21, 1977-The Michigan Daily
I
ow safe the political woods are today
By STU McCONNELL
My God," urges the white-haired
ator from the Midwest, leaning in-
tly over the table in the packed'
ate Caucus Room. "It's not just the
or of a man's skin or the social class
> which he was born. You're missing
whole point }of being human! If we
ild only learn to live together in,
ice and stop hating one another..."
s he utters the word "together" he
igs his fist on the conference table
I even the fat Republican from Ohio
firms because he knows this man
ans business.
'he dynamic, intensely committed
aker is the stock caricature of an
ierican species which hasn't been
n in the political woods for some
fe - the fighting liberal.
JP UNTIL ABOUT five years ago,
rting liberals seemed to be all over
place - Gene McCarthy, George
Govern, Ted Kennedy, Birch Bayh,
ilter Mondale, Morris Udall, even
bert Humphrey. My parents, who
uld be pleased to be called fighting
erals, once spent an evening over
ner trying to convince me that
bert Humphrey was a pretty radical
buy that idea even less than the
pular myth that Jimmy Carter is ac-
ily a liberal in sheep's clothing. But
question then becomes: if these
guys aren't the liberal agitators, who on
earth is?
What has happened is that the best
liberal thinkers have been withdrawing
from the field of action at a disturbing
rate. Some, like Gene McCarthy, have
simply become defeatists, people who
enjoy moaning about the injustice of the
political system and the difficulty of
fighting it. Others, like Walter Mon-
dale, have simply eased themselves in-
to the existing system, and though they
won't always say that Jimmy Carter is
a good guy, they will consistently say
that at least he isn't a bad guy.
In between these alternatives lies a
number of ways for the liberal to chick-
en out of his political responsibility.
A PRIME FLAW of recent Ameri-
can liberal and radical thought,
and one which can lead to Gene Mc-'
Carthy-style pessimism, is that it is
both action-oriented and intensely mor-
alistic. Programs for social change are
described in vast, idealistic terms -
the New Deal, the New Frontier, the
Great Society. Poverty, to the liberal
mind, is -not simply annoying; it is
Wrong. So when Lyndon Johnson set out
to fight it, he did not simply give the
poor a few bucks, he declared a War on
Poverty. Liberals have tended to look
at issues as Crusades, as knight-
against-dragon affairs.
Unfortunately, victories over things
like unfair tax structures and class
distinctions tend to be slow and partial,
and may leave the crusaders with a
feeling that the wounded but still living
dragon, even as it lies bleeding, has
somehow still gotten got the best of
them. This leads to defeatism and often
to nostalgia for the good old days when
it looked like total victory for the
righteous. At least the Good Fight was
good.
As the journalist I.F. Stone pointed
SOMETHING SIMILAR has happen-
ed to liberal reformers in the wake
of the '60s. Carter, they are saying, is
really a pretty liberal President. All
right, so he says human rights come
second to political stability, and that
the lot of the poor is sometimes "tough
luck." But a candidate any further left
wasn't electable in 1976.
This is to say that reform is less im-
portant than winning an election, a
':::i:: :"::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::: : : .::: ::::: ":::::*:::.:::::::is iiii "ii:iiii::ii3i::'::::::: :: :'::::5:::::: :::::::::::
'Left-leaning liberals shake their heads over Carter's
policies and do nothing. Right-leaning liberals nod
their heads and., do nothing. And on this basis, one is
classified as "left" or "right."'
.::.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-::::-::.::*:C. ..::::..:.:~~~iiii~~~~iiii~~:
THE PROBLEM with this smug line
of thought is that nothing is in-
evitable. There are probably a few Rea-
ganite yahoos who believe that the an-
nexation of Latin America is inevit-
able.
Then there are the cost/benefi lib-
erals, a group of rationalists for in-
action who disturb traditional liberal
minds greatly because the two groups
have graduated from the same tradi-
tion of thought.
Political liberalism has always
meant a commitment to freedom, to
rights of the individual over the mass,
to equal opportunity for the poor,
decision by free election and the basic
goodness of man. Economic liberalism,
which in the 19th Century was yoked
with political liberalism, was the doc-
trine of the free marketplace, of laissez
faire.
Economic liberalism is now some-
thing altogether different, but the
residue of the old free market school
still weighs on the liberal's mind. A
capitalist system is still fundamentally
good, he believes, if only everyone had
equal chance to share it. The free mar-
ket breeds equality of opportunity, or so
I was taught in grade school.
But accepting the righteousness of
capitalism also means accepting profit
as a proper method of evaluating any
given enterprise. And on anybody's
scale, the social change programs of
the '60s did not show much of a profit.
Even with massive infusions of money,
we barely made a one per cent dent in
the unemployment rate. And endless
sociological studies showedthat despite
job training programs, young men ten-
ded to wind up at about the same in-
come level as their fathers.
THIS IS THE KEYHOLE through
which the cost/benefit liberal
sneaks in. Social justice is a wonderful
idea, he says, but the benefits simply
aren't worth the investment. The feel-
ing that they aren't getting their mon-
ey's worth leads many thinkers to sub-
scribe to the theories of such thinkers
as Governor Jerry Brown of California,
who seems to believe that if govern-
ment simply tries to do less, the prob-
lems may right themselves, and even if
they don't we haven't blown a lot of
money. In a nutshell, do nothing.
The problem with the liberal
rationales is that they are excuses for
shedding teeth and staying out of a
tough fight. Left-leaning liberals shake
their heads over Jimmy Carter's poli-
cies and do nothing. Right-leaning lib-
erals nod their heads and do nothing.
And on this basis, one is classified as
"left of center" or "right of center."
Since the liberal intellectuals who
were the heart of the '60s action move-
ments have withdrawn from the field,
one might expect President Carter to
pick up some of the slack. But he seems
content merely to manage the govern-
ment and offend no one. Nothing is less
dangerous than an animal without
teeth.
out in his recent speech on campus,
there are historical precedents for the
disappointed reformers of the 1970s in
the post-French Revolution intellec-
tuals of the early 19th Century. Many
were horrified by the excesses of the
revolutionary government of 1792, or
disappointed by what they saw as abor-
ted reform. When the status quo, in the
form of Napoleon, returned, many be-
came willing members of the Imperial
government. Many others simply slip-
ped into obscurity, their energies spent
on what now seemed a fruitless revolu-
tion.
dodging of the call to action which
would make the white-haired senator
shudder. Liberals of the Carter-is-OK
school enjoy being in power almost as
much as the martyred McGovernites of
1972 like being out of power.
Another easy retreat, for those who
don't mind being labeled Marxists, is,
of course, liberal Marxism. Class divi-
sions will be ironed out eventually, this
argument goes, because such change is
historically inevitable. So let's just sit
back and watch it. History is with us.
God is with us. The Force is with us. No
need to lead riots in the streets.
--Rol
1 irYtguut
t ail
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vil, No. 12d d t UyNews Phon
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
ne: 764-0552
'Hi there! Can
I help you?'
Vol. LXXX
Vherefore art thou, Jody?
ONIoN RIA)&$ qo
FRE Nc 30
O
OON RI f~lrS qo10
,b
OA~tON RIV&GS
B~EN-
W HERE ARE THEY NOW-Eliza-
beth Ray, the B-1, Checkers, Jody
Powell? Remember him? The White
House press secretary who leaked a
completely unfounded rumor to the
press last week in an attempt to dis-
credit Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.).
The press gave Powell front-page
coverage when he apologized for his
abortive attempt at character assas-
sination, saying it was "regrettable
and dumb." But that was the extent of
the press's concern over the matter. So
while newspapers continue to attack
Bert Lance for possible offenses com-
mitted before he was in office, they
ignore Powell's confessed impropriety,
committed while in office.
In this mass media age, when the
press can make a person (eg. John
Kennedy) or break a person (eg. Bert
Lance) by simply giving one story ex-
tensive play and burying another, the
press must determine news play with
the greatest possible equity.
What Powell did was a gross abuse of
his power as press secretary, and it
shouldn't have been dropped just be-
cause he admitted it was dumb. Nixon
admitted he made some mistakes, but
the press was properly unimpressed.
Confessing after one is caught hardly
absolves one of blame.
The problem of corruption in govern-
ment can only be solved if people are
aware of it, and they can only be made
aware of it by the media. The press
has shirked that responsibility with
Jody Powell.
1
r m a
THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
DIST.FEUD NEWSPAPERSYNDICATE, 1977
..
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9.
By JIM TOBIN
The traffic light flashed from
green to red, reflecting in dark
puddles at the empty corner of
State and William.
At William and Thompson, the
clock on the bank flashed from
1:06 to 1:07.
CRUDDY NIGHT, muggy, mis-
ty, and dark. Down the block, at
the corner of Maynard and Lib-
erty, an orange flow lit the night.
In all of dark, sleeping An.n Ar-
bor, only Burger King was
awake.
Which was why, in my hunger,
I had called up a moment before
to see if they were still open. Try-
ing to psych myself up for a dou-
ble-meat Whopper with cheese, I
listened to the phone ring seven
times. Not open, damn, I thought.
Then, like a bugle, a voice cried,
"Burger King, may I help you?"
Stunned, I hesitated and said,
"Uh, uh, what time are you open
'til?"
Wondering if America
loves Burger King
"UNTIL 1:30, SIR, and I'm tendants is needed. The crushing
pretty busy so will that be about lines of lunchtime are absent, and
it?" a few mangy types in the corners
Now, what an asinine thing to are all that are left to keep the at-.
say. First of all, at 1:00 on a Mon- tendant and his half-seen col-
day morning, when it's hot and leagues in the kitchen company.
rainy and I'm up too late, I am There is something so
not a sir. Second, in the time it ORANGE about Burger Kings.
took him to say ". . . and I'm Smothering the ski-lodge-rustic
pretty busy so will that be about paneling which slants from floor
it?" I could have said "Thanks" to ceiling, the color seems to
and hung up. Obviously, this guy touch and stain the food itself.
liked being officious better than And orangest of all that night was
doing his important business. my friend. His cap and uniform
So when I stumbled down the were orange, I think, but whether
brick stairs and through the door, they were actually the color or
and saw a young man in one of not, he was so much a part of the,
those caps behind the counter, place as to make them so any-
rushing to catch a Whaler as it way.
slid down the chute, I thought, TALLER THAN MOST, with a.
"Here is the fool himself." thin moustache and a slight bulge
FROWNING, I approached., around the belt, he danced from
Late at night, only one of these at- -the counter to the food chutes,
hustling and happy. The slogan
danced before my eyes with him:
"America Loves Burgers, and
We're America's Burger King."
At 1:15 on a Monday morning,
this person was bending close to
the kitchen window, straining to
grab micro-wave-cooked food be-
fore it hit the edge of the coun-
ter. I stared, then ordered, then
continued to stare. Fast as light-
ning, he parked my double-meat
Whopper with cheese in my hand,
the bag steaming.
Then it hit me. For this guy,
and his type is not rare, Burger
King is the greatest. What could
be better than this space-age
place where the food is instant
and the bag still warm when you
get it and everything is soft-
edged and orange? Burger King,
the New Royalty.
Jim Tobin is co-editor-in-
chief of The Daily and directs
the editorial page. He wrote
this comment on the strength
of two Yumbos.
TW E MVERSITY MAY NOT HAKE ENOUGH
F(SS70 PROVIDE ADEQU9TE HODUS AG,
UT I C GUARANTEE WE WIL KEEP
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EDITORIAL STAFF
ANN MARIE LIPINSKISJIM TOBIN
Editors-in-Chief
STAFF WRITERS: Susan Barry, Rick Berke, Brian Blanchard,
Michael Beckman, Lori Carruthers, Ken Chotiner, Eileen Daley,.
Ron DeKett, Lisa Fisher, Denise Fox, David Goodman,
Michael Jones, Lani Jordan, Janet Klein, Garth Kriewall, Gregg