European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 5, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday March 5, 1986 David Broder if the Price is right hell buy the Bonneville dam the word is an atrocity but the most appealing notion in president Reagan s 1986 program is  Selling off some of the government s facilities or functions to private Enterprise or individuals is a Jim Dandy idea. I am attracted to it in part because one of the things Reagan has in mind Selling soon is the Bonneville Power administration on the Columbia River and i have been a Bonneville Freak since i was 16. That summer two buddies and i celebrated the end of the War and our escape from Home by bumming around the West. Bonneville dam was the biggest thing i d Ever seen a Marvel to behold. In the summer of 1969, when my own family was on the mandatory Western trip i dragged my four sons off to see the dam for themselves. They complained bitterly on the drive Over that they had t had time enough to Gallivan around on it. Hood. But when we descended into the great dam and Felt the pounding of its Power Plant turbines they were As awed As i had been almost a Quarter Century before. The Sale to be honest docs not come up at a convenient time. I have some unexpected expenses around the House and the car has not been running smoothly. But if there is a Chance to buy Bonneville i m going to buy it. In megalomaniac moments i think what fun it would be just to stand there with my hand on the switch and say goodnight now Portland and turn out the lights. But what i really covet is the fish ladder. It would be great to go Down to the dam at the end of a trying Day and just watch the Salmon go by. My Salmon climbing my fish ladder. Feel like some Salmon for dinner Well sure. How about that one help yourself. Sen. Mark Hatfield r-ore., was quoted As saying that Bonneville would be sold Over my dead  but you know that in politics Money talks and i figure Hatfield just wants to be sure president Reagan gets a Good Price. It did bother me some that Fortune mag Azine which might have been thought Likely to understand the attractiveness of privatization had an article by Lee Smith saying the administration s plan to sell off the government is a political not an economic  but As 1 thought about it his proposition became less Offen Sive and More accurate. James Reston indeed nothing so clarifies the question As to whether something should be done by the government As to ask is it something you d want if the government offered it for Sale there Are Many things beyond Bonneville i d like to buy from the government but non lethal Aid to the contras would not be among them. Far More appealing to me Are a couple of lighthouses in Northern Michigan or that underwater National Park off St. John s in the Virgin islands. If the notion catches on it could produce some healthy Competition among Cabinet members. Suppose that president Reagan establishes an incentive program in which the More a department Sells the More Money it will have to buy some new things. Cap Weinberger would have funds for the strategic defense initiative lasers Only if he could peddle several Hundred of his Bradley fighting vehicles As being for freeway and re use in California. Similarly on the Domestic Side there is much to recommend the privatization strategy. If you were running the depart ment of agriculture would you give out food Stamps to Good customers i suspect that in order to keep the Farmers going in these Tough times i would and not grudgingly either. I know it would be great to have the clinics for expectant mothers and for pre mature infants operating under my name to say nothing of having an aircraft Carrier or two at one s Call. No mugger is going to give you any trouble when he understands you have your own aircraft Carrier just Over the horizon. If the department of transportation underwent privatization there might still be subsidies for mass transit but not for any City with so Little Pride that it Toler ated Graffiti on its subway cars or mayor Koch at the controls. The department of the Treasury would give out toaster ovens to those patriotic enough to buy Bonds and if you made a really big Purchase to help refinance the debt you might get a compact disc player. The department of Justice could sell its own Brand of affirmative action certificates in Gold or Silver Reading i m so sincere in my belief in Equality i Don t have to prove it. There really is no limit to privatization. Except at the White House Fence. 1 Don t think we should sell the White House no matter what complaints we May have about the Way Donald t. Regan runs it. There has to be someone in America Tough enough to fire Lee Iacocca and Don Regan proved he is the Man. Any week that liberated Anatoly Shucha Ransky from the soviets grip and the statue of Liberty from Iacocca s embrace was a great week for privatization. C Washington Post writers group to could revive Era of debates or vaudeville the Senate of the United states has decided to Experiment with televising its proceedings. This could help restore the great debating tradition of the United states or it could bring Back vaudeville. It All depends on the rules. It s easy to understand Why the Senate reached this decision after fiddling and fudging it for years. Ronald Reagan has t convinced the senators that his policy is right but he has convinced them that his personality and his television techniques Are dominating Public opinion and that they have to do something about it. Besides the House of representatives without Many people s noticing has been televising its arguments for some time and the Senate proud of its reputation As the greatest deliberative body in the world has always Felt that what the House does the Senate can do better. The Case for televising debates Here in Washington on the decisions that affect the lives of the american people is that the voters should at least once in a while have a glimpse of How these decisions Are made not Only in the Congress but in the supreme court of the United states. Warren Burger of Minnesota chief jus Tice of the United states is fiercely opposed to this intrusion of television on the decision process and has Given Clear warn ing that if the Day Ever comes when the television cameras come into his court that will be the Day hell resign. But there s a difference Between the court and the Congress and an argument could be made that for the Congress television is not a problem but an Opportunity As we saw in the racial struggles of the South Many years ago in the Vietnam War and most recently in the crisis of the Philippines when the cameras brought the struggles into our living rooms and made us think. There Are As we All know troubling prob lems among the nations on the control of weapons on Earth and in outer space and about the distribution of Money for weapons or for the education of our children or about the bankruptcy of our Farmers. The decision of the Senate to bring the cameras into its chamber suggests at least the possibility that television could be used to help National understanding of those problems and not merely for political interests. We Are living in a revolutionary age of propaganda at Home and abroad. For the first time we have a world Economy with the Industrial nations competing for Trade and profit the superpowers argue Over nuclear weapons and the majority of the human race lives in hunger and hears by modern communications that their misery is not inevitable but intolerable. So much depends on How the United states handles All these tangles How our people see the coming world in which their children will have to live. Television which too often gives us the world of illusion has also recently shown us in the Philippines a vision of reality. In the Senate it could go either Way. The proceedings could be televised each member could take his clips and after careful editing in the television studios in the basement of the Senate office buildings Send them Back to to stations in their states to demonstrate what Fine senators they Are and How necessary is their re election. On the other hand the Senate could without altering Many rules set aside say once a month an hour s time to debate the major questions for decision. Even the commercial networks would t be Able to ignore such a surprising meeting of the Senate with All members present so that the people almost for the first time would be Able to judge for themselves the struggle Over Public issues. It could even be that Young people in the universities who for some reason would rather demonstrate than debate would watch the Senate in serious discussion and carry it on among themselves later on. Most senators have got the main Point that politically they re probably going to live or die by television but there s just a Chance now that they can use it not Only for themselves or their parties but for the education of their constituents and particularly for the respect of the Young whose enthusiasm for politicians and the Media and even the democratic process is not excessive these Days. But it will All depend on the rules on television in the Senate. The senators can use or abuse television for their own purposes or for the purpose of bringing the nation together. We will just have to wait and see what sort of rules they can agree upon. New York times news service