European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 29, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May 1977 the stars and stripes Page 15 Anthony Lewis Nixon Crucible proved constitutions Merit six hours of Richard Nixon reminiscing on television has deepened ones feel ing of Awe for the american constitutional it had to be a system of amazing strength and resilience to bring a country through nearly six years of such a person As there can have been few such devastating pieces of self exposure in political history the the con tempt for the self confessed Para the obliviousness to responsibility for human suffering and and the banality of the the level of his reasoning trying to justify american intervention in he said an italian businessman had told him that a left Wing election Victory in Chile would turn All of latin America into a red Sand because Nixon is in with no Hope of renewed his performance in the David Frost interviews has seemed More ludicrous than he has been the old arousing a mixture of scorn and but it would be a mistake to Brush the us reviews off As Mere grotesque entertain they have in fact offered important insights into serious Frost con founded the sceptics by preparing Well and pressing hard not Only on watergate but on Chile and Cambodia and other if not the an Swers were nevertheless often Nixon in trustworthiness on questions of fact was demonstrated in Case people have some evidently it was not just such absurdities As his heartrending description of telling Sierman Adams he was tired when in fact Nixon did no such there were More current for Frost asked Why it took so Long to Tell the judge in the trial of Daniel Usberg that the White House plumbers had broken into the office of Ellsberg Nixon explained thai he did not at first think the matter he said when Richard the attorney recommended i didst Hesi Tate a moment i Send it out to what Nixon did not say was that he had tried to conceal the facts As a National Security George will Henry Peterson of the Justice depart who dealt with him on watergate and earned his frequent asked him about the burglary and the Ellsberg trial on april Nixon told Petersen to stay out of that because it was a National Security he changed his mind Only a week Petersen threatened to resign unless the judge were a Little episode like that one is a Nice re minder of Why Congress acted in 1974 to safeguard Nixon papers and he has asked the supreme court to take the materials from government custody and give him full but Congress did have reasons for thinking him an unreliable in the supreme court Nixon lawyers said foreign leaders would not Deal frankly with a president if they thought their confidences would be leaked out later by but for Rea sons of talked at Large in the interviews not Only about the details of negotiations but about the intimate mannerisms of world it was unilateral for one recurrent fascination in the inter views was the attitude to Law displayed by this like humpty he thought he could make a thing so by saying it was he suggested that someone could be guilty of violating the Law Only if he had subjectively intended to commit a thus he was not guilty of obstruction of Justice in the watergate coverup because he had intended Only a political and he never thought Spiro Agnew consciously Felt that he was violating the but the criminal Law could hardly been forced if every defendants subjective intent had to be As a firs year Law student men Are responsible Tor the natural consequences of their he spoke of the clause of the Constitution that forbids criminal prosecution of a making impeachment the Only and said it did not apply to vice but there is no such there is at Best a much that practicalities preclude putting a presi Dent to a criminal the biggest splash in the Frost inter views was made by Nixon statement that a president can order a burglary or what Ever when the president does that Means that it is not As just about everyone except Ronald Reagan Nixon made the Case against himself More powerful than anyone else but there is much More to the problem of Law and the presidency than Law finally worked to control presidential Power in a Domestic As the Nixon interviews forcefully remind presidents May have almost uncontrolled that requires Sepa rate new York i see a dark Man who like to gome Back into your life social Security threatens future of nation social foundation of the welfare pays benefits to one in seven it is so Woven into the nations life that its difficulties jeopardize almost everything but the systems problems Are the insult of two Blind Congress and Deogra Congress has legislated High Benefit Levels but not Revenue to sustain the aging of the population which will in crease with Progress against degenerative disease already has produced 31 recipients for every 100 and by the year 2030 the ratio May be a recipient for every iwo social Security is backed by the secures the Federal taxing and americans warmly support the system without understanding it is welfare disguised As benefits Are not they Are legislated entitle recipients do not draw Down their accumulated social Security taxes Are in Exchange fur the Promise of future this is a Transfer system Between the Young support the thereby establish ing their entitlement to president Carters proposed reforms would help social but would have social his proposal for infusions of general revenues would aggravate Cun Gress irresponsibility in voting and increasing employers contributions would Only disguise the distribution of the until now employers and employees have paid equal but Only in a bookkeeping sense has this been an even distribution of the tax Burden Between wages and for employers the tax is a Cost of doing and most of the Burden is passed along to Consumers in increased prices or to employees in the form of fewer resources available for wage employees probably Bear most of the Burden of the employers which Means the social Security tax is even More regressive than it appears to someone earning pays less than 2 per cent of his income in that but someone earning pays per plus that portion of the employer s equal sum that otherwise would have been Avail Able for both the social Security tax and the wage base on which it is levied have risen and the most significant cause of the nations growing conservatism or Plain which is sometimes Sim Ilar is the widening Gap Between the average workers formal pay and his actual take Home this is one reason Why Carter will have trouble delivering on his Promise of nation Al health insurance financed by an additional payroll and it is one reason Why huge amounts of general revenues soon will be used to supplement payroll taxes in financing social the problems of social Security Are a manifestation of a larger the ten Dency of democratic governments to conscript for social purposes so much wealth that the continued rapid production of wealth becomes increasingly Given the inexorably growing commit ment to social spending by their welfare americans May have to accustom themselves to life with a slow growth econ As a welfare Stales services become More generous and the future becomes less and the rate of private saving the Ralio of savings to disposable income is Apt to that is happening in the in part be cause of social the social Security tax accounts for about a Quarter of Federal the average family pays less income tax than social Security in social Security taxes were not far behind per savings Martin a Harvard econ for most the social Security program is the major form of it is the substitution of a government Promise for but what is important is that people think of it As Feldstein estimates thai social Security reduces personal savings by Between 40 and 50 per lower Sav Ings mean lower capital lower lower fewer social Security Basic commitments will be the problem is the effect that this will have on the Economy that makes social Security and everything else the nation should remember the death less words of a baseball philosopher with a flair for when the Milwaukee braves formerly the Boston braves became the Atlanta the philosopher warned team owners riot to destroy the basis of their Prosperity fan loyalty by milking dry the Goose that lays the Golden