Page 4--Tuesday, October 9, 1979-The Michigan Daily
imman err: A 1980 dreamm ticket?
A Carter-Brown ticket in 1980? As un-
th'inkable as the Nazi-Soviet pact or the U.S.-
China alliance? At a time when all the rules of
the political game are changing fast, why not
t-ue nthinkable?
In fact, the great White House cleaning that
has* o enraged the "Washington political
estahlishment threw up some hints that Car-
ter may be eyeing a 1980 link with California
arid its electoral votes. The President unex-
p~ctedly appointed a California political
operative, Leslie Francis, as number two
man in the White House under Hamilton Jor-
d'n. And California's powerful Senator Alan
Cfanston, a Carter loyalist in Jerry Brown
cquntry, was quick to express full support for
the President's recent actions.
While there are undoubtedly other ex-
planations for the political maneuverings,
these signs do point to a political logic that
could help the President clinch renomination
next year.
A CARTER-BROWN ticket could sweep up
both the South and the West in the Novem-
ber election with the liberal North having lit-
tle choice but to vote for it in preference to
what most certainly will be a conservative
Republican ticket.
The reasons that could be advanced for the
low probability of such an alliance would
seem to be endless. The two men dislike one
another; Fritz Mondale is already vice-
president and\there is a "Carter-Mondale
Reelection Committee"; Brown would never
play second fiddle and so on.
But each of these three could be knocked
down. Personal dislikes alone have rarely in
the history of politics prevented bitter an-
tagonists from colluding with each other if
there was gain in it for both of them. And
while before the "massacre" it would seem so
unlikely that a born-again man like Jimmy
Carter would dump his trusted lieutenant, af-
ter the purges; the mix of loyalty and ex-
pedience is very different. And as to Jerry's
pride, the answer is simple: four years as
second fiddle would give him an unbeatable
shot at the presidential nomination in 1984.
And then there is the matter of Sen. Edward
Kennedy. Despite his repeated rebuffs to his
campaign organization, Kennedy constitutes
a mortal threat to the renomination of the
President. And judging from Carter's "I'll
whip his ass" comments about Kennedy,
there can be little doubt that Carter takes the
threat with utmost seriousness.
SENATOR KENNEDY has powerful
popular support, as every poll shows. But he
has equally powerful political support just
from those Northern, especially Northeastern
liberals who reacted most angrily at the
Califano firing. Symbolic of the estrangement
between Carter and Northeastern liberals is
the thinly disguised hostility between
Hamilton Jordan and Thomas O'Neill, House
majority leader from Massachusetts.
As it looks now, the 1980 presidential
nomination is wide-open with no automatic
renomination guaranteed the president. Car-
ter must have some regional support to
replace those Northern constituencies that
By Franz Schurmann
are already now demonstrating strong sup-
port for Kennedy. He has the South and
Texas, but that is not enough. Only one other
part of the country could swing such support
to him-the West and particularly California.
While Washington White House'ologists like
to see politics just in terms of the
maneuverings of various operatives, there is
in fact a real world out there, of millions of
voters, and of economy, and of an entire
planet on which the U.S. depends much more
than it likes to admit.
The facts are that there are more and more
voters in the West, that the economies of the
Western states, particularly California, ride
out recession much better than those of the
East, and that it is precisely the West'.s in-
dependent role in the world economy, in con-
trast to the East's passive, import-dependent
role that is giving it -greater and greater clout*
in national politics.
The East imports oil and manufactured
goods but has little to export. The West impor-
ts massively but it also exports massively,
especially what the U.S. is good at producing:
food, natural resources, and high technology.
And now with the huge new Carter sunfuel
program, the West with its vast coal and shale
deposits is on the verge of a new quantum
leap in economic power.
Politically the West also particularly
exhibits those new currents of voter values
and interests that blur the lines between
liberal and conservative. Jerry Brown per-
sonifies this odd new mix. On the other hand,
Brown outdoes even Reagan in his fiscal con-
servativism. On this he has been consistent
from the beginning. But he has also radically
trandformed the state's judicial system into
one of the most liberal in the nation. On his
policy of appointing people with compassion
to judicial posts, he too has been consistent
from the beginning. Also consistent is his
belief that liberalism is dead and that Ted
Kennedy is a figure from the past.
AND ON THE opposite side, no one has
been more consistent in identifying with
classic liberalism than Kennedy. But Ken-
nedy's liberalism derives from a part of the
country, the industrial North. which
desperately needs big government to enable it
to survive. And it is precisely a growing
hatred and distrust of big government that
marks many of the new political attitudes
springing up in the West.
Aside from their personal convictions and
life-styles, Carter and Brown have more
in common politically than either have with
Kennedy. Both are fiscal conservatives. Both
have populist distrust of big institutions, in-
cluding government and corporations. Both
believe that big bureaucratic betterment
programs are destined to fail while costing
vast sums of money.
The present Carter-Mondale ticket reflec-
ted a melding of the South's new liberal-
conservative mix with a liberal Midwestern
progressivism. But the Minnesota Farmer
Labor Party out of which Mondale and Hubert
Humphrey arose suffered a crushing defeat
last year.
IN 1960, JOHN KENNEDY accepted a
politician whom his advisors detested, Lyn-
don Johnson, as vice-president. The reasons
were expediency and the need for the Nor-
theasterner Kennedy to gain support from the
South.
Carter may already have realized that to
win both nomination and election next year,
he must get the support of another big region
of the country. With the North so solidly
behind Kennedy, he could be facing a conven-
tion n New York City where Brown's
delegates could provide the key votes giving
Carter renomination. Jerry Brown, one
should remember, is a brilliant and tireless.
campaigner. It is truly unthinkable that. he
would go through the trouble and expense of a
1980 campaign unless he and his astute
political aides were convinced that he would
end up with a tidy number of delegates com
mitted to him. With those delegates, Jerry'
Brown can deal.
With Kennedy? Not likely. He would have to
wait until 1988 for a shot at the presidency ?
with a good chance that Kennedy might dump
him in 1984 as Ted's brother Jack allegedly
planned to dump LBJ in 1964. But with Carter,
a Jerry Brown presidential nomination could
be a virtual certainty in that fateful year 1984.
Franz Shurmann is the author of The
Logic of World Power, and teaches,
history and sociology at the University of'
California, Berkeley.
'A
4.'
r,, 1
Brown
.:. would he take second fiddle?
Carter
.'.. trading Fitz for a "flake"?
fIr 3idbigan ,ai
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. LXXXX, No. 29
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
_
The-:Pope'R
N HIS SHUTTLE diplomacy bet-
w'een six American cities, the
modern day messenger of peace, Pope
John Paul II, captured the hearts of
Americans throughout the land.
Espousing old-fashioned morals and
contemporary virtues, the spiritual
leader of 700 million Catholics made
his debut as an emissary to the new
world-a role often restricted to
politicians and.ambassadors.
The new Vatican diplomat carried
his message in a-simple way to simple
people. It made some cry, cheer and
feel good, all at the same time. If was a
rare historical moment; a hero to
rmillions who cheered wildly in this age
of non-heroes.
Whether speaking before the United
Nations-or simply preaching to a
small parish in Des Moines, the Pope's
mpessage was the same. He urged more
extensive aid to the nation's poor, an
dnd to the nuclear build-up, and a
beginning to a new brotherhood in this
Country. At each stop, he reiterated his
confidence that the American people
would reach those goals. Americans
were in need of such a boost in morale.
Despite the Pope's effect on the
people, his visit won't count much in
the decisions of the federal gover-
nment. What it will mean concerns one
special interest group in this
country-American Catholics.
By talking about peace and
criticizing war, the pontiff appealed to
all Americans. His entrance into the
.or* d political scene can only be
praised, for it adds a powerful voice to
the side of good against evil, for the
side of peace against war.
Yet, while all this is considered now
that the Pope has returned to Rome,
much has been passed over. Due to his
remarkable charisma, many loyal
followers have ignored another, but
equally important, reason for his visit.
He came to preach the teachings of the
Church.
He eme to remind Catholics in this
shypocrisy
ideals-merely interpretations of the
scriptures-the Pope has reaffirmed
the Vatican's policy of adopting sexist
and immoral positions on such issues
as abortion, birth control, women in the
clergy, and homosexuality.
He said abortion is wrong because a
human life begins at the moment of
conception. Yet this typical right-to-
life argument ignores the bigger issue
of what kind of life that child would
eventually have.
In a controversial debate which
heated up this past weekend, the Pope
explained his opposition to women
being ordained. He mentioned that no
women attended the Last Supper,
while ignoring the desires of so many
modern women to assume an impor-
tant role in Catholicism. Women have
traditionally been delegated to roles of
small importance in that religion, a
fate they have outgrown.
And of course, the pontiff repeated
the old line that homosexuality is sin-
ful. While he did urge others to accept,
homosexuality in society, he once
again failed to support their rights as
individuals.
These papal policies have deep-
rooted traditions, but that does not
make them any more legitimate.
There are no legitimate views that lie
contrary to the brotherhood of man,
and yet these hard-line views do just
that.
How ironic it is for this man of peace
to be speaking out for positions that
can only serve to keep Americans
divided. At the same time he denoun-
ces . violations of human rights in
Poland, the Pope ignores the rights of
women and homosexuals.
These signs of hypocrisy display the
Pope's dismaying failure to bring
people closer together. To achieve
that aim, the Vatican leadership will
have to adopt different viewpoints. Its
advocacy of the old values threatens to
keep the divisions in the American
church intact. Even John Paul's
Public safety vs.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA-In-
vestigations in the wake of the g a aB m~
nation's radioactive spill near By Jana Bom
Gallup, New Mexico, have turned
up alarming facts that raise the
question of whether public safety New Mexico are pro-nuclear spec
has been jeopardized in the because it's a bread and butter spe
Southwest to feed the nuclear in- issue. Jranium is the fastest resp
dustry. growing industry in the state. It's N
Last July 16, a United Nuclear King Cotton in the South, it's King ma
Corporation dam gave way at Uranium in the Southwest.""w
Church Rock, New Mexico, Cobb says there's enough con
spilling 100 million gallons of blame to spread around to inV
radioactive water and 1,100 tons eeyn o h pl.ta
of contaminated debris'into the everyone for e splNuclear has ho
Rio Puerco River, flashflooding taken too much of the brunt for cre
through Navajo lands and past this-I'm not saying they're not sto
the city of Gallup. The dam held hsImntaygte'eno sor
back waste materials produced at fault," he remarked. But said
during the uranium milling nobody's really stopped to think the
process. about the regulatory agencies tion
and the job they have or have not bee
done. There were cracks in the M
sINCE THEN, troubling facts dam; United Nuclear knew about det
hav cometolight: the cracks; United Nuclear wer
repaired the cracks and didin't sta
" State officials never inspected report it to anyone. When we first wou
the two-year-old dam -even af- called them, they denied there diti
ter reports of cracks.
" State officials did not know
that only half the required safety
material was used on construc-
tion. Questions about
" No monitoring system was in are still largely
place to warn of spill threats. the spill s
" Official agencies have been officials are particularly i
slow to act in the wake of the spill
to protect the health of humans term effects that could s
and livestock exposed to the
radioactive materials. years
Before the flashflood spent it-
self on its path toward the Little
Colorado River, it had traveled
about 60 miles, invaded neigh- were cracks; then they said the bQ
boring Arizona, and reached cracks weren't important. But be
within 20 miles of the Petrified the regulatory procedure does flar
National Park, which draws not make it clear what con- abo
900,000 visitors a year and relies stitutes a cause to report a crack.
on water drawn from a single The state left it up in the air, but cot
well within the flood plain, now they're saying it's United noti
How the spill could have hap- Nclear's fault. The agencies are rad
pened, who was responsible and all busy trying to shift the blame me
how can it be prevented from to someone else." rad
recurring will be examined by The cracks were the result of B
Rep. Morris Udall's (D-Ariz) improper construction in the first han
Energy and Environment Sub- place, according to state and
committee of the House Interior engineer Steve Reynolds. "The the
Committee October 22. dam was not 'constructed in ac- dia
The hearing was requested by cordance with plans and for
Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter specifications," he told 'Pacific she
McDonald, who maintains- that News Service. "But we didn't r
"this represents a far greater discover that until after the dar
threat to the health and safety of spill." ha
the people in this area than did Reynolds said United Nuclear an
the celebrated accident at Three was supposed to construct the liv
Mile Island." dam of two materials: a clay, tab
Dan Cobb, managing editor of impermeable zone and a sandy- tan
the daily Gallup Independent, rock permeable zone. The second ant
adds that at Three Mile Island, zone was required so "cracks m
the worst possible-"the China could not extend through the V
Syndrome"-was feared but did dam," he noted. The company
not happen: "But here we've got did not use as much of the sandy- ha
actual contamination all over the rock material as the state ma
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nuclear energy
by the procedures used. He is'!
ersbach "pressuring" to set up a registry
for all the people who have been -
exposed to the spill, he said, so
that problems developed later
on. We made no regular in- might be tracked.
ons; their engineers were "I think this spill will be like
nsible for that." what happened during the A-
state inspections were bomb tests in Utah during the
Whiteman added, because 1950s," he said. Abnormally 'high
onsidered that a dam under cancer rates have been recently
uction." As originally built reported in communities exposed
7, it was a "starter dam" - to those tests two decades or more
stood 38 to 40 feet high. ago.
ver, there were plans to in-
e its height to 70 feet as Recent data from New
ge space became needed, he Mexico's environmental depar-
Those plans officially kept tment indicate that con-
am in the under-construe- tamination is spreading and
ateggry, even though it had possibly threatening the water
used for two years. supply of other communities..
nitors that would have Sulphite, the fastest-sinking of
ted seepage from the dam the compounds released in the
not required for the starter spill, has been found at twice the
Whiteman said, but it normal levels at Gallup, 40 miles
be required for the ad- downstream.
t.
Bruce Scott, head of the en- n
vironmental division of the
Arizona Health Department, said;:
the state will continually monitor a
health dangers of contamination because "it could
answered. IHealth conceivably" affect well water
supplying the popular Petrified
rried about long- Forest park in the future.
w up in 20 or 30
'w upin 20or 30 MEANWHILE, controversy.
continues over whether United
Nuclear is cleaning up
adequately. Charles Ofelt,,
spokesman for United Nuclear,-
stions about health dangers said "the cleanup is going quite
se of the spill are still satisfactorily," a point supported
ly unanswe cularlyhwori by the Environmental Protection
tongterm effects that Agency office in Dallas. "We've
cleaned up all the visible
show up in 20 to 30 years, material, about 1,540 tons of
g the spill included not only potentially affectedsediment,"
tion, but poisonous heavy he said, using crews of about 40 at
s such as arsenic, lead and a time working with shovels and.
m. buckets.
New Mexico andrArizone
issued warnings for people BtteNvjscami a
ivestock to stay away from But the Navajos claim it was
io Puerco river. For the In- a month before any real cleanup.
this means finding-and af- began, and then only after they
ng-water and feed for the started loud protests. Navajos; 4
and goats that usually and state officials interviewed-
and drinkalong the now said they saw no more than 15
erous river. It has meant men working at a time.
ng in water from Gallup,
foregoing the meat the Meanwhile, plans are under-'
ock supplied for te .amily way to greatly expand New"
:because of pssible con- wyt ral xadNw
Mexico's uranium industry,.
nation. There are 339 people whic a ras m adutry
2,500 livestock in the im- the U.S. uranium for power plant
ate Church Rock area. reactors, weapons and export.
The state now has 34 mines and-
ETHER HUMAN HEATH five mills, and foresees adding 75
been, or will be, affected, mines and 20 mills in the next'
not be known for years. decade.
tiv after the spill, Dr. Win-