European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 26, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Poge 76 the stars and stripes thursday May 26, 1977 Anthony Lewis ., Vietnam must look to the future suddenly we were Back in the emotions of Vietnam. There on the screen was Richard Nixon refusing to Bug  the easy political past a claiming the invasion of Cambodia As on of the most effective operations of the War and refusing to notice Iho patients added. And there in print was one More cynical secret Nixon s Promise to give North Viet Nam $3.25 billion in Aid without any Politi Cal  it was a reminder of the deception that underlay  Policy in Viet James j. Kilpatrick is Carter a Liberal do cats purr before last november s election according to a lbs new York times poll 32 percent of the people regarded Jimm Carter As a Liberal. Now Only 20 percent so regard him. What this suggests among other things is that the vanishing 12 per cent have lost their Powers of  or. Carter a Liberal do fish swim do dogs bark do the Birds go tweet tweet tweet merciful heavens to the extent that our Leader evidences any political philosophy at All. He is about As Liberal As they come. Senator George Mcgovern who has been hollering that or. Carter is not Liberal enough is indeed very hard  the notion that or. Carter is a conserva Tive a conservative in any True sense is a notion compounded of moonbeams hot air and Cotton Candy. Yes the gentleman has made conservative noises he has talked Many times of balancing the Federal budget. And yes the gentleman has mad conservative gestures he has economize at the White House on booze bands an limousines. But when the noise and the gestures an the gimmicks have been duly acknowledged what remains it is All head and nobler. In every substantive significant act or. Carter has taken the gentleman has acted As a licensed certified Gilt edged leather bound Liberal of the old democratic school. Look at the record. By Liberal i mean to suggest a cast of political thought that inclines toward the Public sector rather than the private sector that believes in using government to redistribute the wealth that distrusts a free Market Economy and that advocates bogus egalitarianism in american life. Two or three examples come instantly to mind. Take or. Carter s Energy program. Thesis his big baby. He took to television three. Times in a single week to sell it. The plan contains virtually nothing to encourage production nothing to stimulate the forma Tion of capital pitifully Little to promote new forms of Energy. The plan would scoop up $75 billion in taxes to be redistributed sometime somehow it would create prodigious bureaucracy to Monitor enforce collect disburse and generally to tinker with the whole system of Supply and demand. Try a second example. When or. Carte wants to Charm the business Community he delivers All the ritual incantations trim the bureaucracy reduce the paper work but he has dispatched his Arm twisters to Capitol Hill led by vice president Mondale. To create his new Agency for consumer Protection. The Agency Wouldhave unprecedented Powers to harass to delay to intervene to meddle and Gener ally to Busy itself throughout the depart ments of government. Try a third example. In the holy name Ozone Man one vote or. Carter would Abol ish an electoral system based upon the sound principles of federalism. He would effectively repeal the Hatch act thu giving unions of Public employees free reins to work actively for the democratic party. Or. Carter would further promote the fortunes of Good democrats among them or. Carter in 1980, by subsidizing the states in the cause of electoral  he is hot for instant registration on elec Tion Day. He wants to bribe the states three fourths of them now in democratic hands to engage in outreach programs to Register More democratic voters. How could George Mcgovern ask for anything More or. Carter signed an act a few Days Agoto reduce Federal taxes. Hooray it will make the people Happy some of the people anyhow. But their savings would soon be dissipated by inflation or snatched Back by the increases he wants in social Security taxes. On Down the Road is  s comprehensive mandatory pro Gram of National health insurance a pro Gram that will demand massive taxes to finance it. And a monumental bureaucracy to mishandle it. Look around the sprawling Federal government after the four months of or. Car Ter s administration. Is there evidence of conservatism in education in health in housing none apears. His department of transportation is toying anew with compulsory airbags in automobiles. His Secre tary of labor is fumbling with make work jobs at scraping paint. His budget directors ruthlessly saving Money he would ban Oil portraits of Cabinet members and authorize color photos instead. Or. Carter in Brief is great on  stands up to the soviets. In terms of Federal regulations he is for clarity he i against gobbledegook. He is for efficiency he is against waste. But if the Issue turn son his liberalism his actions speak louder than his words. High Fidel Ity Nam from beginning to  Are valuable we have for gotten so much so quickly. But it would Bea great mistake to let the arguments of the past obscure the realities of the present for America and Vietnam. Both countries have an important interest now in moving toward a new relationship with each  that relationship can Only begin on practical not emotional  practical Start was made in Paris at the beginning of this month when assist. Ant Secretary of state Richard Holbrooke talked for seven hours Over two Days wit Deputy foreign minister Phan Hien of. Vietnam. Both sides said they wanted nearly normalization of relations Between the two  a first step the  Pledged not to veto Vietnam s admission to the . That statement had symbolic As Well As con Crete significance. The Kissinger Ford policy of excluding communist Vietnam from the . Conveyed an attitude of Pur suing the Way by other Means. President Carter s change in the policy tells pie world that we accept the results of the War. But going on from there to full normalization faces awkward obstacles Diplo Matic and psychological. Holbrooke said the  Was ready to Exchange embassies and then would end its embargo on Trad with Vietnam. The vietnamese asked for immediate removal of the embargo. An they said the  Had a responsibility to contribute to the Healing of the wounds of War and to Post War reconstruction of  that last phrase Means american  linked the establishment of diplomatic relations to the Aid question. During the seven hours of talks he did not actually mention the Nixon Promise. But when he was asked about it at a press conference afterwards he confirmed the secret clause and indicated that Vietnam still wanted the$3.25 billion. It is easy to understand Why the Viet namese should want to press for  Aid. Their country was shattered by the War and reports from recent visitors made Clear that conditions Are still very , a severe Winter and a drought still going on have endangered the Basic Nee Supply world experts say Vietnam is one of the few countries now threatened with a serious food shortage. But it does not follow that Vietnam is Wise to make Aid in some amount a Condi Tion of exchanging embassies with the .to the contrary such tactics would almost certainly blight the Hope of better relations. The Blunt fact is that Congress is no going to approve Aid to Vietnam on such terms. On May 4 the House voted. 266 to 131, to prohibit the use of appropriate funds even for the purpose of negotiating reparations Aid or any other form of pay ment to the socialist Republic of  nor does the Nixon Promise change the realities. However reprehensible it was to conceal such an undertaking wherever thefault lies for failing to carry it out it car Ries no effective political weight in this country today. Indeed mentioning Nixon and his Promise is counter productive rep. John Ashbrook a Ohio introduced the House amendment against Aid immediately after seeing it discussed on television by the vietnamese in Paris. The $3.25billion Promise is another piece of Evi Dence for history on the Honor of Richard Nixon and Henry , who negotiated the Promise and helped to conceal it. Chose the everyday of the Holbrooke Hien talks to say in a paid speech that the  Should not give Penny in Aid to Vietnam.