China on my recent trip there (reported more fully in the November 4 “Worldwide News”) is that one literally has to hunt for a picture of Deng in public: The situation is the exact opposite of the "personality cult" so often prevailing in other Communist or one-party systems. In a special interview Deng granted to the editors of TIME magazine (November 4) Deng said this:

I don't want people to honor me. Never. I don’t deserve that. Because what I do is nothing other than what reflects the wishes of the Chinese people and the Communist Party members. And the policies formulated in recent years have been formulated collectively. In the past 30 years or so, I was one of the principal leaders in China and I think I should be held responsible for the mistakes during those years. No one is perfect in the world. So that’s why I never want to write a memoir or an autobiography.

When Mr. Armstrong met Deng Xiaoping a year ago, he also mentioned how impressed he was at Deng's willingness to admit the errors of the past. Deng also seems to possess considerable wisdom in his manner of rule. He realizes that reform can't be crammed down reluctant people's throats. "Seeing is believing" and "nothing succeeds like success" is more the style of this pragmatic leader. He also said in the TIME interview:

When we first started introducing the reforms in the countryside, there were quite a few people who were not in favor of reform. In the first two years, a third of the regions of China were still not so enthusiastic and were left behind in starting reforms. So they waited a year, and when they found that other regions were doing quite well and starting reforms, they started to catch up. And they began to have results in one or two years' time. So our approach is not to force [the opponents of reform] to do anything. Our approach is that practice shows them their approach is not right and is not proper. That's why I say the reforms in the countryside are a successful experience.

Won't much of the spread of God's way of life in the world tomorrow also come as a result of the powerful example of success — first with resettled Israel in the promised land, and spreading out from there? Note Isaiah 62:2 — "The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory." And in Zechariah 8:23 we read that "in those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"

The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Nakasone, also revealed an uncommon quality of facing the facts of history in his recent address to the United Nations on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. His speech was, according to the October 24 LOS ANGELES TIMES, a "radical departure from the 40th anniversary rhetoric" in which nearly all the other world leaders" used the occasion to attack their country's foes and to defend their own policies."

Instead Mr. Nakasone profoundly apologized for Japan's having waged "a desperate and lonely war against over 40 allied countries." Japan, he said, "has profoundly regretted the ultranationalism and militarism it unleashed, and the untold suffering the war inflicted upon peoples around the world and, indeed, upon its own people."

Mr. Nakasone, nevertheless, was not without caution for problems confronting the world today. In particular, he warned against protectionism as a "narcotic" that, he said, would put world trade into a coma. He pledged to do what he could to further open up import markets in Japan.

— Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau