European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 26, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes August 1985 columns William Safire reagans philosophy is but it wont work Ronald Reagan have a political philos of course he you say Hes a urging self Reliance and All the old but wait one of i he Central tenets of conservatism has been fiscal and the Reagan men have already Dou bled the National How about embracing the ant establish ment resentments of the legions of Little Guys the easy Money populism of the past has become More of a political posture than a it is now popular better suited to campaigning than if neither strict conservative nor inflationary then what is he one word he has used is which now Means not he talks of shifting a share of Federal Power to state and local lets examine this the president and Congress put an end to general Revenue in a budget that needed Cut it was the first Cut billion saved and none so poor to do it i remember Revenue sharing it was part of the new conceived by the Kennedy economist Wal Ter Heller and executed a decade later by Richard Revenue sharing was seen As a Way to shift Power from Washington to the states and the idea was to return a portion of the anticipated growth of revenues to political Levels closer to the peo without Federal strings attached on the Assumption that tax collection was most efficient at the Federal and decisions on spending would be most responsive if made on the local this is not reagans although he has spoken in the past about returning Power to the states through the Transfer to them of Federal Revenue sources like excise his actions in office have been in the opposite for at the Core of his tax simplification has been the end of deductibility of state and local from Federal deductibility has been a bulwark of making taxation less painful for localities the More you pay in local the More you take off your Federal income in both big actions in the Arena of federalism ending Revenue sharing and proposing to end deductibility Reagan has chosen to make it tougher for those Levels of government closer to the can it be that the Reagan approach is to centralize weaken state and impoverish localities making him the biggest anti federalist since it May seem that but i suggest that the direct George will late toe Pau a Fate president rea5an rer5kiedly no Scep a buildup in his right ear this moral not and it with a Cotton no further treatment was 8ackto sector by Public if the additional tax Money is not goes the Reagan it wont be makes if you figure that people still act the Way sensible people used to the Only trouble with the Reagan political theory is the end run around the Bottom line borrowing which defeats his Central his entire philosophy is based on the discipline expected to be enforced by the fear of Federal As Well As the fear of excessive local Bond but that healthy concern is deficits Are shrugged off and spending grows the Reagan philosophy is foundering on the Rock of the Confidence he has Reagan is neither populist nor federalist he is a governmental reliant on a weapon that does not c new York times Tion of the flow of intergovernmental Power is of Little concern to big to is not the Federal but the sum of All his philosophy is to reduce total and his tech Nique can be summed up in three words make taxation that explains the demise of Revenue which provided funds to localities that also explains his eagerness to end because that would make local taxation Hurt much Reagan is on record As opposing Payas Yugo methods of collection he would rather the taxpayer get slugged once a causing John to Rise up against the his theory is that if taxation the taxpayer will bring enormous pressure to Bear on legislators at every level to spend which in turn will Lead to a reversal of the Long Rise of the invasion of the private defenders of american Way Lack sense of history in a recent William Secretary of our values As a free peo ple and the Central values of the Jude Christian tradition Are flesh of the blood of the the Washington Post said Bennett was borrowing words used during the consecration at a he was denounced by various protectors of the american Bennett was borrowing words from a politician Given to rhetoric with religious overtones offensive to Many of today defines of the american the politician spoke on july 10 in in Abraham Lincoln said All including Immi Grants who came after the accept the proposition that All men Are created they know it is the father of All moral principle in and that they have right to claim it As though they were blood of the blood and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that developing a theme to which he would return five years later when dedicating a military cemetery in Southern Lincoln said the declaration is the Central american this is so because ours is a nation dedicated to u one about Equality and the endowment of rights by the All americans Are equally Lincoln by virtue of their sharing the essential moral sentiments of the Jude Christian Bennett said that the Fate of our democracy is inti mately intertwined if you will with the vitality of the Jude Christian he was making oblique reference to the supreme courts fevered worrying about entanglement Between religious and civil a spokesman for a Liberal lobby called people for the american Way charged that Bennett seems to be Bent on being the Secretary of evangelism and a similar spokesman for a similar lobby said Bennetts views were such extravagant rhetoric is almost per it issues from persons paid to stand by in Washington and be outraged when someone like Ben Nett someone someone not homogenized by the Washington blandness machine says anything offensive to whom to the people whose names Are on the mailing lists that raise the Money that finance the outraged but is out raging the lobbyist this newspaper could be completely filled with statements similar to statements from the Central actors in americas from Washington and Lincoln through Justice William who said americans Are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a supreme one reason Bennetts critics Are so shrill is that he has criticized some recent supreme court describing them As unfaithful to the intentions of the framers of the first amendment clause proscribing establishment of the court says the clause requires government to be Neutral not just Between sects but Between religion and perhaps the courts policy is intrinsically preferable to that of the perhaps the evolution of Ameri Ca has made the framers intentions what is passing strange is the argument that the court is faithful to the framers intentions or that faithful Ness would be Bennetts critics bring the same manufactured Indig nation to the subject of the Reagan administrations attempt to get the court to reverse itself regarding Abor the indignation is designed to stigmatize As Dis honorable any attempt to alter the courts liberalism path into the wilderness has been paved with such ideological such wilful ignorance and Dis such distortion or disregarding of Large facts of american have liberals forgotten that the civil rights movement was a Campaign to reverse the especially the separate but equal doctrine americas noblest political career was ignited and built a determination to undo the courts decision concerning dred supporters of that like supporters of the abortion decision thought it would end the Contro Lincoln thought it should the transcript of his july speech reads somebody has to reverse that since it is and we mean to reverse and we mean to do it pea Ceab Lythe sacredness that judge Stephen Douglas throws around this decision is a degree of sacredness that has never before been thrown around any other decision it is an astonished in Legal laughter it is a new wonder of the laughter and some of today misreading of american history is intended to have a chilling effect on Public discussion by shrinking the Agenda of discus Sable but some of the misreading is honest Igno some people Are so Busy defending the Ameri can Way that they will not take time to acquaint them selves with even the Central themes and great careers of the american c Washington Post