European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes april columns comments James Reston Reagan won my fight in but at a Price in the fight Over the my finally approved by the House we have seen a perfect example of Ronald reagans philosophy of politics and it is based on the old political theory that it is More important to inspire fear than it is essentially Macht politic or Power and it won at a president Reagan didst convince members of con Gress of the effectiveness of the my As a but he scared if they didst give him More he he  negotiate fewer weapons with the russians at and if they didst give him 21 More they would lose jobs in their states and and maybe their seats in the next this is the Warrior View of politics and diplomacy dont Deal with the Deal with the dont wait or worry about whats in this new Guys mind in just make sure that he knows your mind is made up to build More weapons on Earth to get and More weapons in whatever the its an interesting there is we Are a new Reagan under which the United states will support any state or group fighting for Freedom against communist Domina Tion anywhere in the it is an Extension of the Truman and of Jack Kennedy Promise to Bear any Burden in defense of it is a Noble As former Secretary of state Al Haig used to might work if we had the will and a military but theres no evidence of either so what we have instead is an application of reagans successful political techniques to his diplomacy Hope and borrow and borrow and spend and spend for More Over the diplomatic representatives have gone by Many names or Reagan has turned them into propagandists and it has been astonishing and a Little sad to see Max ordered Home from his Mission in Geneva to reduce running around Capitol Hill lobbying for the my As if he were still drumming up votes for his old buddy Hubert the president argued that defeat of the my Bill would Tell Moscow that we were an irresolute and divided vice George follow ing the party suggested that loss of the 21 missiles James Kilpatrick let the chips m vote chips Are might mean an irretrievable loss at the nuclear arms talks in who knows better and has to Deal with the consequences of his lobbying when he goes Back to could merely say that defeat of the my proposition would inevitably delay the the chances Are that the my decision wont mean All that the russians probably better than we that with or without additional the United states has enough nuclear weapons at sea and in the air right now to survive an attack and still destroy every soviet City and military base several times we have a strategy for but what we dont have is a strategy for or the patience to wait and see whether the collapse of the old men in the Kremlin and the emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev will make any probably it but what is Clear is that the Reagan administration didst give the possibility of change in Moscow a the president insists he wants to see but instead of heeding his advisers and going to Konstantin Chernenko he chose to fight the my Battle to give Gorbachev a this is his Way of doing a diplomacy of Power Long since discredited from Machiavelli through the two world Harold in his study of has observed that the experience of the centuries tended to prove that a if he is to be must be Able to gain the Confidence of the people on the other avoiding All appearance of narrow Short term Polit ical the basis of successful Nicolson con was moral founded on seven specific diplomatic Virtues Good and this is not a bad definition of Kampelmann rep but his diplomacy has been dragged into the political where such qualities Are not excessively and now he must go Back to and Deal with the consequences of his c 1985 new York times Syndicate time Tor some flexibility on 55mph Speed limit a 10yearold controversy once again is simmer ing on Capitol this is the Issue should the nation wide Speed limit of 55 Miles per hour be preserved or should the states be permitted to set higher limits on certain of their Rural roads you will recall that Back in at the Peak of the Energy Congress adopted the 55mph limit As a measure to conserve this was intended to be a temporary but in 1974 it was made prior to that some of the states had fixed limits of 65 or 70 on portions of their interstate the 1974 Law did two things it saved and it saved it is possible to preserve a decent scepticism about the precise reportedly the fuel savings amount to billion a but the figure has been pulled from a hat filled with Ball Park guesses and informed it is also said that the 55mph limit continues to save to lives every but that figure also involves elements of Large but there is no question that the lowered Speed limit has contributed significantly to Highway safety and to fuel there have been other substantial savings in a reduction in serious Auto repairs and insurance at first glance the Law appears to have everything in its the Law merits a second Chic and Ajan have introduced a Bill to permit the states to fix limits up to 65 Mph outside Urban James r and Dave have offered Simi Lar Bills in the their arguments make Good the legislation merits one finds in this situation a perfect exam ple of the advantages of old fashioned from the very beginning of the the states were expected to function As laboratories of legislative expert the founding fathers recognized the As they saw of giving the National government the Power to legislate on every so it is with this 55mph Speed it is nonsense to contend that such a Speed limit is the unt ouch sanctified quintessence of legislative to be enforced on every mile of Rural Highway from to san the proposition is i spend a substantial part of my life on interstate 66 from Washington West toward my Home in the Blue Ridge i voice no objection to the 55mph limit on this it is heavily travelled Here the limit makes but if you Are driving from Elpaso to Tucson on interstate or from Cheyenne to Salt Lake City on interstate the limit makes no sense at interstate 80 goes on West to this is a land of Long straight relatively Little traffic and relatively few fatal on such Western the 55mph limit is bound to Breed contempt for the beyond As the sponsoring members the limit results in a tremendous loss of time and time has an economic just As fuel and lives have economic the National research Council Esti mates that obedience to the Law results in an extra 1 billion hours spent by motorists on the that figure May be subject to the same scepticism that applies to other such but the loss is plainly opponents of change contend that if the limit were raised to 65 Mph on about Miles of Rural another 500 lives would be lost every it might be but if loss of life were the sole Why Stop at the limit of 55 Why not 45 or 35 or Why not ban Automo Binies altogether and go Back to horses then nobody would die on the High in the name of National fuel Congress might say that 70 Mph is tops on this we ought to Trust the judgment of the c 1985 Universal press Syndicate tub Fields