January 26, 1977

Carter Honeymoon May Be Short

Though President Jimmy Carter used up a good part of his store of good will by a precipitous pardon of draft dodgers, there is enough left to insure the usual honeymoon between a new president and Congress.

However, politicians on both sides of the aisle already are asking each other, "How long will it last?"

Democrats pose the rhetorical question in expectation the grace period will be short lived - what with unpopular decisions hanging fire on energy, defense, and the economy.

Republicans are oppositely concerned about the effectiveness of the new president.  "He appears to be adopting our traditional positions of fiscal responsibility, private enterprise, strong defense and decentralized government," groaned a highly placed Republican last week.

All of which is somewhat dismaying to party partisans.

The so-called liberal Democrats, who have dominated their party for 40 years, feel their control slipping away.  Labor and - blacks, particularly, are worried.  They were the last to jump on the Carter band wagon after initial opposition.  As a result, the president ignored their wishes in choosing an attorney general less than gung-ho about desegregation, and in launching a low key make-work program.

Carter's moderate approach has relieved the business men, Southern conservatives and independent voters - in short, the great "middle road" that constitutes the real American majority.

It has been to this coalition that Republican principles appealed.  In the past, Republican's have been able to attract the support of this "silent majority" to win elections even though they are out-registered by Democrats two to one.

If this centrist group moves to Carter it may be eight years before the Republicans or liberal Democrats get a chance to regain power.

If Carter remakes the Democrat party into a permanent middle ground the liberals and Republicans may be finished.

The greatest loss to the nation in this event would be the demise of a two-party political system.  In its place would come a one-party, totalitarian state (not likely) or a three-party system (probable.)

The possibility of any radical change in our political system is unsettling, yet the forces for realignment already are in motion.

Watergate opened a Pandora's Box of political mischief from which flew out a harsh double standard for measuring politicians - indulgence for Democrats, death for Republicans.

It is a standard that decrees an eternal flame for John Kennedy who plotted the assassination of foreign leaders, but disgrace for Richard Nixon who bugged the offices of his critics.

It is a convenient arrangement to bring down a Spiro Agnew who accepted campaign donations from a building contractor but honor a Hubert Humphrey who welcomed a larger contribution from a milk lobby.

The post-Watergate morality almost gained credibility as a Republican president and viable Republican Congressional voice existed.  The pre-election sex, pay-off and bribe scandals of 23 big-time politicians - 2 Democrats and 1 Republican even made the back pages of our newspapers.

But most of the corrupt politicians were returned to office by the voters.  Quietly the veto-proof Congress slammed the lid back down on Pandora's Box.  By party-line vote the first act of the new Congress was repeal of the Watergate-inspired law requiring publication of court subpoenas of House documents that would expose official wrong doing.  Now, only House leader Tip O'Neil has to be notified - effectively quashing public notice of his cozy financial relationships with Korean lobbyists and giving him a powerful tool to keep other free-wheeling representatives under his thumb.

Such tactics brought the Republican party to its knees and is rescuing the Democrats.

The need for loyal opposition, for a second voice, is stifled.  There is no one left to tell the emperor he is naked.

The temptation to construct another Democrat dynasty on the Franklin Roosevelt model will be strong for Carter.  He understands the meaning and exercise of power.  A moderate regime - sometimes a little bit liberal, sometimes a little bit conservative - would be formidable politics.

Only a Great Depression or a third World War would revive the political segments watching Carter warily.  Thank God we are wise enough now to avoid such catastrophes.

Yet the everyday problems of life are too complex to allow one political ideology to overwhelm us.

We need change, peaceful dissent, new ideas, different approaches.  Carter won because he appears to embody these characteristics, and Americans want the hope that change promises.

Carter's good start will move to a good end insofar as he responds to power in moderation and resists the temptation of building a political dynasty.

Author: Lindsey Williams