Briers

July 30, 1996

“O how full of briers
is this working-day world.”

(Rosalind, AS YOU LIKE IT)

In this election year, I could rewrite Rosalind: O how full of liars is this political world USA. The sound-bites, political one-up-man-ship, distortions, hypocrisy and self-serving blather surprises (a little) even a political cynic as I have come to be.

I am not condemning one party alone. The burden of responsibility is equally shared by Democrats and Republicans. I fulminate particularly about all the hypocritical cant about the deficit. In spite of the uncountable self-serving speeches and press releases, I am yet to be convinced that any substantial number of Congressmen, Senators or policy wonks in the White House give a damn about the deficit.

One instance among many that could be cited is that of Senator Trent Lott, the Senate Majority Leader who has succeeded Bob Dole. Lott is rated as extremely conservative on such matters as the deficit and “big government.” Yet, as Ben Franklin reported in The Washington Spectator, Trent Lott “steered billions of dollars into the Clinton administration’s military shipbuilding program to benefit Gulf Coast shipyards. This appropriation includes $1.3 billion THAT THE NAVY NEVER ASKED FOR, to be paid to the Ingall’s Shipyard in Lott’s home town of Pascagoula, Mississippi.”

Jim Hightower, the Texas political commentator, quoted U.S. President John Adams, “one useless man is a disgrace, two are called a law firm, and three or more become a Congress.” While that seems to me to echo John Quincy Adams more than his father, it is a blanket indictment to which I cannot fully subscribe. There are honest, capable Congressmen and Senators. But there are not many.

Any predictions I suggest must be introduced by a story that I believe came from a medical journal:

A physician went to heaven and met God, who granted him one question. So the physician asked, “Will health care reform ever occur?”

“I have good news and bad news,” God replied. “The answer is yes, but not in my lifetime.”

I am not disillusioned about our system of government. I just wish we could penetrate the varieties of smoke-screens. E.g., take the deficit – most people believe it to be a sign of possible future collapse. Is this so? I’m not so sure.

For example, why has the stock market surged to such “highs” after the 1987 stock market slump? Does the so-called “smart-money” consider the deficit such a sure harbinger of economic gloom?

I have not seen figures comparing the percentage ratio of deficit to the GDP. What is the comparison as against, say, the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s? Is the inflationary creep that occurred during those years and since been put into the equation?

Then, too, I recently read that the U.S. has the smallest percentage of debt to GDP than any of the G7 countries (industrialized European countries). So what gives?

Secondly, what of the political future? Sometime, not in my lifetime, but in that of many of you, there will be more than two effective political parties. There have been third parties in our history. While short-lived, relatively, they have had influence. The Progressive Party led by the La Follettes is an example.

Third Party talk increases these days. The Reform Party led by Perot, while largely discounted, may have an effect, particularly if Perot plays less of a role. There are rumblings in organized labor about a Labor Party. Ralph Nader’s “Green” effort may gather more support than anyone now thinks possible. Coalitions are not impossible.

After all, multi-party governments have survived in European democracies.

What this all amounts to is this: Look beyond the easy political generalizations. Ask:

Is this so?

Who are the big contributors to a campaign fund?

What is NOT said as well as what is?

Qui bono? Who benefits — follow the buck.

Whenever possible, read investigative journalism.

And never give up trying one way or another to make things better. There is no political system superior to ours in theory. We must improve its practice.

Of course, Rosalind, this working-day world is full of briers. The stings are stimuli to keep at our tasks.