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But, Moynihan argues, Third World socialism, which he regards as Britain's most important colonial export, rests on the assumption that there are "vast stores of unethically accumulated wealth" in the industrial countries. Feeling that there were still "scores to be settled" even after independence, Third World radicals began using socialist rhetoric to defend not only redistribution of wealth but "something ominously close to looting." Moynihan sees a spreading "bias for equality over liberty" all over the world. As new nations fail to achieve either equality or economic growth at home, they divert attention to inequalities between nations, ascribing "national ills to international causes."
Thus more and more newly minted Third World nations adopt or accept autocratic socialist forms of government. As a result, Moynihan says, there are today no more than two dozen genuine democracies remaining in the world, and indeed he has suggested gloomily that liberal democracy in the 20th century may be the kind of vanishing phenomenon that monarchy was in the 19th. As a consequence, the U.N. has become "a locus of general assault" by the majority of socialist nations "on the principles of liberal democracy."
Moynihan got his first opportunity to act on his ideas last August. Cuban representatives to the Committee on Decolonization called for recognition of the small Puerto Rican independence movement and proposed that a U.N. commission be sent to the island to investigate charges of American "political oppression." Moynihan made it clear that the U.S. would consider a vote for the motion "flagrant interference" in American internal affairs. Indeed, he made his point so forcefully that one Third-World delegate asked a U.S. mission officer: "Are you threatening us?"
The officer passed the question on to Moynihan, who answered: "Tell him yes." Debate on the question was suspended by an ll-to-9 vote. Later Moynihan defended his tactics: "The Committee on Decolonization consists of 16 police states, four democracies and four in-betweens. We are not about to be lectured by police states on the processes of electoral democracy."
Moynihan was similarly direct —and successful—last September when the Credentials Committee questioned the Chilean delegation on the ground that it was sent by a military dictatorship that did not really represent the Chilean people. Says Moynihan: "It was assumed that we would go rrr, grrr, boom, boom, boom, but we didn't. We said, 'That's an interesting question, and since you brought it up, we have here a list of 45 military governments and 35 other governments installed by military coups, and let's talk about them all.' " The committee dropped the matter.