European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 1, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes july Anthony Lewis red scare tactics stiff can manipulate Congress in reversing its position and approving Aid to the nicaraguan the House of representatives told us something important about american pol demagogic anticommunism is As effective As members of Congress would rather vote for a cynical policy that they know will not work than be seen As soft on the cynicism was so thick in the House debate that you could Cut it with a the Bill called for humanitarian but everyone knew the result would be to give the contras More financial resources for the Contra leaders said the Bill reflected what a keen observer of Steven Roberts of the new York called a new washing ton consensus that the Structure of the nicaraguan government must be changed and that Only Contra military pressure can Force change pressure not to Over throw the but to bring about a negotiated settlement Between them and the that vision does indeed have All the earmarks of a Washington consensus in the Reagan it is politically a Lable and not overthrow the nicaraguan govern ment the contras have made it Alto Gether Clear that overthrow is their object that is Why they began their Campaign of and Why they have steadily enlarged their can anyone believe that renewed support from the United states will make them abandon that objective the picture of the Reagan administration As the sponsor of a negotiated settlement is equally for Reagan has scuttled every attempt at negotiation he walked out of bilateral talks with rejected the Contador draft of a settlement and told the world that the sandinista had to cry before the House Reagan wrote a letter saying he was determined to Pur sue not military solutions in Cen trial Bill Richardson of new one of the democrats who switched and voted for Aid to the said i think the president for the first time is saying that he is for negotiations and meaning and tomorrow mushrooms will the real Prospect for Nicara Gua is not in much the contras will continue to ravage the Countryside James Kitpatrick for the indefinite destroying kidnapping killing teachers and they will not be Able to Over throw the and it will not be Able to destroy there will be pressure on Reagan to end the stalemate by using forces pressure from his own Radical righting but with Luck he will play it Safe and there will be no and no Nicaragua will bleeding is the after can any of those congressmen who switched on Aid to the contras really doubt that really believe that Reagan wants a diplomatic settlement with the sandinista How could he want to live happily Ever after with people whom he has described in such hysterical As stalinist monsters threatening our National Security the red scare has been reagans tactic in the Battle with Congress Over and no one has used it so skilfully for of course the rhetoric has been built on outrageous if the sandinista were in fact such efficient they would hardly have let most of Somoza men go they would hardly allow the Catholic Hierarchy to preach against they would hardly have let the opposition win a third of the seats in last Falls but the rhetoric has worked despite the facts because Congress is so the mentality was indicated by the agitated reaction when president Ortega went to Moscow to seek where else was he expected to find help for his economically desperate country and Why did the same congressmen applaud Rajiv fresh from his visit to Moscow a Republican who changed his Stewart Mckinney of connect said he and others had to recognize the fact that the Contra movement against an oppressive dictatorial society does we cannot walk away from not even if the foreseeable result of the policy is to make Nicaragua More oppressive and More miserable and All of latin America More antagonistic to it would be Nice if congressmen who turn their Coats could at least look More honestly at their own if they were they would Tell us that taking a stand for Honor in for eign policy might Cost them their office when a president Waves the bloody shirt and they prefer office to c new York times Confidence in institutions appears to be slipping for the past 20 Public Opin Ion pollsters have been measuring the level of Confidence americans express in 10 of their major things appear to be on an upswing owing in part to Low rates of inflation and Unzem but the findings form a Melan Choly Seymour Martin Lipset provides the data in the current Issue of Public Opin Ion this is the question asked by both the Harris organization and the National opinion research Center As far As the people running various institutions Are would you say you have a great Deal of Only some or hardly any Confidence at All in them Back in 10 institutions averaged a vote of 48 percent expressing a great Deal of last that average stood at 31 that is considerably better than the Al time Low of 21 percent recorded in november but even so the figures Are consider the most recent the leaders of Only four american institutions Are viewed with a great Deal of Confidence by As Many As 40 percent of the Only one of the four institutions the White House fares better than it fared in Confidence in the practice of Medicine dropped from 72 percent in 1966 to 43 percent in november in this same the Index for education fell from 61 to and the Index for the military from 62 to Only the presidency sur Vived the Waves of in during the administration of Lyndon 41 percent of the people had a great Deal of Confidence in the presiden Ronald Reagan polled 42 percent last otherwise the data offers Little to cheer since the percentage of respondents expressing a great Deal of Confidence has dropped in these ways organized from 41 to 24 the supreme from 50 to 35 major from 55 to 19 organized from 22 to 12 from 42 to 28 and the from 29 to the significance of the figures lies in the asking of the identical question Over so Long a period of in so subjective an it is impossible to test the data against anything As tangible As a table of election but Given a 1966 there is no reason to doubt the subsequent there has in fact been a substantial loss of Faith in the leadership and operation of our major in the worst of the malaise lasted from the Spring of 1980 through the autumn of but the drop off began in the Lipset finds a Clear correlation Between the Levels of Confidence and the state of the High unemployment tends especially to shake Confidence in major with the unemployment rate holding at a moderate percent and inflation at less than 4 indices of Confidence Are but says Lipset they do not reflect a sustained conviction that All is clearly All is not Well with big organized labor and the in major companies ranked in fourth after the military and education by they had Plum meted in Public esteem to ninth organized labor never has fared Well in those and the Best the press has done was in then 30 percent of the people had a great Deal of Confidence in the people running the my own for whatever it May be is that a string of misfortunes has contributed to the loss of Faith the failure of successive congresses to get our fiscal House in the past 20 years also have been a time of changing c Universal press Syndicate