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USC NEWS SERVICE

ECONOMIST BOULDING QUITS GOP

Author-economist Kenneth E. Boulding has resigned from the Republican Party after 13 years because he believes the Reagan administration is "galloping toward two cliffs -- 1914 and 1929, military and economic disaster."

Dr. Boulding, whose many books include "The Meaning of the Twentieth Century" and "The Image," disclosed his break with the GOP at a standing-room-only public lecture (January 20) at the School of Business Administration of the University of Southern California.

"I wrote President Reagan that I joined the party because it was the party of conservatism. And I believe in the profit system. I told him I cannot stay in the party now that it is being run by radicals."

He defined a radical as "someone who thinks he can do good without knowing anything about it," then characterized the current administration as "the most radical in the nation's history."

Boulding, former president of the American Economic Association, accused the administration of inviting economic collapse by pursuing an unprecedented peacetime military buildup without comparable taxation and at the risk of continuing budget deficits.

He further indicted the administration for weakening the economy by seeming to condone mergers and "financial manipulation" rather than "the healthy seeking of profit from productivity."

"Reagan's supply-side economics have contributed to frightening levels of unemployment and an overall annual rate of economic decline that has now reached 5.2%. And this decline will not help reduce inflation, because the administration is fueling the next round of inflation, right now, by further military spending."

The administration's military spending is harmful in itself, Boulding contended.

"President Reagan's military buildup is seriously aggravating the arms race in a world that is already like an armed kindergarten.

"I think the arms race can be compared to the San Andreas Fault here in California: perhaps some stability in the short run, but absolutely certain instability in the future.

"Today's national defense program is a guarantee of national destruction.

"The only reason nuclear weapons seem like a deterrent is that they are sure to go off sooner or later, in accident or anger. But that means they are actually a threat to our security. They can accomplish nothing but encourage further military escalation by the Soviets.

"The awful truth is that the Soviet military and the American military are ecologically cooperative. When one gets bigger, so does the other."

Boulding recommended that Americans study Russian history.

"We have to recognize that the Russians are even more neurotic than we are. And, given their history of invasions including invasion by American and allied troops who sought to overthrow their new government in 1919 -- their [persecution complex] is understandable.

"But you don't deal with a neurotic patient by telling him how much you hate him, which is what President Reagan is doing. We must do what we can to revive the peaceful coexistence process, moderating our rhetoric and encouraging moderation from the other side."

According to Boulding's historical perspective, time is on America's side in U.S.-Soviet relations, if only we can avoid nuclear confrontation.

"The Soviet Union is basically an obsolete, 19th-century empire. It's going to dissolve like all the other 19th-century empires if we just give it time.

"I think the Soviet government will probably evolve into a more representative system within, at most, 30 years. Just look at how much change has occurred in a relatively short time in China, Yugoslavia and many Soviet satellites. And the Polish crisis is just one of many signs of the eventual dissolution of the Soviet bloc.

"The trouble with the leaders of the Reagan administration is that they seem to believe Marxist propaganda. They act as if they think communism is really the wave of the future, when the communist system is actually a clunker."

With time presumably on our side, Boulding urges a foreign policy designed to stabilize Soviet-American relations.

"One proposal to think about would be to have an exchange of perhaps 50,000 high school students who are children of the military from each country. That might put pressure on leaders of both nations against pressing the button.

"Moreover, the two groups of students might learn something about each other's country. My guess is that we both have imaginary images of the other side." British born and Oxford educated, Boulding came to the United States in 1932 and became a U.S. citizen in 1948. He has held teaching appointments at the University of Edinburgh, Colgate University, Fisk University, Iowa State University and the University of Michigan. In 1967, he became a professor of economics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus at their Institute of Behavioral Science.

In addition to "The Meaning of the Twentieth Century" (1964) and "The Image" (1956), his books include "Economic Analysis" (1941 and 1966), "Economics of Peace" (1945 and 1972), "The Organizational Revolution" (1953), "Conflict and Defense" (1962), "Economics as a Science" (1970), "The Social System of the Planet Earth" (1977) and "Ecodynamics" (1978).

He currently is writing "The Theory and Practice of Human Betterment," which he describes as a manual on how to be a reformer without actually making things worse.

"I'm pointing out that the first step toward reform is to develop a realistic picture of whatever you're trying to change. My feeling is that a lack of realism in our view of the world has done much more harm than ill will. Some of the great tragedies of the human race have been caused by people of goodwill who were simply misled by unrealistic world views."

ME USC Jan. 22, 1982

EDITOR: Dr. Boulding may be reached at his University of Colorado office: (303) 492-7526.