The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 4

Roscoe Drummond Demo reform could outrun reality Opinion Page Ftundtd January 14, 837 byjisst H'. Fill Publhktd Ctntiuuouity Sintt 846 DAVIS U. MERWIN, pmUM WlLLARDP.HORSMAN,&vr.,rr HAROLD V. LISTON, LORING C. MERWIN, cbfcWir CHARLES R.

IIILTY, Mnt MIAMI BEACH Usually a political party and its leadership dominate the convention. Not this year; not here tills week. For the first time In modern politics the convention is dominating the Democratic party. Its decisions and the way it reached them will reshape the party for a long time to come. It reached its decisions on rules, platform and the nominee democratically, openly and with a wider voter participation than any convention I have ever covered.

THIS IS A BOON to American politics. It will be a Jftng-term boon to the Democratic party, though its immediate impac.t could make harder its first post-reform election this fall. That remains to be seen. Why should a political party which did so much that was right to open itself to newcomers, to nonprofessionals and to the uncstablished, be penalized? Or at least find the going at first so rough? The reason is that the first-fruits of reform are usually uncertain and painful, and the reformers almost always have to go loo far too fast to get moving at all. THIS COULD BE the short-term cost of what has happened here this week.

And what has happened is this: 1. The convention has identified Itself with such far-reaching social and economic change that the Democratic party's own programs are more likely to bo the center of campaign controversy than Nixon himself. That's not the way most Democratic politicians believe they can win. They know that In the past most voters vote against 'a candidate, not for Bloomington-N'ormal, Illinois, Friday, July, 11, 1972 defi Nixon, McGovern can me hich concern nation issues THE ISSUE-Can George McGov-errt sustain the "new politics" in his campaign against President Nixon? most conservative of Republican spokesmen contend that President Nixon has run a more liberal administration than he pledged in 1968 or called for in the GOP platform. Mr.

McGovern used both his acceptance speech and his vice presidential choice to mollify the party regulars who were frozen out of the centers of power in the convention and to broaden his base internally. Right now, the concern of those political advisers close to President Nixon seems more realistic than the "can't win" poormouthing of some organization Democrats. Nominee McGovern and his minions have built a snowball of monumental proportions which may not melt during the dog days of the campaign. While Senator Ribicoff The Democratic party has undergone change. That is obvious from the makeup of the 1972 convention delegate list and perhaps true across the nation.

The obvious problem for George McGovern is to translate party change into party majority. Most of the doubters in Miami Beach will be in the Democratic campaign, excepting, perhaps, those of the Old South. The new center of the Democratic party appears to lie somewhat to the left of the old center. But the whole country may be moving in that direction, too. The him, and they want voters thinking not against them but against Nixon.

2. Secondly, in its eagerness to have new faces and new forces running things, the Democratic convention reformers impaired the credibility of their own ticket. They did this by rushing so pell-mell to the newcomers that they virtually excluded Democratic members of Congress from playing any important role at this reformist convention. THE FEW CONGRESSMEN here were found roaming around press headquarters to learn what's going on. Most of the delegates never attended any convention before; only 11 per cent attended the 19C8 convention; 38 per cent are women 27 per cent are under 30 years of age.

That's fine. But Democratic governors and senators and congressmen were left on the outside looking in. Perhaps in the reformist mood in which the delegates to this convention were chosen, there was no place, no room for an adequate cross-section of Democratic legislators. But this oversight is turning out to be a liability to the Democratic party reformers. It is a liability because it deprives this convention and its nominees from any convincing evidence that their main platform proposals and programs have the majority support of their own lawmakers.

THIS BEARS DIRECTLY on the credibility of the reformers, of the convention and of the Democratic ticket itself. Haven't the reformers told the public often enough that the time has come to stop promising and begin performing? This is the catch when reform begins to outrun reality. The kind of campaign which this Democratic convention has authorized reaches to radical reform in taxes, social welfare, redistribution of wealth and aid to education and health care. Such a campaign can have credibility only if a Democratic Congress is ready and willing to make good on it. This convention provided no such evidence.

is not a disinterested source, he may have been exaggerating only slightly when, in his nominating speech, he said McGovern had put together the "finest political organization in the history of American politics." Yet it will be a mood for a change at the top, not political organization, which will pull down Mr. Nixon and lift up Senator McGovern. Even at this early stage, McGovern clearly is no pushover. The November election will be the first for newly enfranchised 18 to 20 year olds. One can expect the McGovern campaign to seek out that vote with great determination.

It is not an age group to whom Richard Nixon can speak with authority. McGovern's commitment to black goals seems more specific than does Mr. Nixon's, and Democrats have had the majority of the black vote in modern times. Labor leaders pose a problem to McGovern, but the union member may not be quite so stand-offish. Mr.

Nixon may well be endorsed by the Teamsters, for example, but this is not the kind of support which will endear the President to his conservative party members. However, in Richard Nixon the Republicans have a sitting president who can point to accomplishments of consequence, especially in the field of foreign affairs where he alone can take most of the credit. Mr. Nixon also can claim that some of his most imaginative (and liberal) proposals have been blocked by the Congress in which the Democrats hold a majority. While we think Mr.

Nixon has gotten the office of the president too deeply enmeshed in school busing, abortion, aid to parochial schools and the death penalty, it is difficult to believe that these issues will be vote losers or even major national issues. Nothing like a person From WilSf.1 chairperson!" will not be accepted in the better circles. Assuming, for the moment, that a boy named Sue will rarely be called upon to chair a meeting, can we also be heading for a salutation, "Ms. Before that happens, Bergen Evans or his equal must come up with a pronunciation that gains a consensus. Lord knows what terminology the after dinner speaker a generation hence must forge to replace the traditional, "Ladies and Gentlemen." Will Rogers just said, "Folks." But Will Rogerses are few and far between.

The issue is not likely to figure in the presidential campaign, but how are all those nominations going to be made if the phrase, "The man who is consigned to oblivion? Equality between the sexes or, as some in the avant garde would put it, among the sexes, seems fair enough. The most oppressive aspects of male chauvinism are breathing their last. And female dependence, a carefully preserved myth at best, is everywhere discredited. Yet, changes in the language need not yield to the pell mell push toward the neuter advocated by the most ardent and hostile of the women's liberationists. We would at least hope that the term "chairperson," used with some frequency at the Democratic National Convention, will be slow in catching on.

For if it does, can "personkind" be far behind? "Madam chairman" may be an anomaly, but will one use Mister or Madam Chairperson? "Hey, Art Buchwald Disenfranchised rich minority Recreation for all at two lakes politicians. We're fed up with them coming to our country clubs and promising us everything depreciation allowances, lax shelters, lower income taxes. And then after Election Day we're no better off than we were before. We have a right to be heard." "Of course you have," I said. "The Rich White People are the backbone of this country.

They made it what it is today." Several Rich White People joined us as we were talking. ONE WOMAN stood up on her Rolls-Royce and shouted, "We have as much right to be in the hall as the blacks, the Chicanos, the Indians, the women and the youth. The Democratic Party used to care about Rich White People, but now that they're fat with their telethons they don't give a damn about us any more." The man in the Gucci shoes said, "We're not going to sit around and take MIAMI I was walking into the convention center when I saw a man being thrown out by two Democratic party marshals. He was surprisingly well dressed and as I picked him up from the ground and brushed him off I asked, "What happened?" HE WIPED HIS FACE with a silk handkerchief, "They threw me out be-. cause I was lobbying for Rich White People." "Rich White People?" "Yes," he said brushing his Gucci shoes with his handkerchief.

"No one at this convention cares about Rich White People. They pay lip service to us, but when it comes to doing something about our plight they ignore us. We're the only minority that's been disenfranchised at this convention." "But that's terrible," I said. "We Rich White People are sick and tired of being used as pawns by the wide. If possible, county officials now involved in getting development plans together for Evergreen Lake should seek proposals from its consultants on the best uses for public land at Lake Bloomington as well.

Some types of recreational opportunities may be available at Lake Bloomington which would fit into its current state of public, private and semi-private development but not be appropriate at Evergreen. In any event, it doesn't hurt to be optimistic about the future of both lakes as public areas of consequence. It's evident that almost any progress will be an improvement on what now exists. recreation purposes would not have created serious problems. But there is a so much better avenue available that we cannot get very broken up about ISU's decision.

The critical issue is to see to the development of public areas at Lake Bloomington and the development of new Evergreen Lake. McLean County is well on its way toward accepting the Evergreen Lake recreation opportunity and may develop a small area or two of shoreline at Lake Bloomington. The two lakes provide county-wide recreation attractions and the cost of varied recreational opportunities should be borne county- Officials at Illinois State University, after listening to ill winds blowing off Lake Blooming-ton, have abandoned plans to establish a student recreation area there. Perhaps it's just as well. The City of Bloomington offered a lease for the Iroquois Park area, but it was restrictive and limited ISU's freedom in use of the land.

Even had the restrictive lease been accepted by ISU, the protests of Lake Bloomington householders and some citizens who considered the wooded site endangered by intense usage would have been an unwelcome burden for the university to bear. In our view, the use of a Lake Bloomington tract for student it. We're going to turn this convention around. If our voices aren't heard, we're going to shut down this country." "RIGHT ON!" the small crowd shouted. "There aren't enough jails to lock up all the Rich White People who are sick and disgusted with the system." "We're not doing this for us," a lady in a Dior pantsuit yelled.

"We're doing it for our children. We want them to have a better life than we had. We want them to inherit what is theirs. Why should the 'have-nots' get everything and the 'haves' be thrown out of the convention hall?" Another man in tennis whites said, "Those people in there have no right to speak for us. They've never had money, so how do they know what it is to be rich? They've never been audited by the Internal Revenue Service or seen their stock portfolios go down because of inflation.

They don't know what it is to put their fortunes in tax-free municipal bonds or try to deduct a dinner for 50 as a business expense." JUST THEN a man from the Democratic National Committee came out and said, "Mr. Lawrence O'Brien would like a delegation of Rich White People to be his honored guests in the gallery, providing you promise to behave yourselves." "How many Rich White People is he talking about?" the man in the Gucci shoes demanded. "Ten," the DNC representative said. "Tell him to forget it. We don't want tokenism.

We may be but at least we're proud." Mow Time Flies By Fern M. Downs Withers Library Staff Letters to the Editor- Fisc her's moves purposeful taken a shotgun along for sporting purposes and he immediately pressed it into service, covering the would be robbers before they could get farther in their -purpose. The tourists decamped as soon as they sighted the gun. Mr. Carlock counts himself lucky to have escaped so easily.

100 Years Ago July 14, 1872 Elder D. R. Van Buskirk will preach in the grove near Walker's Schoolhouse, three miles south of the city, tomorrow at 2 o'clock in the 25 Years Ago July 14, 1947 Charles Morgan, a Bloomington resident for 50 years, reported a "bumper crop" of reunions and large family picnics in Miller Park Sunday. Mr. Morgan took a census of the groups during the afternoon and counted 25 reunions and family organization picnics in progress.

Largest number attending in a single group estimated to be the line, disagreements such as have occurred are not mere quibbling at all. Fischer's current protest was aimed at the organizers of the tournament, Editor, The Pantagraph: I read with interest your comments on Hie world's chess championship and the American master, Bobby Fischer. There are some important aspects of the game of chess as well as some aspects of Fischer's personality that you may have overlooked. First, chess, as played by International Grandmasters is more than a game. It is an art which requires that conditions for the matches be perfect.

Because of the pride the players (most notably Fischer) take in their art, the high prizes now offered (thanks again to Fischer's efforts) and the International prestige on Keep politics out of courts 75. Attendance was estimated by reunion officials at 903 persons in the 25 large gatherings. Smaller groups were too numerous to count Mr. Morgan said. Almost every part of Central Illinois was represented there, he reported.

50 Years Ago July 14, 1922 Announcement was made at the board meeting of the YWCA yesterday, that the pool in the new-building had been named after the president, Miss Vera Snow, in appreciation of her faithfulness and achievements during the time she has held this position. The announcement came as a complete surprise to Miss Snow and she responded in her gracious manner. A bronze tablet will be placed in the room in recognition of her services. tials. It should be the last resort, not the federal court system.

Every lawyer who approves of such shenanigans should have his head examined. The United States government should send the bill for this extra Supreme Court session to the Democratic National Committee. DAVID YOUCK Anchor. Editor, The Pantagraph: Politics is not the business of the law and never was. Dragging the courts into a legal battle over qualified delegates to a national political, convention is the epitome of asininity and represents a massive affront to the dignity of American jurisprudence.

Both parties have appropriate machinery for testing delegate creden perhaps to show the big-wigs that run the game that the most important people hi chess are the players. When his legitimate protest threatened damage to the game, the people of Iceland, the American chess image and additionally threatened Russian-American relations, Bobby did the honorable thing, and relented. The Pantagraph comment implies that the game of chess does not have much of a following in America. I disagree. While chess does not rival football or basketball for publicity and participation, it is a growing art form in this country, and I feel that a daily or bi-weekly column on chess should be offered in your paper to supplement the growing interest in chess in our area.

STEPHEN E. BROWN Manchester Hall Normal To Letter Writers We want your opinions, but make your letters brief and informative. All letters Firefighters brave, skillful Editor, The Pantagraph: My heart overflows with deep appreciation to the Normal Fire Department for their dedication, skill and bravery in extinguishing a fire on July 5 at the most of the things which meant much to us. We feel sure the hand of God guided the hands of these firefighters thus saving our home and furnishings fur us. 75 Years Ago July 14, 1897-W.

B. Oarlock, while returning with his family from a day's excursion in the country, met with considerable of an adventure at a point three miles west of the city on the White Oak Road. Two tramps grabbed the horses' bits and demanded that the occupants of the carriage give over their valuables. Luckily Mr. Carlock had home where my sister and I live.

With Just a few roses to our public servants. are subject to editing, especially those running more than 350 words. AH letters must carry thp publishable signature and address of the author great finesse and expertise they put out FERN BASTING a difficult fire in a matter of minutes, 1607 Aurora Way, containing it in the basement and saving Normal Flamingo Park won't be the same!.