ON THE RECORD: Jerry Brown, Part II

Brown: I think it's a real plus to have spent six months in Japan studying first-hand the culture of our greatest economic competitor. The fact is, the Japaneese are doing very well, and their whole culture and mind is derived from Buddhism, and Zen Buddhism in particular. Someone who has spent months learning it and being a part of it really is in a very good position to negotiate and deal with the Japanese, and there's probably no greater trade issue than that facing the American people. The fact I've lived in Mexico, that's certainly, if not the first, the second foreign policy problem we have to deal with. So I think those are excellent preparations. DP: On another issue stemming out of that time out of office, your work with Mother Teresa has been said to have led you to change your views on abortion. You said, "The killing of the unborn is crazy." What is your view on abortion? Brown: No, I said that about the number of abortions. There's something like 40 or 50 million abortions in the world, and I did say that's crazy. I believe the government should stay out of this. I believe in the right of privacy very strongly, and the government should not tell women what decision they should make. DP: Would your personal views interfere on this issue? Brown: No. my personal views is that government should not get in people's lives or bedrooms. That's a very fundamental principle. Now, when you want to ask what you should do in terms of what you believe is right or what involves some serious moral issues, that's something else indeed. The government is not the controller of everyone's personal morality. DP: In the emerging New World Order, what do you see as the United States's role, specifically in regards to the changes in Europe, in the Soviet Union and in the Warsaw Pact? Brown: I see our role as a leader and innovator, particularly economically. We have to keep the international trade regime vital and prosperous, and at the same time we've got to be thinking about leadership. For example, moving off fossil fuels to alternative energy so we don't wreck the planet. Right now, under Bush, America is fighting a rear-guard action against an international reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the other gases that can create the greenhouse effect. That can really have devastating implications. Unless America pushes sustainable and environmentally benign technology, we're going to find out the rest of the world is burning coal, proliferating nuclear power plants, releasing toxic materials into the oceans, into the air, and into the soil. And we have to take the leadership because we have the resources and we have the abundance that we can deal with these issues. So I would put environmental and energy concerns right at the top along with trade matters to stimulate economic activity. And I believe we can create more economic abundance and do it in a environmentally sustainable ways. Right now, we're not creating much economic stimulus, and we're not doing to well with the environment either. So in both scores, Bush needs to be challenged.

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