"SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS were inscribed in the United Nations Charter, and the United States, in its folly, has duly subscribed to the principle behind them. The principle is that a welfare state is always and everywhere better than a non-welfare state; that the more comprehensive a welfare state, the better; and that the right to a broad range of government services is absolute, whether the nation can afford them or not, and whether the people want them or not.

"A particular and debatable version of 20th-Century liberalism is suddenly presented to us as a universal 'human right.' Since, at this late date, it might be difficult to repudiate this absurd principle out right, we ought to ignore it as much as possible."

Failure to recognize the several interpretations possible of his campaign slogan has unnecessarily entangled President Carter in semantics. He frequently finds himself in the embarrassing position of lecturing our allies and looking the other way when our enemies commit worse violations.

Now we are on the horns of a dilemma -one labeled SALT treaty and the other human rights. To get one we must bury the other.

And it really doesn't make much difference which.