The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 4

Friday, October 21,1988 Opinion The Salina Journal I 1 1 he Journal Founded in 1871 HARRIS RAYL, Publisher KAY BERENSON, Editor SCOTT SEIRER, Managing Editor JIM HAAG, Asst. Managing Editor BEN WEARING, Asst. Managing Editor LARRY MATHEWS, Associate Editor MARY JO PROCHAZKA, Associate Editor BRET WALLACE, Associate Editor Veterans on Cabinet America must provide reasonable benefits for veterans who have helped defend their country. But Congress erred this week in passing a bill to create a Cabinet- level department of veterans affairs. There are some good arguments in support of the separate department.

The current Veterans Administration is a large department. Its $28 billion budget accounts for a huge chunk of the federal budget. That money must be well administered. The nation's VA hospitals also have been criticized for deficiencies. They, too, must be well run.

A post gives veterans affairs more visibility and more direct accountability to the president. But the arguments in support of the change are outweighed by better arguments against it. First is the cost. It will cost $33 million just for the change in status. Much of the money is expected to go for signs.

This is an abominable waste of taxpayers' money with no guarantee that the treatment of veterans will improve. There's certainly no evidence that the nation's educational system or energy policies improved when those areas were elevated to Cabinet status. A stronger argument against the change is the dangerous precedent it sets for other groups to insist on a Cabinet post to represent their interests. Unlike the rest of the Cabinet secretaries, a secretary for veterans affairs will represent the needs of only one segment of America. Other Cabinet secretaries are charged with watching over an area of federal government, not with looking after one group of Americans.

The Secretary of Defense, for example, must look after the needs of servicemen and women, but the overall mission is greater than that to look after the nation's defenses. The Secretary of Education is charged with overseeing educational programs, not with getting the best deal for teachers. Creating a Cabinet post for veterans affairs establishes a good argument for a whole string of special constituencies to demand their own Cabinet officials as well. If veterans have a Cabinet member, why not set up a Cabinet post for women's issues? Or for representing the interests of Hispanics? Blacks? Teachers? The elderly? Children? Congress already is far too susceptible to pressure from all those groups including veterans groups, whose lobbying power was instrumental in securing approval for the Cabinet post. This change will only aggravate the problem.

Bureaucrats with heart The bureaucrats at the Food and Drug Administration have shown they have hearts after all. The FDA this week agreed to a new drug approval process that will speed availability of new treatments for life-threatening diseases. The policy change came in the wake of demonstrations by some AIDS patients and supporters in Washington. But the change will benefit patients with other illnesses as well. The FDA has been an effective advocate of careful testing of new drugs.

The caution is warranted when the potential exists for a drug to do more harm than good, as is often the case with drugs used for non-fatal conditions. In the case of AIDS and similar diseases that are nearly always fatal and for which there are no effective, fully tested remedies on the market, the FDA insistence on years of tests was absurd. It was a recipe for hopelessness and despair for patients stricken with such illnesses and for their families. In some cases, FDA intransigence sent patients outside the country on expensive quests in search of the untested remedies the FDA was "protecting" them from. The FDA change is a victory for common sense and heart in the federal bureaucracy.

Letters Good-hearted town A high school girl in Minneapolis wants to say congratulations Salina. You have opened your hearts to a young man in need of a heart. Everyhwere I look in your city there are Kelly Mead donation signs. It seems that every organization in town is sponsoring a Kelly Mead drive. I just want to say if you were being tested for open-heartedness you would have passed with an A STACY BRADSHAW Delphos Bush not a leader We've had great leaders in past history, and great followers as well.

George Bush, in my opinion, is as good a "follower" as this country will ever see. His ability to lead, that I question! As for his running mate, Dan Quayle, I doubt that he could lead a thirsty horse to water. I'm not having the trouble some of you are choosing which man I want to see in the White House. Reagan and Bush cleared that one up for me a long time ago when they taxed Social Security, railroad retirement, sickness benefits, unemployment benefits, veterans benefits, and now they are once again trying to kill railroad retirement. You name it, if it involves middle and lower income people it got taxed! (And Reagan and Bush "claimed" they weren't going to push any more taxes on anyone).

But then I guess there is always the possibility that they don't consider middle and lower income people as "anybody." Now Bush is shouting "Read my lips;" I'd rather read his record. If George Bush makes it to the White House you and I will see a continuation of much too much of our tax dollars pumped into our already bloated defense system. I can't speak for everyone, but I don't feel safer with all of that nuclear stuff around. It's been said that adequate is not enough. I say it is enough.

It sure as hell better be enough because this country cannot afford to continue to spend money like it has the past eight years on. defense. I watched television commentator Robert Novak, a staunch supporter of George Bush, say on TV that he would much rather see our tax dollars go to support programs like Star Wars and space programs to try and make a hero of someone than for things like day care centers. He also said he would bet the American people would buy it. Alan Simpson, R- said when asked how he would reduce the deficit, "I'd freeze Social Security and cut railroad retirement." Have our values gotten so low? Evidently.

Is this what we want? They say George Bush is ahead in the polls! Think about it folks. H.E.RICHARDS 607 N. 10th Proud of nursing home The Salina Journal's Oct. 16 report on nursing home conditions was comprehensive and frightening, especially to those directly involved. Certainly procedures should be followed to alleviate these problems.

However, there are nursing homes that are models of care, compassion, and cleanliness. We are fortunate in Kensington to have the Prairie Haven Rest Home, which fits this description. I visit relatives and friends there on a regular basis and always find the residents looking well cared for, the staff neat, courteous and helpful, meals well prepared, snacks offered between meals, many social activities planned and carried out, and a pleasant, homelike atmosphere throughout their sparkling clean building. This observation is further substantiated by the very high scores (in the upper 90 percentile) given after inspections, which are conducted periodically by the state and also by the management organization, Beverly Enterprises. We are indeed fortunate and proud to have this excellent facility in our community.

Kensington Vl UJIV39 Race is the dirty little secret of 1988 campaign BOSTON Class, it has been said, is the But Schneider sees race as a BOSTON Class, it has been said, is the dirty little secret of American society. In the 1988 presidential campaign, race is the dirty little secret: a highly significant factor that no one mentions out loud. To say it right out, white fears have a good deal to do with George Bush's strong showing white fears and white feelings about the Democratic Party's commitment to blacks. Race is a pre-eminent factor in the South. It also matters greatly in many Northern cities.

William Schneider, the eminent political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, put it bluntly when I asked him about the significance of race in this campaign. "Someone asked me recently," he said, "what groups Michael Dukakis was having the most trouble with. I thought for a moment and answered: white people." Schneider sees much recent history behind Governor Dukakis's trouble with white voters. It goes back to the Democratic Party's transforming commitment to justice for blacks, after decades as the party of white supremacy in the South. "It was only during the 1960's that the Democrats decisively endorsed civil rights," he said "the Kennedy and Johnson years.

You could trace it back to John Kennedy's telephone call to Coretta King when Dr. King was jailed during the 1960 campaign, and later the civil rights legislation. "I'm not going to say the Democrats made a mistake when they committed the party to civil rights: the most decisive commitment they have made on any issue in 25 years. But ever since then the party has suffered because of the race issue. Anthony Lewis NEW YORK TIMES "By 1964 George Wallace was running in the Democratic presidential primaries and showing the politics of racial resentment in the North.

After 1964 the Democrats carried the South only in 1976, with a Southerner, Carter, as the candidate; and even then white Southerners were for Ford. "The two groups where the Democrats have lost the most votes since the 1960s are Southern whites and Northern ethnic whites." Vice President Bush has not appealed to racial feelings in any direct way in the campaign. But he has sent signals that resonate among white voters. The clearest signal has been his attack on Governor Dukakis over the case of Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who was let out of a Massachusetts prison on a weekend furlough, fled and raped a woman in Maryland. Dukakis had nothing to do personally with letting Horton out, and the furlough program was set up by his Republican predecessor.

But the Bush campaign's deceptive attack on him was highly effective. Willie Horton happens to be black. There he was in the Bush television ads, night after night. The message did not have to be more explicit: Dukakis stands for softness toward threatening black criminals. But Schneider sees race as a broader political factor, underlying the so-called social issues.

"Crime, gun control, law and order: the whole agenda originated in the racial polarization of the late 1960's black power, violence, the perceived failure of the Great Society. And Bush uses the social issues to define Dukakis as a 1960's liberal. "The fear of crime originated in racial fear. In some places Chicago, notably fear of crime is associated with fear of domination by blacks. The more white ethnics there see the Democratic Party dominated by blacks, the more they are afraid.

"I don't argue that Bush is running strongly because he is a racist. He is not a racist. But there is a racial component." Another point is that blacks are more dependent than any other group on federal help and whites tend to resent that. The Reagan cuts in domestic spending fit those feelings. Now, Schneider says, "the perception is that Bush is for the Reagan agenda, so he's not for To say those things and a column can only touch this deeply serious subject is to know that much more is involved than campaign politics.

A report just issued by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington spells out what we all know: that the economic gap between black and white American families is widening, the movement is toward two nations, separate and unequal. With the politics of racial resentment and fear still so powerful, how is our democracy to deal with a problem that menaces us, white and black? We all live in the same country. Bush campaign appeals to America's dark side Sen. Lloyd Bentsen says he's fed up with nasty Republican mudslinging and negative campaigning. In an angry outburst this week, Bentsen said: "What has happened, almost without notice, is an utterly vicious onslaught of distortion and character assassination.

"They don't seem to mind if what they say is untrue. They don't seem to worry if it's misleading. "They don't seem to care that what they do is downright mean. If it sounds good, say it. If it sells, package it.

If it looks good, nominate it. "We've been a little too flabbergasted sometimes to make a proper response. But I don't think we ever imagined that George Bush and the Republicans would be so willing to debase that precious currency of our democracy." Bentsen is correct. The Republicans have, at times, been showing sharp fangs. For example, I have a slick pamphlet on my desk that is being mass-mailed to voters in Illinois by the Illinois Republican State Central Committee.

In big black type, it says: "ALL THE MURDERERS AND RAPISTS AND DRUG PUSHERS AND CHILD MOLESTERS IN MASSACHUSETTS VOTE FOR MICHAEL DUKAKIS. "WE IN ILLINOIS CAN VOTE AGAINST HIM." And a little farther down, it says: "DUKAKIS GETS THE VOTES OF ALL THE CONVICTS IN MASSACHUSETTS' PRISONS." The pamphlet says that if mass-murderer John Gacy, a Chicagoan, was in Boston, Dukakis would probably let him roam the streets on weekends. It referred to the now-famous case of Willie Horton, a convicted killer who committed a Mike Royko TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES rape while on a weekend furlough in Massachusetts. Thanks to the Republicans, this has become one of the most notorious rapes in history. Before this campaign is over, many Americans will believe that Dukakis himself did the dirty deed.

And, I'm sure, this is what Bentsen is talking about. We're well into the nuclear age, global chaos makes us dizzy, domestic problems are piling up. But the Republicans are hammering Dukakis because a creep named Willie Horton committed a rape while on a weekend furlough. What probably bothers Bentsen most, though, is that it's working. It's effective.

Illinois Republicans have a sense of what grabs votes. And Willie Horton, the rapist, is probably good for 1 percent or 2 percent of the lead that Bush has over Dukakis in the polls. The silly flaps over the Pledge of Allegiance and the ACLU which are also mentioned are good for another point or two. It might make Bentsen feel good to be indignant. But right or wrong, the Republicans know which emotional buttons to push.

And they've been pushing them. They know that just the mention of a Willie Horton (Ah, such a convenient black- sounding name) is enough to set white ethnic urban dwellers to trembling. Sure, the pamphlet is misleading. But the pitch works. Every presidential election begins with 40 percent on this side, 40 percent on that side, and the fight is for the 20 percent in the middle.

The Republicans know Bush will bigger share of that 20 percent by saying, "Boo! Dukakis will let big, black Willie Horton crawl through your window," than Dukakis will get by droning on about how his ma and pa came here from the Old Country on a leaky boat. Bentsen's problem isn't that the Republicans are kicking them in the shins. It's that the Democrats don't know how to respond with a knee in the groin. The moment Republicans mentioned Willie Horton, the Democrats should have zapped back with California having a prison-furlough program when Ronald Reagan was governor. And how Reagan's furloughed convicts went beyond rape.

They did at least two murders. But what did they do? Dukakis grinned and played the good sport. The emergency rooms are filled with good sports. The muggers are counting their money. When the Republicans mentioned Willie Horton, the Democrats should have jogged Bush's memory.

Hey, Georgie Boy, didn't you help found and sponsor a Texas halfway house? And didn't one of your halfway lads celebrate his freedom by raping and murdering a minister's wife? Is that fair to Bush and Reagan? Of course not. Almost every state has a furlough pro- 'gram and halfway houses. Most work well, but all have failures. But if you are going to knee groins, you don't think fair. Bush doesn't.

Illinois Republicans don't. Why should Dukakis and Bentsen? Despite Bentsen's bleatings, if the Republicans win, they deserve it. They found the Dark Side of America. And while they may be preppies, Bush and Quayle weren't afraid of the dark. Doonesbury LAVIKANP GENTLEMEN.

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