Although definitely less controversial than 20 years ago, the Society still cites a membership of somewhere in between 60,000 and 100,000--but it will not reveal its historical records to show whether it has increased or decreased. Despite the sizable number of Birchers, most probably remain within the organization only a short while, and there is a high attrition rate, according to Leonard Zakim, a spokesman for the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, which monitors the group. Most of the Society's membership is concentrated in the Rocky Mountain states, the South and California.

In the Rocky Mountain region, the people there "are closer to the soil," McManus suggests.

In moderating its earlier racial and social postures, the Society has played up its dreaded fear of a powerful centralized government. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," McManus dictates. Because of its basic distrust of government and the people who compose it, the group maintains that government-sponsored activity should be curtailed as much as possible.

"Government has no right to do what no individual has no right to do. No individual has the power to reach into my pocket, and put the money into another person's pocket," McManus contends, adding that the Society feels that as much as 75 percent of government activity is unethical. When asked what the government can do and be ethical at the same time, McManus says only "providing for the national defense."

Other political and philosophical viewpoints on which the Society has built its reputation include:

*Belief in a "conspiracy for power" among most of the nations of the world, a conspiracy enmeshed with a growing communist atmosphere in government and business. Communism is "built and sustained by the West...Communism is controlled and financed by the West, propagated by Wall Street."

*Adamant opposition to "imposed" equality. On the Equal Rights Amendment. McManus has been quoted as saying: "Imagine a woman POW. She would rather make 300 dollars a week as a secretary...The ERA is basically an attack on the family."

*Advocacy of a literacy test for voters. Interviewed by the magazine Reconstructionist, McManus said "we don't feel just anyone should be allowed to vote."

*Strict stances against gun control. "You not only have a right, you have a duty to be properly armed...What else defends you against government? The Second Amendment gives all the other amendments teeth," McManus says.

*Denunciation of the Supreme Court as, in McManus' words, "terrible, a total abomination. It has initiated and continued government intervention into many aspects of our lives where it just doesn't belong." Before the historic desegregation case of 1954. Brown vs Board of Education, racial problems were "being broken down through good will and a recognition of justice. "The United States military was segregated in World War II, but then [racial barriers] were broken down. There was no fanfare, then."

*Strong religious fundamentalism. An atheist "denies the heritage of our country. [The people of the United States were] endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights. This is a fundamental premise of our nation," McManus says.

In its assault on America's national government, the Society has at different times called for elimination of Social Security, discontinuation of publicly funded schooling, and vast cutbacks in social spending.

At times McManus seems to echo the views of President Reagan. He argues that "as soon as government gets involved in welfare programs, at least 100 times more people get welfare than actually need it. The needy should be taken care of by private charity. "But, as is the trend among ultra-right groups, the John Birch Society believes Reagan is not a "real conservative."

In one of his syndicated columns, McManus contended that "the man who lambasted Jimmy Carter for $200 billion in federal red ink after four years now presides over that much deficit in a single year. Conservatives who still believe in the truth of Ronald Reagan's government is the problem' have been humiliated and rendered leaderless."

Because of such unorthodox political views and accusations against the government and its officials, the Society asserts that Washington conducted a national and "vicious smear campaign' against the John Birch Society in the 1960s.