Inside The Minds of Gingrich's Gurus

WHAT HOUSE SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH THINKS ABOUT the brave new world of technological change can largely be traced back to the works of two best- selling authors: Alvin Toffler, 66, and George Gilder, 55. When Gingrich tosses out such concepts as "the Third Wave" or the "overthrow of matter," when he talks about the "demassification" of U.S. society and the "bottom- up" freedoms created by the personal computer, he is quoting chapter and verse from the ideas of Toffler and Gilder.

Despite political dissimilarities -- Toffler says he is more liberal on some issues than the Speaker, while Gilder may be even more conservative -- the two writers have much in common. Both are former journalists who hit it big with big-think books. In Toffler's case it was Future Shock (1970), which contributed its title phrase to the language and turned its author into a much sought-after consultant-prophet; Gilder's Wealth and Poverty (1981), a ringing endorsement of capitalism and supply-side economics, became a sacred text for members of the first Reagan Administration. Both have eagerly tackled subjects in which they possess no formal training. And both are relentlessly, almost wearyingly optimistic about what the future holds for those willing to embrace it.

Gingrich's personal association with Toffler dates from the early 1970s, when he, then an assistant history professor at West Georgia College, went to Chicago to attend a seminar the author was giving. The young academic introduced himself to the best-selling Toffler; this acquaintance blossomed into a friendship after Gingrich was elected to Congress. Through the years the Gingriches began spending considerable time with Toffler and his wife of 44 years, Heidi, who has collaborated on her husband's books without, until recently, accepting byline credit. Over the recent New Year's holidays, the Congressman and his wife Marianne stayed a week at the Tofflers' Los Angeles home -- their own spirited, though modest version of a Renaissance weekend.

Gilder and Gingrich met in the early '80s, at the time when Wealth and Poverty was making waves. "I've had a friendly relationship with him for years," Gilder says, "particularly with the people around him." Gilder admits he does not have the close friendship with the new Speaker that the Tofflers enjoy. "But," he adds, "my ideology is more akin to Gingrich's." He also claims he knows more than the Tofflers do about such new technologies as fiber optics and semiconductors. "That's my business. Gingrich is interested in it. He's consulted me from time to time."

What is it about Toffler's and Gilder's futuristic work that has so attracted a conservative Republican Congressman from the South? The surprising -- and, to some, unsettling -- answer seems to be the cataclysmic social revolutions that both authors blithely, indeed joyfully, say have already begun.