When he published his brilliant cartoon in the Washington Post on Dec. 12, 1961, American cartoonist Herblock, may, oddly enough, just as well have been addressing one of the primary concerns of today's political debate in the United States.

In that cartoon, arch-conservative Republican Barry Goldwater has stopped on the street in front of a destitute mother who is sitting on a doorstep with her three children.

"If you had any initiative," scowls Goldwater, gripping his bulging leather briefcase, "you'd go out and inherit a department store."