OPINION Page 4 Wednesday, September 19, 1984 The Michigan Doyd 14 Offering the Libertarian alternative Reading the news in an election year it is easy to forget that there are more than two political parties in this country. In fact, a wide variety of political organizations are represented on almost every ballot. The Libertarians are one of the strongest such alternative parties. The Libertarian can- didate for Vice President of the United States, James Lewis, visited Ann Arbor recently for an interview with Daily Opinion Page assistant Peter Kizilos and talked about his party, its ideological basis, and hopes for the future. DialogUe Daily: Can you briefly sum up the guiding ideas behind the Libertarian Party and why you think it should be an attractive choice for voters this year? Lewis : Well, the last two presidential elec- tions were won by candidates who said they were going to get government off our backs and out of our pocketbooks and out of our bedrooms. They must have had some appeal because people voted both Carter and then Reagan into office but they didn't do any of the things they said they were going to do. We still have this tremendous concentration of power in Washington, and if people really want reform, the Libertarian Party we would say, is the rebirth of Mr. Jefferson's small government party. The only way you're going to get this reform in government is to build a new party. Daily: Is there any way you can place your- self on a political left-right scale? Lewis: No, not really. I think it was Pat Buchannan who interviewed Libertarian Presidential candidate David Bergland on "Crossfire" who commented, "Well from those answers it would place the Libertarians two degrees to the right of Reagan on his issues and fifteen degrees to the left of McGovern on his issues." You can't put us left and right. The issue is freedom, and when' we're talking about freedom we're talking about across the board.: More economic freedom and civil liberties. Daily: Could you be a little more specific about what you mean by "economic freedom" and how that is achieved? Lewis: First of all the question of why do we have in our view, a dying, shrinking economy. You've got 8 to 11 million people out there, depending on whose numbers you're looking at, who in many cases would like to work. They carry banners, march in Martin Luther King marches demanding jobs and so forth, So the 8 to 11 million are, most of them, physically able-bodied and willing to work. Why is it that our economy is not growing and expanding to absorb them? The Libertarians would look at it and say because of all the coercive labor legislation that has been passed over the last 50 to 75 years in this country. Minimum wage laws, licensing laws, National Labor Relations Act, Bacon-Davis Act, all the regulatory agen- cies and all the red tape that's been put into the economic system in our country has just basically strangled it. So we would say get rid of all those coercive labor laws and regulatory agencies and just basically open it up and establish a free market in jobs and wages. Daily: Can you give us your impression of the two main presidential candidates? Lewis: Both of the old parties are big government parties. The only difference is where's the emphasis going to be? If the Democrats or liberals are in the driver's seat then it's going to be on the welfare state. If the Republicans or the conservatives are in, then * it's going to be on the warfare state. Daily: How does Libertarian philosophy deal with the issue of national defense? Lewis: Right back to Washington, Jefferson, and the early founding fathers if you will, and that is that you should have as little to do with foreign nations as possible-friendship, and free trade, open borders, open immigration. You can't have an open immigration policy the way we sit today because we haven't got jobs for our own people. But if we got the economy opened up then people from other countries should be able to come here and make a better life for themselves. We would subscribe to the plaque on the statue of liberty. Certainly the Democrats wouldn't do that at their conven- tion, they ducked it. They didn't even want to deal with the Simpson-Mazzoli bill. We don't have any problem with it. I guess the best way to say it is that Libertarians' emphasis would be to turn America into a giant Switzerland. Daily: What principles would guide a Liber- tarian foreign policy vis-a-vis the Soviet Union, since you seem to be saying that the United States would retreat from the present balance of power formula? Lewis: This does notmean that we're not concerned-about the predatory instincts of the Soviets, if indeed that exists - the big "Red Menace" that we've all grown up with, right? Libertarian Party is offering voters a sharp break from that? Lewis: Oh, absolutely. That center, if you4 will, really in our view is an effort not to take,a stand on these different issues, because which voting blocs are then not going to support you? We don't have any problem with that since we're operating on this underlying principle of the emphasis being on the individual and in- dividual liberty. Then it's very easy to be. a candidate for this party because all the issues tie right back to maximizing your freedon to live your own life as long as you don't infringe on my right to do the same. Daily: Do you think that by decriminalizing4 "victimless crimes," such as drug use and prostitution, other social problems can be solved as well? Lewis: The principle benefit would be that we know from history that you can't legislate morality. When you try to do that, what do you do? You don't get rid of those problems, you drive them underground and open up a market for the organized crime element. So you still have them. The problem now is that those vic- timless crimes end up breeding violent crimes: Daily: Although the Libertarian Party does not yet have a large national following, do you have hope that the party will continue to grow? Lewis: Oh, absolutely. We're having a bal. I can't think of anything more exciting than to be out there rattling the cage of the establish- ment, because look at who we're taking on.' Who are the very powerful special interests who obviously would fight us tooth and nailst- make sure that in fact we don't get people in- terested in more freedom and less gover- nment? Well, the political party bosses of th two old parties, right? No more patronage, nothing to give. away due to the reduced cw- centration of power in government. Labot union bosses? No coercive labor laws, so what have they got to sell? The marketplace witl determine wages. They won't be able to throw up a picket line and shut down a factory. People will certainly be able to go and get other jobs. International bankers. They certainly aren't going to be happy to get rid of -the Federal Reserve System and go back to an honest money system backed by gold and silve" or some such commodity. How about the Lee Iacoccas of the world? No more corporate bail- outs, no more subsidies, no more farm and dairy price supports. None of that. So they're 'not going to be happy with us. And finally organized crime won't be, because if you decriminalize all of those victimless crimes they're out of business. They haven't got any product line. So you know we really are taking on some heavyweights. We know that. But I think it's great. Daily Photo by JAMES BOYD James Lewis, the Libertarian candidate for Vice President of the United States, believes his party offers the only real solution to America's problems. The question that we would have is, if its such a threat to us, if this evil system of communism is all that it's cracked up to be, then how is it that we're subsidizing it all over the world? Both David Rockefeller and the President of City Bank have said they don't see anything wrong with making loans to these Eastern bloc nations. In fact, Rockefeller said they are very stable governments. To which I would say, well David, are they stable governments because you're propping them up with cheap loans? Libertarians in fact would like to with- draw all subsidies from the communist coun- tries. Let's see if communism can operate un- der its own steam. What we believe we would be doing is making it possible for people living under that boot of a totalitarian state to over- throw their governments and win their freedom. Daily: Some political observers have noted a convergence of the two main political parties toward the center. Would you say that the r I I Edie n m dt an f Mihia Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan The fundamentalist registration push Vol. XCV, No. 12 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, Ml 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Wanted:udebate AT LAST THE American public will be able to watch two can- didates for the highest office in this nation battle it out face-to-face in a kind of constructive war-a war of the minds. Yesterday, the League of Women Voters announced that there would be two 90 minute debates between President Reagan and his Democratic challenger Walter Mon- dale. One 90 minute debate will be held between Vice President Bush and Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. It is definitely a sign of progress that the two parties were able to set up a public forum, but it must be conducted properly for there to be any real benefit. There will be the tendency for Reagan, who is some 30 points ahead of his challenger in recent polls, to avoid discussing specific policy questions. Mondale, on the other hand, is probably beginning to realize about now that he has little to lose in this debate. However, if Mondale is to serve any purpose in this campaign he will serve it in these debates: he must show the American people that Ronald Reagan's stands on issues such as philosophies of Reagan and Mondale. They should not seek to be an exchange of polished political one-liners but in- stead, serious examinations of where this country is headed if a Reagan justice department, and a Reagan- stacked Supreme Court do away with affirmative action and the principles embodied in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. What kind of environment do Americans want in the years to come? Must people accept acid rain and toxic wastes as part of this modern throw- away society? It will be easy for Mondale to simply throw barbs at the president and to say that he opposes his policies without of- fering any alternative solutions. It will be equally simple for the President to wear his badge of optimism, denying the tragic miscalculations in Lebanon and the deterioration in relations with the Soviet Union. But the long-term well-being of this country will not be promoted by empty discourse. When the question of leadership arises in these debates, it should be an- swered. Good leadership does not necessarily mean appearing strong, unyielding, and buoyed by confidence in one's power over others. It must be By James Ridgeway RALEIGH, N.C.-In the nation's most venal Senate cam- paign, incumbent Senator Jesse Helms is dragging his opponent, Democrat Jim Hunt, through the sewers of the state. Hunt, the state's popular two- term governor, is no liberal. He backs the death penalty, supports constitutional amendments to balance the budget and for school prayer, and endorses a vigorous defense policy. HE'S QUIETLY pro-choice and insists he supports the ERA, though feminists say he never really fought for it. He is a spokesman for the New South-an integrationist who en- courages business to take advan- tage of the state's low wages and non-union climate. Hunt has far more in common with George Bush than with Walter Mondale, and indeed he has taken pains to underscore his differences with his party's presidential nominee. In the campaign, Helms-who threatened to bolt the GOP in 1980 if Bush was nominated as vice president-has appealed directly to his constituency within the fundamentalist Protestant chur- ches, particularly those of the Moral Majority. ON SUNDAY, Sept. 9, for example, Helms received a stan- ding ovation from 3,000 people packed into Charlotte's Northside Baptist Church-the state's largest Moral Majority church. After moving everyone to tears with a sad storyofetwo little girls killed on Korean Airlines Flight 007, he launched into a stern at- tack on "secular humanism." "These are the people respon- pastor Jack Hudson with a letter of salutation and congratulations from President and Mrs. Reagan. Hudson himself has attacked the use of George Orwell's "1984" in the schools, and, most recently, criticized Betty Ford's views on pre-marital sex and women's rights. THAT SAME day, Helms race- baited Hunt on television, charging that he supported legislation for Martin Luther King Junior's birthday and at- tacked him for having received money from gay groups. The race is judged to be just about dead even, with less than 10 percent of the voters undecided, so the final outcome could be determined by new voters. Here the highly motivated and newly registered conservative whites may play a decisive role, despite current political wisdom which holds that black voter registration will make the dif- ference. North Carolina trails only New York and Texas in numbers of unregistered black voters. Ac- cording to the Joint Center of Political Studies in Washington, 391,000 of the state's black voting- age population were registered in 1982. Reagan carried the state in 1980 by fewer than 40,000 votes. STATE FIGURES show black registration up about 60,000, and some experts believe that figure will grow to more than 100,000 by election day. Kenneth Johnson, who works with a voter registration project in the poor black belt, says the level of discrimination is hard to believe. People who go to the polls and say they cannot read, she reports, are ridiculed, and registration of- ficials offer no help with voting procedures as required by law. - At the May primary in Har- tford County, she says, women's. purses were taken from them and held as they voted. People who came to the polls in carpools were frightened when police decided to conduct license checks and stop- ped cars. And people who have never voted ask her how much it costs. Stories like these have led to worries that new black voters simply won't show up at the polls in November-especially now that Jesse Jackson is not on the scene. THERE ALSO is evidence that increased efforts to register blacks can generate a white backlash. Last spring black can- didate Kenneth Spaulding failed to win the Democratic nomination in one congressional district at least in part because unorganized new black voters failed to turn out but frightened whites voted in large numbers. The state has an estimated 400,000 unregistered women voters-another group supposed to help Democratic candidates. But women's groups working on registration efforts have had some surprises. In Greensboro, volunteers in shopping centers found that only 60 percent seemed likely to vote for the Mondale-Ferraro ticket in this state where, until just recently, virtually everyone was a Democrat. Meanwhile, conservatives have been active. A year ago the Moral Majority encouraged sup- porters across the state. to become registrars-"fishing for conservatives in church waters ' As a result, some 150 to 200 people now are qualified to register voters in most of the state's count ties and in all major cities. "We feel confident that thus far we have registered a little over 70,000," most between 20 and 35, says Lamarr Mooneyham, for- mer state president of Moral Majority and now head of its national field office. State election officials think the number may be much higher-more than 100,000 of the 145,000 new white voters signed up in the six months before the May primary. Over the next four weeks, the Moral, Majority will press its 4,000 North Carolina pastors to conduct voter registration drives in their chur- ches. Nationwide, Mooneyham said the group hopes to register more than 2 million new voters. "It's just a conservative trend that I think is from coast .to coast,", he said. "I mean, they're even saying the pledge of allegiance in Berkeley." Ridgeway wrote this article for the Pacific News Service' 5 . 4 Unsigned editorials appearing on the left side of this page represent a majority opinion of the Daily Editorial Board. 'i ' 0 ' im1 dw%%& n!1? T1 TTY 1 lkv Rarlta Awabnths .