A
Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, July 27,1983
Democrats suffer unique policital ‘gap’
by Arnold Sawislak
United Press International
WASHINGTON — American politics
appears to be reducing itself to a series of
“gates,” as in Water or Billy, or “gaps” as
in gender or missile.
It will be left to others to pounce upon
new prefixes for “gate” to describe the
Carter briefing book imbroglio or the
hurrah over altering House committee
transcripts.
What follows here is about a “gap” that
is has been around for some time but, like
Legionnaire’s Disease, never got a popu
lar label. It has to do with the differing
and sometimes conflicting requirements
for winning a presidential nomination on
the one hand, and a presidential election
on the other.
This phenomenom is not new. The
best example of it will be 20 years old in
1984 and the proof that it can afflict both
political parties came in 1972.
This “nomination-election gap,” for
lack of a catchier label, surfaced when
Sen. Barry Goldwater stormed the Re
publican Party to win the presidential
This “nomination-election gap-
”... surfaced when Sen. Barry
Goldwater stormed the Republi
can Party to win the presidential
nomination without breaking a
sweat.
presidency and took the worst popular
vote drubbing in history to that date.
Lyndon Johnson beat him so badly that
some pundits were saying the Republican
Party itself was in peril.
In 1972, Sen. George McGovern de
monstrated how a Democrat could do it
better. Using the newly reformed Demo
cratic rules as a battering ram, he won the
nomination with ease and then went on
to an even worse shellacking in the fall
than Goldwater had absorbed eight years
earlier.
ism is beyond question, the parties also
may be selecting a candidate who is per
ceived as being too far to the right or left
to be elected in November, when the ma
jority of those who vote identify them
selves as middle of the road Republicans
or Democrats or independents.
However, an ideological candidate for
a nomination can be transformed into a
pragmatic candidate for president.
Ronald Reagan did it in 1980.
(
nomination without breaking a sweat.
Goldwater had the campaign so well
organized that he had the nomination all
but locked up before any potential rival
could get started.
Then he went out to campaign for the
Political professionals explained what
had happened in terms of ideology and
pragmatism. Simply stated, in both cases
the parties had become so focused on the
ideological purity of their candidates that
they forgot about political electability.
And therein is the gap. In seeking a
candidate whose liberalism or conservat
Although he was the hero of the Re
publican radical right, Reagan was care
ful in the fall campaign to avoid the rigid
positions of the kind that destroyed
Goldwater and McGovern.
The strong stands he did take repre
sented Simple Simon, “good news” solu
tions to citizen concerns — lower taxes
and less red ink and red tape in govern
ment.
He projected himself as thee
sense nice guy; Carter as the I
lightweight surrounded by speni
do-gooders.
As 1984 approaches, the Dem
are beginning to wonder whetliti|
have a potential nomination-elei
problem.
Democratic Party activists
favor liberals of the Walter Mon
Alan Cranston stripe for the non
but it also seems, from polls of thejl
at large, that a perceived moden
as John Glenn may be the moste
Democrat.
Lhe question being asked is win
non-ideologue like Glenn can i
Democratic nomination or wh
candidate identified as a downtl
liberal like Mondale or Cranstona
a national election.
Will commissions
replace Congress?
P:W
by Steve Gerstel
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The naming last
week by President Reagan of the Kissin
ger commission to develop a policy for
Central America has stirred some unease
on Capitol Hill.
This nebulous feeling, festering for
some time, has nothing to do with the
commission nor with its chairman, for
mer Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
In fact, two senators, Henry Jackson
of Washington and Charles Mathias of
Maryland, can claim paternity on the
basis of their resolution that urged
Reagan to appoint a panel.
Nor is the problem Kissinger,
although he has many detractors among
the very conservative Republicans and
some liberal Democrats.
What causes the unease among some,
although they may still be a minority, is
the concept of creating commissions,
peopled by experts outside government,
to solve the nation’s most major prob
lems.
The concept is far from new, dating
back at least to the Hoover commission.
But in very recent years, this problem
solving option has come into more and
more use.
Senate Democratic leader
Byrd, who expressed his concernsii;
a free-flowing speech last week.di
eral problems.
The first was that “the reportso::
missions may pretty well lock u
whatever decisions are reached
commission.”
Another, Byrd said, is that (lie
missions’ reports “are often so
that the argument can be madethat
little piece of that little piece is taket
the whole thing can unravel.”
Lucie Prai
Branford,
ei
by Yvonne
missions
Battalion R<
hile legislator
id action such as
les to raise the t
Ion, a few Texa
n professors s
A third problem, he said, is thaifcd staffing as a i
can be to a considerabletftei native,
established to reflect the philosop® fhe different
the direction in which a particulai4PP roac hes is this
nistration wants to go.” ^Jndei a merit
Senate Republican leader Ho
Baker, long a believer in a shift froi
present to the concept of ril
legislators, believes the commi»n them,
could be the coming approach toUnder the
the problems. taffing plan, how
And Sen. John Stennis, D-Missirngroupedaccor
much a traditionalist, finds muchgolP nal training an
the concept of commissions, notiniff 1 . 8 .^’ Wlt 1 , “ e
a re “i„ no way a substitute" fortHfc“ve
and responsibilities of the preside^ Qne j eve j t(
Congress. xainple, from
essional teac
hers are assurr
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d are selecte
ibrding to how
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member ot
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Hope E. Paasch
City Editor Kelley Smith
Sports Editor John Wagner
News Editors Daran Bishop, Brian Boyer,
Beverly Hamilton, Tammy Jones
Staff Writers Robert McGlohon, Karen
Schrimsher, Angel Stokes,
Joe Tindel
Copyeditors Kathleen Hart, Beverly
Hamilton
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photographers
Brenda Davidson, Eric Evan Lee,
Barry Papke
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The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for
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Columns and guest editorials also are welcome, and
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Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor,
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77843.
Letters: Headline 'misleading’
Editor:
In response to an article by Karen
Schrimsher and Robert McGlohon, “Re
searcher Convicted of Animal Cruelty,”
that appeared in The Battalion, Wednes
day, July 20.
I must strongly object to this type of
slanted, sensational journalism. The title
of the article is grossly misleading, con
juring up outrageous visions of an A&M
researcher performing horribly painful
experiments on research animals.
When in reality, if one gets past the
title and reads the context, we find that
the animal cruelty charges and the fact
that the man works for A&M in a re
search capacity, have absolutely nothing
to do with each other.
Due to the misleading nature of the
title of this article, A&M may suffer need
less, unsubstantiated accusations about
the cruel and unjust treatment that anim
als are receiving at A&M, not to mention
the research community as a whole.
Many people don’t take the time to
read each article in the paper, but merely
scan the headlines. Think of the number
of people who could have just read the
title of the article, and then, outraged
and incensed, wrote to their Congress
men to complain.
Is this the kind of journalism A&M
can be proud of?
Linda J. Long ’79
Letter defended
Editor:
In a recent letter I implied that Equal
Opportunity Laws were acceptable. In
that letter I condemned groups that
preached absolute “truth vs. fallacy”
judgements.
A response appearing on July 19 con
demned me for this “dualism” in my
argument, namely that I too was making
judgments.
Law in the United States is not abso
lute. It is testable, changeable, and debat
able. It is frequently made on a trial and
error basis and is often usually amended
so as to adjust to a changing environ
ment.
If, as it has been suggested, Equal
Opportunity Laws are discriminatory,
then the laws may be tested in a court and
amended.
Absolutist groups base their views on
absolute laws that are not regarded as
debatable. If one questions these “laws”
then one forfeits membership.
Furthermore, absolutist groups have
no way of settling differences between
themselves. Their views are based on “be
lief” and “faith” and are not subject to
argument, only statement of opinion.
Because of this lack of flexibility in the
face of changing factual evidence they
are quite often breeding grounds for
prejudice.
Social law cannot be argued on the
basis of religion or belief since it applies
to a diverse population. The groups I
condemned are ones which try to impose
their beliefs on a heterogeneous popula
tion.
I did not condemn them for their be
liefs; rather, I condemned them for the
way in which they use them: they under
cut democratic discussion of the issues
they address.
Stephen Weiss’84
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Crime not up despite social program cuts
by Maxwell Glen
and Cody Shearer
WASHINGTON — Detroit’s mayor,
Coleman Young, declared a summer-
long curfew for his city’s youth last week,
but the nation hardly blinked.
Though the action might have once
precipitated nervousness elsewhere ab
out its possible implications for other
cities, not even Young has linked its cause
— a recent crime increase — to a national
trend. Nor has he, a Reagan administra
tion critic, blamed it on the president’s
success in slowing the growth of social
programs.
Indeed, America’s third summer
under Reagan has begun virtually with
out the dire warnings about riots and
crime increases that heralded the first
two.
Some who predicted violent repercus
sions during the first wave of cuts in jobs
and welfare subsidies — principally jour
nalists and social program administrators
— are noticeably quiet.
Among the possible explanations for
this tonal change is the most obvious:
Reagan’s cutbacks have moved from
potential horror to horrible, but un
worsening, reality.
Even Princeton urbanologist Richard
Nathan, hardly a Reagan apologist, says
that most essential programs “are still in
existence. (In the latest budget proposal)
welfare and food stamps are basically un
changed.”
Improving economic indicators also
may have brightened the outlook for
those middle-class Americans, including
journalists, who often assess the world’s
status by looking in the mirror.
Thirdly, though inconclusively, the
doomsayers may have discovered what
many sociologists have long argued: that
cuts in government assistance aren’t
necessarily a prescription for urban dis
aster.
Yet, as director Robert Greenstein of
the Center on Budget and Policy Priori
ties points out, it’s “equally falacious: to
argue that an absence of riots must re
flect a painlessness in the cutbacks. Most
likely, the relative quiet may only under
score how cuts have primarily victimized
disadvantaged women, who aren’t riot-
prone.
Last year, the United States conducted
17 underground tests of nuclear devices,
its highest number in 13 years. Mean
while, the Soviets exploded 31 devices, a
20-year high for them.
116 college players drafted in
month’s National Basketball Associi ;
draft had not graduated from theii
spective schools. The statistic shot!
of some embarrassment to the ft
which has significant image prob
already.
Only one of the six declared Democra
tic presidential contenders. Sen. Alan
Cranston of California, used the entire
Independence Day weekend to cam
paign.
Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Caroli
na spent a day at the National Education
Association convention in Philadelphia.
All the others — Askew, Glenn, Hart and
Mondale — were reported to be on trips
or at home with their families.
Fidel Castro had planned total
road show this fall through France. 1
stria, Spain and Sweden — all socia
governed countries. But now Frf
President Mitternand, possibly fearit
backlash at home, has canceled his in'
tion to Castro. As a result, the Ctf
leader has postponed his trip ini
nitely.
***
The Chronicle of Higher Education
recently reported that two-thirds of the
Learning the American way? Acd ^
ing to a survey by the AllensbackOpif
Agency, West Germans today arf I
creasingly interested in spending^
with their families. They also believe*
holidays are more important thanoi
work.
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